[SOLVED] Help with nix build and CMake: no rule to make target "install"

Help
1

Hi there. I’m just trying to learn more about building programs with nix. I’m trying to build a hello world program with cmake, as I plan to do some more involved development later and I want to get more familiar with the build system.

I have the following directory structure:

package
 - basicapp.nix
src
 - CMakeLists.txt
 - main.cpp
flake.lock
flake.nix

Let’s start with the contents of flake.nix:

{
  description = "Basic App";
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
  };

  outputs = { ... } @ inputs: 
  let
    pkgs = inputs.nixpkgs.legacyPackages.x86_64-linux;
  in rec
  {
    packages.x86_64-linux.default = pkgs.callPackage ./package/basicapp.nix {};
    devShells.x86_64-linux.default = packages.x86_64-linux.default;
  };
}

This flake calls a package defined in package/basciapp.nix

{
  lib
, stdenv
, cmake
}: 
let
  fs = lib.fileset;
in
stdenv.mkDerivation {
  pname = "basicapp";
  version = "1.0";

  src = fs.toSource rec {
    root = ../src;
    fileset = fs.unions [
        ../src/CMakeLists.txt
        (fs.fileFilter (file: file.hasExt "cpp" || file.hasExt "hxx") root)
    ];
  };

  nativeBuildInputs = [
    cmake
  ];
}

Here’s CMakeLists.txt:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.31)

project(bascicapp VERSION 1.0)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED True)

add_executable(basicapp ./main.cpp)

and, of course, main.cpp which is literally just hello world.

#include <iostream>

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
  using std::cout, std::endl;
  cout << "Hello World!" << endl;
  return 0;
}

When I run nix develop, I can use CMake and build the program and everything is great. I get an executable called basicapp and can run it just fine. But, when I do nix build, I get the following error:

error: builder for '/nix/store/d9d5zjhrcd4d9n0szbwxxf175ni0fbgj-basicapp-1.0.drv' failed with exit code 2;
       last 25 log lines:
       >     CMAKE_FIND_USE_PACKAGE_REGISTRY
       >     CMAKE_FIND_USE_SYSTEM_PACKAGE_REGISTRY
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_DOCDIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_INFODIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBEXECDIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_LOCALEDIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_MANDIR
       >     CMAKE_INSTALL_SBINDIR
       >     CMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0025
       >
       >
       > -- Build files have been written to: /build/source/build
       > cmake: enabled parallel building
       > cmake: enabled parallel installing
       > Running phase: buildPhase
       > build flags: -j16 SHELL=/nix/store/p79bgyzmmmddi554ckwzbqlavbkw07zh-bash-5.2p37/bin/bash
       > [ 50%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/basicapp.dir/main.cpp.o
       > [100%] Linking CXX executable basicapp
       > [100%] Built target basicapp
       > Running phase: installPhase
       > install flags: -j16 SHELL=/nix/store/p79bgyzmmmddi554ckwzbqlavbkw07zh-bash-5.2p37/bin/bash install
       > make: *** No rule to make target 'install'.  Stop.
       For full logs, run:
         nix log /nix/store/d9d5zjhrcd4d9n0szbwxxf175ni0fbgj-basicapp-1.0.drv

I’m sure I’m just missing something really simple. I think it’s an install line in my CMakeLists.txt, but I don’t know what to put there lol. Any help is appreciated.

2

ok lol i figured it out right after posting. i had been worried that i had to use some nix-specifc path or something. simply put

install(TARGETS basicapp DESTINATION bin)

and you’re good. Leaving this up in case it helps someone else out there.

Maybe I should have just RTFM’d a bit further lol.

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