CMake - Cross Platform Make
CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test and package software. CMake is used to control the software compilation process using simple platform and compiler independent configuration files, and generate native makefiles and workspaces that can be used in the compiler environment of your choice. The suite of CMake tools were created by Kitware in response to the need for a powerful, cross-platform build environment for open-source projects such as ITK and VTK.
CMake is part of Kitware’s collection of commercially supported open-source platforms for software development.
CMake 是一个跨平台的安装 build, test and package software 工具，可以用简单的语句来描述所有平台的安装 (编译过程)。它能够输出各种各样的 makefile 或者 project 文件，能测试编译器所支持的 C++ 特性，类似 UNIX 下的automake。Cmake 并不直接建构出最终的软件，而是产生标准的建构档 (例如 Unix 的 Makefile 或 Windows Visual C++ 的 projects/workspaces)，然后再依一般的建构方式使用。
CMake 和 Unix 上常见的 make 系统是分开的，更为高阶。
Cross Platform Make，CMake
Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit，ITK
Visualization Toolkit，VTK