Creating a simple CUDA with CMake C++ project

Assuming you have downloaded and installed the right version of the NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit for your NVIDIA GPU card, the next step is to create your awesome C++ CUDA project. In this post, I will illustrate how to create a simple Hello World project using CMake on Ubuntu. 

1. In a folder, create a CUDA C++ file, e.g. hello.cu. Type in the following code as shown in the snippet below.
   
   Note: the main function simply calls an empty CUDA mykernel consisting of 1 block and 1 thread per block function. Then it prints out a hello message.
   
   hello.cu 134 B

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   #include <iostream>
   __global__ void myKernel(void) {
   }
   int main(void) {
   	myKernel <<<1, 1>>>();
   	printf("Hello CUDA!\n");
   	return 0;
   }

   
   
2. Next, create a CMakeLists.txt file. Type in the following code as shown.
   
   Note: The CMakeLists.txt simply tells CMake to use C++ and CUDA languages and then defines the executable and its source.
   
   
   CMakeLists.txt 134 B

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   cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.8 FATAL_ERROR)
   project(hello LANGUAGES CXX CUDA)
   enable_language(CUDA)
   add_executable(hello hello.cu)

   
   
3. Create a build directory. Then change directory into the build directory and run the cmake command.
   
   $ mkdir build
   $ cd build
   $ cmake ..
   
   The processing messages appear.
   
   
   
4. Now compile the project with the make command.
   
   $ make
   
   
   
   
   
5. Finally, run the hello executable.
   
   $ ./hello
   
   The message "Hello CUDA!" is printed to the screen.
   

The sample project can be downloaded from the Github repository at https://gitlab.com/dominoc925/hello-cuda-cmake