max-sdk-base

This folder contains the core headers, libs, and script files you will need to compile a C or C++ external object for Max. It is used by both the Max Software Development Kit and Min-DevKit Package example packages. Please refer to those repositories for additional documentation and best practices.

Overview of Contents

• c74support : header and lib files
• cmake: CMake modules — the recommended build system integration (see max-sdk for examples)
• script: legacy CMake scripts, retained for backward compatibility while projects migrate

Using max-sdk-base in your project

There are two supported ways to bring max-sdk-base into your external's build.

FetchContent

Include the following in your base CMakeLists.txt file. CMake will download max-sdk-base automatically at configure time:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.25)

include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
    max-sdk-base
    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/Cycling74/max-sdk-base.git
    GIT_TAG        main  # pin to a tag or commit hash for reproducible builds
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(max-sdk-base)

project(my-package)
add_subdirectory(source/my-external)

Git submodule

Add max-sdk-base as a submodule at a path of your choice, then include it via add_subdirectory before your first project() call:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.25)

add_subdirectory(max-sdk-base)

project(my-package)
add_subdirectory(source/my-external)

In both cases, the Max::Max, Max::MSP, and Max::Jitter imported targets are available for use with target_link_libraries.

See the max-sdk repository for a complete example of how to structure the CMakeLists.txt for an external object.

CMake Options

Out-of-tree package build

When MAX_SDK_PACKAGE_OUT_OF_TREE is ON, the build directory contains a fully assembled Max package which you can zip up to share with others without including source code or build-time files. You can also then symlink build/package directly into Max's Packages folder instead of the root repository, keeping source and build files separate.

Enable it at configure time:

cmake -B build -DMAX_SDK_PACKAGE_OUT_OF_TREE=ON
cmake --build build

Authored content directories (help, init, media, support, etc.) are copied at configure time. These files and directories are described here: https://docs.cycling74.com/userguide/packages/#package-folder-structure. To pick up changes to this content in the build directory, re-run cmake.

License

See the accompanying License.md file.

Support

For support, please use the developer forums at: http://cycling74.com/forums/