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Build Types

GPBT uses four named build configurations instead of CMake's default Debug / Release / RelWithDebInfo / MinSizeRel set. They are designed around daily AAA engine development, where an engineer iterating on gameplay code has different needs than a profiling session or a submission build.

The four configurations​

ConfigurationOptimisationsDebug InfoAssertionsIntended use
DebugOffFullEnabledInvestigating bugs, stepping through the debugger
DevelopmentOnFullEnabledDay-to-day engineering work
ProfileOnOffDisabledProfiling sessions, performance analysis
ShippingOnOffDisabledFinal product builds, distribution

Debug​

Full debug information, no optimisations, all assertions active. Use it when you need to attach a debugger and step through code reliably. Compilation is slower and the binary runs much slower than in other configurations, so it is not suited for general iteration.

Development​

Optimisations are on, full debug symbols are kept, assertions remain active. The binary runs at near-native speed and the debug symbols give you useful crash reports and profiler callstacks. Most engineers stay on Development day-to-day.

tip

Set your IDE's default build to Development, not Debug. You get debuggable symbols at much better runtime performance.

Profile​

Fully optimised, debug symbols stripped, assertions disabled. Use it for performance analysis only. The binary uses the same code generation as Shipping, so profiler results reflect real-world performance. Debug symbols are stripped because inlining can produce misleading callstacks in profiler output.

Shipping​

The final product configuration: fully optimised, no debug information, no assertions, logging stripped. Only use it when preparing a build for distribution — it is not suitable for development or profiling.

warning

Never develop or iterate against the Shipping configuration. Missing assertions and stripped logging will hide bugs that would otherwise surface immediately in Development.

Setting the build type​

Pass the configuration on the CMake command line:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Development

For multi-configuration generators (Visual Studio, Xcode), the build type is selected at build time, not configure time. All four configurations are always generated.

Using CMake Presets​

Define presets in CMakePresets.json to avoid specifying the build type manually on every invocation:

{
  "version": 6,
  "configurePresets": [
    {
      "name": "dev-windows",
      "displayName": "Development (Windows)",
      "generator": "Visual Studio 17 2022",
      "binaryDir": "${sourceDir}/build/${presetName}"
    },
    {
      "name": "ship-linux",
      "displayName": "Shipping (Linux)",
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "binaryDir": "${sourceDir}/build/${presetName}",
      "cacheVariables": {
        "CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE": "Shipping"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Allowed configurations​

GPBT validates that only the four recognised configurations are used. The list is stored in GPBT_ALLOWED_CONFIGS:

set(GPBT_ALLOWED_CONFIGS "Debug;Development;Profile;Shipping")

Any configuration name not in this list, such as Release, produces a fatal error at configure time. This stops you from accidentally bypassing GPBT's flag policy.