What you can do however is set the variable which uses the &lt;FLAGS&gt; definition, i.e. CMAKE_C_COMPILE_OBJECT in your example.  I have a CMakeLists.txt file where I override the default assembler flags:<br><br>set(CMAKE_ASM-ATT_COMPILE_OBJECT &quot;&lt;CMAKE_ASM-ATT_COMPILER&gt; ${ASM_SYS_FLAGS} -o &lt;OBJECT&gt; &lt;SOURCE&gt;&quot;)<br>
<br>to use what is set in my ASM_SYS_FLAGS variable instead of the default &lt;FLAGS&gt; one.  I&#39;m not sure but I think you are supposed to set these sort of variables early on in a CMakeList.txt before the project() or enable_language() commands.  Also, I think that later changes to the ASM_SYS_FLAGS variable are ignored.<br>
<br>--<br>Glenn<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 5 September 2011 19:53, David Cole <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:david.cole@kitware.com">david.cole@kitware.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div><div></div><div class="h5">On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 1:31 PM, David Dunkle &lt;<a href="mailto:ddunkle@arxan.com">ddunkle@arxan.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br>
&gt; Is it possible to read and to set a property/rule variable like &lt;FLAGS&gt;?<br>
&gt; What syntax would I use to do that? I mean &lt;FLAGS&gt; as it, for example,<br>
&gt; appears here:<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; set(CMAKE_C_COMPILE_OBJECT &quot;${target_compiler} -c &lt;FLAGS&gt; -o &lt;OBJECT&gt;&quot;)<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; For example can I do something like this (this is pseudo code)?<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; #read<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; set(MY_FLAGS,  ${&lt;FLAGS&gt;} );<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; …<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; #set<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; set(&lt;FLAGS&gt;, ${MY_FLAGS});<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; In the documentation, here:<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; <a href="http://cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_Useful_Variables#Expansion_Rules" target="_blank">http://cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_Useful_Variables#Expansion_Rules</a><br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; it hints at this being possible but doesn’t explain, at least not so that I<br>
&gt; understand.<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; Thanks,<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; -David<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt;<br>
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&gt;<br>
&gt; Please keep messages on-topic and check the CMake FAQ at:<br>
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<br>
The wiki page is simply misleading. You cannot set those from the<br>
CMake language. CMake decides on their values in internal code, and<br>
then substitutes appropriately when generating make files or<br>
solution/project files for the build system.<br>
<br>
You can set things the &quot;CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS&quot; which eventually get<br>
translated into the substitution that CMake performs, but you cannot<br>
alter &quot;&lt;FLAGS&gt;&quot; in the rules variables.<br>
<br>
<br>
HTH,<br>
David<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>