Since Version 5.0, CGAL is a header-only library, hence it is not needed to build it. Usage of CGAL should simply amount to:
git clone https://github.com/CGAL/cgal.git /path/to/cgal.git
cd /path/to/cgal.git/Triangulation_2/examples/Triangulation_2
mkdir -p build/debug
cd build/debug
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCGAL_DIR=/path/to/cgal.git ../..
make
in the case of building some CGAL-provided examples in debug mode.
Note that although CGAL is a header-only library, some parts of it must link to several external libraries, such as GMP, MPFR, etc.
If you wish to build a program that is not provided with CGAL and does not already have a CMakeLists.txt,
you can trigger the creation of a basic CMakeLists.txt by calling the script cgal_create_cmake_script
found in /path/to/cgal.git/Scripts/scripts/ at the root of your program directory.
git clone https://github.com/CGAL/cgal.git /path/to/cgal.git
cd /path/to/your/program
/path/to/cgal.git/Scripts/scripts/cgal_create_cmake_script
mkdir -p build/debug
cd build/debug
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCGAL_DIR:PATH=/path/to/cgal.git ../..
make your_program
Since the basic CMakeLists.txt created by the script cgal_create_cmake_script cannot
guess which part(s) of CGAL you are using, it does not link with any optional third party
dependency of CGAL. You should look at the documentation of the package(s) that you
are using to learn which dependencies you must add. The CMakeLists.txt
of the examples and demos provided with the package(s) that you are using can be used
to complete your basic CMakeLists.txt.
If you have downloaded a source release instead of cloning the Git repository, the files will be organized in a slightly different way, see the Layout of the CGAL Git Repository.
For more information see the CGAL manual.