Checkout GMTSAR from its subversion repository:
$ svn co svn://gmtserver.soest.hawaii.edu/GMTSAR/trunk gmtsar-dev $ cd gmtsar-dev $ mkdir build $ cd build $ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo .. $ make -j $ make -j install
CMake supports out-of-source builds and puts generated files in a completely separate directory, so that the source tree is unchanged. Trying to run CMake in the source tree will result in an error. CMake will first check for the minimal required version and then search for required and optional libraries (GMT, TIFF, LAPACK) in the default locations. The configuration step will fail if dependencies are not met.
Assuming you did not delete the build directory and that your current working directory is the build directory this is just as simple as
$ cd .. $ svn up $ cd - $ make -jx install
CMake will detect any changes to the source files and will automatically reconfigure. If you deleted all files inside the build directory you have to run cmake again manually.