I am looking to automate the compilation of a given c++ library (in this case, cpprestsdk). I am looking to build the library using cmake.
Like many other projects, this has dependencies. Namely, it requires OpenSSL, Boost, ZLIB and websocketpp.
I'm looking for a way in which I can provide a CMakeLists file that will fetch and build all of the prerequisites and allow cpprestsdk to build without necessarily having the libraries pre-installed on a computer.
The way I am fetching cpprestsdk is as follows:
FetchContent_Declare(cpprestsdk
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/microsoft/cpprestsdk.git
GIT_TAG master)
FetchContent_GetProperties(cpprestsdk)
if(NOT cpprestsdk_POPULATED)
FetchContent_Populate(cpprestsdk)
add_subdirectory(${cpprestsdk_SOURCE_DIR} ${cpprestsdk_BINARY_DIR})
endif()
Of course, since this does not populate it's own dependencies, it will not be able to build. Although websocketpp has an embedded release, it is only used if not found. For this reason, I will use it as an example.
FetchContent_Declare(websocketpp
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/zaphoyd/websocketpp.git
GIT_TAG master
)
FetchContent_GetProperties(websocketpp)
if(NOT websocketpp_POPULATED)
FetchContent_Populate(websocketpp)
add_subdirectory(${cpprestsdk_SOURCE_DIR} ${cpprestsdk_BINARY_DIR})
endif()
This will fetch websocketpp, but as it is only the configure stage, nothing will be built. For this reason, cpprestsdk will not be able to find the dependency and instead fallback to the embedded release.
My question is therefore: Is there any way I can force a build after fetching a package? Or remove the library requirement during the configure stage? I think this may be possible using ExternalProject instead, however I'm not too sure how I would set that up either.
I use a subroutine to fetch the source code, then use execute_process to build and install the target.
After this, even find_package can locate the library.
Fetch subroutine:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
# suppress CMP0042
cmake_policy(SET CMP0042 NEW)
set(CMAKE_MACOSX_RPATH 1)
# this must exist or cmake will complain about not presenting a project()
project(${PK_NAME}_download NONE)
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
${PK_NAME}
GIT_REPOSITORY "${PK_GIT}"
GIT_TAG "${PK_GIT_TAG}"
PREFIX "${#PK_NAME#_ROOT}"
)
if(NOT ${PK_NAME}_POPULATED)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(${PK_NAME})
endif()
Download, build and install:
# copy the template to place
configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/FetchLib.cmake ${${PK_NAME}_ROOT}/CMakeLists.txt)
# download source code
execute_process(
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -G "${CMAKE_GENERATOR}" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=${${PK_NAME}_ROOT} ${SUB_PARAM}
.
RESULT_VARIABLE result
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${${PK_NAME}_ROOT}
)
if(result)
message(FATAL_ERROR "CMake step for ${PK_NAME} failed: ${result}")
endif()
set(CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX "${${PK_NAME}_ROOT}")
# build
execute_process(
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --build .
RESULT_VARIABLE result
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${${PK_NAME}_ROOT}
)
if(result)
message(FATAL_ERROR "Build step for ${PK_NAME} failed: ${result}")
endif()
# install
execute_process(
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --install .
RESULT_VARIABLE result
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${${PK_NAME}_ROOT}
)
if(result)
message(FATAL_ERROR "Install step for ${PK_NAME} failed: ${result}")
endif()
You are looking for ExternalProject_add
I often use this approach to build externals projects, it provides me automatic control over external projects that are inserted in my projects.
You can include like this:
ExternalProject_add(cpprestsdkDownload
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/microsoft/cpprestsdk
GIT_TAG master
CMAKE_ARGS
-DWERROR:BOOL="0"
-DBUILD_SAMPLES:BOOL="0"
-DBUILD_TESTS:BOOL="0" )
You can use your custom configure,build and install commands to ! Have Fun !
Related
I want to integrate CasADi into a CMake-based C++ codebase as an ExternalProject. For this purpose, I would like to use pre-compiled libraries because building from source is not recommended. So far, I have only managed to write the following:
ExternalProject_Add(
casadi-3.5.5
URL https://github.com/casadi/casadi/releases/download/3.5.5/casadi-linux-py39-v3.5.5-64bit.tar.gz
CONFIGURE_COMMAND ""
BUILD_COMMAND ""
INSTALL_COMMAND ""
PREFIX ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external/casadi)
and I noticed that all the binaries are correctly downloaded in the specified folder. However, I do not know how to link my targets to CasADi, nor how to find the package.
There is a natural problem with ExternalProject_Add:
ExternalProject_Add executes commands only on build.
Hence, download will not happen at the configure stage of your project which makes it difficult to use find_package, because the files cannot be found during your first configure run.
Take this CMakeLists.txt:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.21)
project(untitled)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
add_executable(untitled main.cpp)
include(ExternalProject)
ExternalProject_Add(
casadi-3.5.5
URL https://github.com/casadi/casadi/releases/download/3.5.5/casadi-linux-py39-v3.5.5-64bit.tar.gz
CONFIGURE_COMMAND ""
BUILD_COMMAND ""
INSTALL_COMMAND ""
PREFIX ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external/casadi)
find_package(casadi HINTS ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external/casadi/src/casadi-3.5.5/casadi)
target_link_libraries(untitled casadi)
In order to use it you have to do the following:
Configure your project
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
Build (download) casadi-3.5.5
cmake --build . --target casadi-3.5.5
Reconfigure your project, because now find_package will find the needed files
cmake ..
Build your targets
cmake --build .
If you want a one step build, there are ways to get around this problem
Use FetchContent
Create a sub-cmake-project in a subfolder with all the ExternalProject_Add commands and execute the approriate build (download) steps manually in your own CMakeLists.txt via execute_process calls: https://stackoverflow.com/a/37554269/8088550
Here is an example for the second option, which might be better since FetchContent doesn't have the full functionality of ExternalProject.
main.cpp
#include <casadi/casadi.hpp>
int main()
{
casadi_printf("This works!");
return 0;
}
CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(untitled)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
# some default target
add_executable(untitled main.cpp)
# Configure and build external project
file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external)
execute_process(
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external
)
execute_process(
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --build ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external
)
# find and link externals
find_package(casadi REQUIRED HINTS ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external/external/casadi/src/casadi-3.5.5/casadi)
target_link_libraries(untitled casadi)
external/CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(external)
include(ExternalProject)
ExternalProject_Add(
casadi-3.5.5
URL https://github.com/casadi/casadi/releases/download/3.5.5/casadi-linux-py39-v3.5.5-64bit.tar.gz
CONFIGURE_COMMAND ""
BUILD_COMMAND ""
INSTALL_COMMAND ""
PREFIX ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/external/casadi)
The point is to have another cmake project under external/CMakeLists.txt, which gets configured and build via execute_process calls from the main cmake project. Do note, that you can now have find_package(casadi REQUIRED ...) at configure stage, because the download will happen just before.
I am building a project with Cmake and use FetchContent to manage dependencies. For several reasons I cannot depend on system-wide installed packages, so this package helps a lot. It allows me to do things like this:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
project(dummy LANGUAGES C CXX)
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(nlohmann
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/onavratil-monetplus/json
GIT_TAG v3.7.3
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(nlohmann)
add_executable(dummy main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(dummy PUBLIC nlohmann_json::nlohmann_json)
Now this works nicely as long as the repo is a cmake project with CMakeLists.txt. I would love to use similar approach for non-cmake projects, such as Botan library. Apparently
FetchContent_Declare(botan
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/onavratil-monetplus/botan
GIT_TAG 2.17.2
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(botan)
does not really do the job, the build doesnt run since its not a cmake project. One would consider adding
CONFIGURE_COMMAND "<SOURCE_DIR>/configure.py --prefix=<BINARY_DIR>"
BUILD_COMMAND "cd <SOURCE_DIR> && make"
or something similar to the declare command, yet the FetchContent docs explicitly says that these particular arguments are ignored when passed to FetchContent.
Now the struggle is obvious - how to properly use FetchContent in this scenario? I was considering using ExternalProject_Add after the fetchcontent, yet then fetchcontent seems useless (ExternalProject can download git repo as well). Moreover, I would like to use some of the targets of botan at config time (if it makes sense).
I'm facing the same problem. Since the Botan library does not use the CMake build system internally, we cannot use the Botan "targets". But it is possible to build the Botan library at CMake configure time and use library and header files. Here is my solution (minimal configuration, works only for MS Visual Studio):
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.20)
if(WIN32)
if(NOT (${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} STREQUAL "Release"))
message(FATAL_ERROR "This configuration only works for a Release build")
endif()
# set paths
set(BOTAN_LIB_ROOT_DIR "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/botan")
set(BOTAN_LIB_REPOS_DIR "${BOTAN_LIB_ROOT_DIR}/repos")
set(BOTAN_LIB_FCSTUFF_DIR "${BOTAN_LIB_ROOT_DIR}/cmake-fetchcontent-stuff")
set(BOTAN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR "${BOTAN_LIB_ROOT_DIR}-install")
# download and unpack Botan library
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
botan
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/randombit/botan.git
GIT_TAG 2.19.1
PREFIX ${BOTAN_LIB_FCSTUFF_DIR}
SOURCE_DIR ${BOTAN_LIB_REPOS_DIR}
)
set(FETCHCONTENT_QUIET OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(botan)
# find Python3 Interpreter and run build, testing and installation
if(${botan_POPULATED} AND MSVC AND NOT EXISTS "${BOTAN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/botan.lib")
find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter)
if(NOT ${Python3_Interpreter_FOUND})
message(FATAL_ERROR "Python3 Interpreter NOT FOUND")
endif()
execute_process(
COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} configure.py --cc=msvc --os=windows --prefix=${BOTAN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${BOTAN_LIB_REPOS_DIR}
COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
)
execute_process(
COMMAND nmake
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${BOTAN_LIB_REPOS_DIR}
COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
)
execute_process(
COMMAND nmake check
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${BOTAN_LIB_REPOS_DIR}
COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
)
execute_process(
COMMAND nmake install
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${BOTAN_LIB_REPOS_DIR}
COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
)
endif()
endif()
add_executable (main "main.cpp")
if(WIN32)
target_include_directories(main PUBLIC "${BOTAN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}/include/botan-2")
target_link_libraries(main PUBLIC "${BOTAN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/botan.lib")
configure_file("${BOTAN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}/bin/botan.dll"
"${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/botan.dll"
COPYONLY
)
install(TARGETS main DESTINATION bin)
install(FILES "${BOTAN_LIB_INSTALL_DIR}/bin/botan.dll" DESTINATION bin)
endif()
Here is the full version: https://github.com/weenchvd/cmake-build-botan-lib
I would like to link my Debug executable with external library built in Release version using FetchContent.
I'm able to link my Debug executable with Debug built library and similar with Release and Release using:
project(CMakeDemo)
set(FETCHCONTENT_QUIET OFF)
FetchContent_Declare(
ZLIB
URL https://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(ZLIB)
add_executable(CMakeDemo main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(CMakeDemo ZLIB)
So when I execute from a build directory on Windows:
cmake ../
cmake --build .
Then zlib and my executable is built in Debug version and my executable is linked with that zlib Debug version.
But how to enhance the CMake to build my executable in Debug version but zlib in Release version and link my Debug executable with the zlib Release version? How to achieve that using FetchContent_Declare?
(I believe this has to be some common approach because for example when someone wants to use Google Test framework or zlib in a project then for sure he wants to use these external libraries in Release version always)
FetchContent() will integrate the dependency, here ZLIB, in your worktree like an add_subdirectory() so flags will be identical (if ZLIB is correctly configured to be use as subproject, spoiler: this is not the case you'll need to patch it...).
If you really want to build it in Release, you should try to use ExternalProject() and execute_process()
to build and install it at configure time then you can use find_package() to retrieve this pre-installed dependency.
I know that the question is old, but as I have been struggling a whole day with the same issue, and wanted to share my progress. Please bear in mind I'm a cmake newbie, and I'm not sure if what I'm doing conforms to best practices, and the example code I provide might have mistakes. It can also definitely be significantly improved - but I believe is sufficient to get someone off the ground, if they're having the same issue.
For my use case, I wanted the external libraries to be built at cmake configure time, instead of build time. To that effect, I used execute_process to configure and build the external libraries. This is the function I created for that effect:
function(fetch_and_build_lib)
set(options "")
set(oneValueArgs LIB_NAME GIT_REPOSITORY GIT_TAG PACKAGE_NAME)
set(multiValueArgs CONFIG_ARGS CONFIG_TYPES BUILD_ARGS COMPONENTS)
cmake_parse_arguments(ARG "${options}" "${oneValueArgs}" "${multiValueArgs}" ${ARGN})
if (NOT DEFINED ARG_LIB_NAME)
message(FATAL_ERROR "fetch_and_build_lib called without LIB_NAME")
endif()
if (NOT DEFINED ARG_GIT_REPOSITORY)
message(FATAL_ERROR "fetch_and_build_lib called without GIT_REPOSITORY")
endif()
if (NOT DEFINED ARG_GIT_TAG)
message(FATAL_ERROR "fetch_and_build_lib called without GIT_TAG")
endif()
if (DEFINED ARG_PACKAGE_NAME)
set(PACKAGE_NAME ${ARG_PACKAGE_NAME})
else()
set(PACKAGE_NAME ${ARG_LIB_NAME})
endif()
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(${ARG_LIB_NAME}
GIT_REPOSITORY "${ARG_GIT_REPOSITORY}"
GIT_TAG "${ARG_GIT_TAG}"
)
FetchContent_GetProperties(${ARG_LIB_NAME}
POPULATED LIB_POPULATED
)
message(STATUS "Checking if ${ARG_LIB_NAME} is populated: ${LIB_POPULATED}")
if (NOT LIB_POPULATED})
message(STATUS "Populating ${ARG_LIB_NAME}...")
FetchContent_Populate(${ARG_LIB_NAME})
set(LIB_BINARY_DIR ${${ARG_LIB_NAME}_BINARY_DIR})
set(LIB_SOURCE_DIR ${${ARG_LIB_NAME}_SOURCE_DIR})
message(STATUS "Configuring ${ARG_LIB_NAME}...")
execute_process(
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
"-S ${LIB_SOURCE_DIR}"
"-B ${LIB_BINARY_DIR}"
"-DCMAKE_GENERATOR=${CMAKE_GENERATOR}"
"-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}"
${ARG_CONFIG_ARGS}
WORKING_DIRECTORY "${LIB_BINARY_DIR}"
COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
RESULT_VARIABLE result_config
)
if(result_config)
message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to config ${ARG_LIB_NAME} exited with result: ${result_config}")
else()
message(STATUS "${ARG_LIB_NAME} configuring complete!")
endif()
foreach(config_type IN LISTS ARG_CONFIG_TYPES)
set(${ARG_LIB_NAME}_CONFIG_TYPE "${config_type}" CACHE INTERNAL "Config/build type for ${ARG_LIB_NAME}")
message(STATUS "Building ${ARG_LIB_NAME}... with CONFIG: ${config_type}")
execute_process(
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
--build "${LIB_BINARY_DIR}"
--config "${config_type}"
WORKING_DIRECTORY "${LIB_BINARY_DIR}"
COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
${ARG_BUILD_ARGS}
RESULT_VARIABLE result_build
)
endforeach()
if(result_build)
message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to build ${ARG_LIB_NAME} with result: ${result_build}")
else()
message(STATUS "${ARG_LIB_NAME} build complete!")
endif()
endif()
if (DEFINED ARG_COMPONENTS)
find_package(${PACKAGE_NAME} REQUIRED
COMPONENTS ${ARG_COMPONENTS}
PATHS ${LIB_BINARY_DIR}
NO_DEFAULT_PATH
)
else()
find_package(${PACKAGE_NAME} REQUIRED
PATHS ${LIB_BINARY_DIR}
NO_DEFAULT_PATH
)
endif()
endfunction()
What it does is as follows:
Downloads from git a repository with a specific tag
Configures the build system of the downloaded library
Builds the library as part of the main project configure stage
Makes sure that FindPackage can discover the newly built library
Then, in my CMakeLists.txt for my project, I use it like so:
add_executable(main main.cpp)
fetch_and_build_lib(
LIB_NAME "mylib"
GIT_REPOSITORY "https://github.com/myRepo/myLib.git"
GIT_TAG "1.2.3"
CONFIG_ARGS "-DMYLIB_DOC=OFF;-DMYLIB_TEST=OFF"
CONFIG_TYPES "debug, release"
PACKAGE_NAME "MyLIB"
)
find_package(MyLIB REQUIRED)
#Use Release version of library for Debug, MinSizeRel, RelWithDebInfo build types:
set_target_properties(MyLIB PROPERTIES
MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_MINSIZEREL Release
MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_RELWITHDEBINFO Release
MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_DEBUG Release
)
target_link_libraries(main myLib::myLib)
This invokes the previously defined function that downloads, configures and builds the library. It assumes that the library correctly exports its targets, and then remaps the imported configs to the current project config.
This is what actually ends up linking the debug lib with the release executable.
CMake documentation for MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_
Mandatory disclaimer:
Mixing release libs and debug executables is filled with pitfalls, both for shared and static libraries. I'm not discussing whether this is a good idea or not, or what the pitfalls are. Be sure you are aware of the limitations and what is safe and what is not safe to do when doing such a mix.
This question already has answers here:
How to start working with GTest and CMake
(11 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
I am developing a C/C++ app using CMake. I want to use GTest in my project for unit testing. For this I have decided to use GTest as a git submodule in my repository.
My directory hierarchy is as follows:
/
--include
--lib
--GoogleTest
--src
--Tests
The GoogleTest subdirectory in lib contains the source code of GTest from their official repository.
But I am unable to use it to test my source. The CMakeLists.txt file at the root of my repository is as follows:
OPTION (BUILD_UNIT_TESTS "Build unit tests" ON)
if (BUILD_UNIT_TESTS)
enable_testing ()
find_package (GTest REQUIRED)
add_subdirectory (Tests)
endif ()
But I receive the error:
Error:Could NOT find GTest (missing: GTEST_LIBRARY GTEST_INCLUDE_DIR
GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY)
When I searched for this, there were many questions similar to mine, but none of them addressed my problem. And their manual is very limited and does not tell much about its usage properly.
CMake is successfully able to build the target GTest but fails to recognise it when I try to use it as an external package.
You don't have to manually download the Gtest git. Just add the following lines to your CMakeLists.txt
# -------- GOOGLE TEST ----------
# Download and unpack googletest at configure time
configure_file(CMakeLists.txt.in googletest-download/CMakeLists.txt)
execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -G "${CMAKE_GENERATOR}" .
RESULT_VARIABLE result
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/googletest-download )
if(result)
message(FATAL_ERROR "CMake step for googletest failed: ${result}")
endif()
execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --build .
RESULT_VARIABLE result
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/googletest-download )
if(result)
message(FATAL_ERROR "Build step for googletest failed: ${result}")
endif()
# Prevent overriding the parent project's compiler/linker
# settings on Windows
set(gtest_force_shared_crt ON CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
# Add googletest directly to our build. This defines
# the gtest and gtest_main targets.
add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/googletest-src
${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/googletest-build
EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
# The gtest/gtest_main targets carry header search path
# dependencies automatically when using CMake 2.8.11 or
# later. Otherwise we have to add them here ourselves.
if (CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 2.8.11)
include_directories("${gtest_SOURCE_DIR}/include")
endif()
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
enable_testing()
include_directories("${gtest_SOURCE_DIR}/include")
And add the following lines to another file, named CMakeLists.txt.in, in the same directory your CMakeLists.txt file is
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.2)
project(googletest-download NONE)
include(ExternalProject)
ExternalProject_Add(googletest
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/googletest.git
GIT_TAG release-1.10.0
SOURCE_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/googletest-src"
BINARY_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/googletest-build"
CONFIGURE_COMMAND ""
BUILD_COMMAND ""
INSTALL_COMMAND ""
TEST_COMMAND ""
)
What does it do ?
The things you added to your main CMakeLists will download GTest and GMock git projects at the version specified in the CMakeLists.txt.in file. Then it will build these, and include the build path in your main project.
Source : GoogleTest Git
With the following CMakeLists.txt build script:
include( ExternalProject )
ExternalProject_Add( framework SOURCE_DIR ${framework_SOURCE}
PREFIX framework_build
INSTALL_DIR ${framework_DISTRIBUTION} )
...
add_library( ${PROJECT_NAME} SHARED ${BUILD_MANIFEST} )
add_dependencies( ${PROJECT_NAME} framework )
When I attempt to perform a parallel build (make -j5) it will occasionally fail due to a build artefact from the framework not being present. The order of the build, fixed by add_dependencies, is not being adhered to.
Have I misunderstood the documentation around add_dependencies?
Output from cmake --graphviz=graph.dot
Ok, so an updated version of CMake has warned me that the framework dependency is not present. ExternalProject_Add and add_dependencies can not be used with each other, as ExternalProject_Add has not actually built and therefore registered the framework as a high-level target.
Note:
Anyone encountering this problem in future. I've found another SO post by #matiu that resolved my issue.
Maybe ExternalProject_Add_StepDependencies could solve that and create a dependency between the externalproject_add and the imported target?
This is a minimal working example adding Google test as a dependency.
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
project(ExampleProject)
# Set the build type if it isn't already
if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Debug)
endif()
include(ExternalProject)
set(GOOGLE_TEST GoogleTest)
set(GTEST_PREFIX "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${GOOGLE_TEST}")
ExternalProject_Add(${GOOGLE_TEST}
GIT_REPOSITORY https://chromium.googlesource.com/external/googletest
PREFIX ${GTEST_PREFIX}
CMAKE_ARGS -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
INSTALL_COMMAND ""
)
# Specify include directory
ExternalProject_Get_Property(${GOOGLE_TEST} source_dir)
include_directories(${source_dir}/include)
set(LIBPREFIX "${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX}")
set(LIBSUFFIX "${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX}")
set(GTEST_LOCATION "${GTEST_PREFIX}/src/${GOOGLE_TEST}-build")
set(GTEST_LIBRARY "${GTEST_LOCATION}/${LIBPREFIX}gtest${LIBSUFFIX}")
set(EXECUTABLE_NAME ${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME})
add_executable(${EXECUTABLE_NAME} main.cpp)
add_dependencies(${EXECUTABLE_NAME} ${GOOGLE_TEST})
target_link_libraries(
${EXECUTABLE_NAME}
${GTEST_LIBRARY}
-lpthread
)
enable_testing()
set(TEST_NAME ${EXECUTABLE_NAME})
add_test(${EXECUTABLE_NAME} ${TEST_NAME})
And this is the dependency graph:
In this case without add_dependencies a parallel build will always fail, because of missing the dependency.