Linking with cmake, icc and pthreads (linux) - c++

Question

I am trying to compile a simple test project with the Intel C++ Compiler, CMake, and std::threads support.
If I do :
icpc -std=c++11 -lpthread source/main.cpp
Then the build and the program work fine.
But with CMake I get an error:
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:21 (TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES):
Cannot specify link libraries for target "test" which is not built by
this project.
CMakeLists.txt is:
project(test)
set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-std=c++11")
set(SOURCE_LIST "source/main.cpp")
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${PROJECT_NAME} pthread)
add_executable (${PROJECT_NAME} ${SOURCE_LIST})
I am building in an environment set by the script supplied by icc (compilervars.sh) and CMake is called with the -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=icc -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=icpc options. It works if I'm not using threads.
What is wrong with my use of CMake?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Looking back the documentation for target_link_libraries, a target must be declared before being used:
The named <target> must have been created in the current directory by a command such as add_executable() or add_library().
BTW as stated in this answer, you should not set CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS explicitly, and prefer setting CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD and related variables:
project(test)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
set(SOURCE_LIST "source/main.cpp")
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} ${SOURCE_LIST})
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} pthread)

Answer 2

The order is wrong: first declare your executable and let CMake know that it exists
add_executable (${PROJECT_NAME} ${SOURCE_LIST})
and afterwards add the link libraries
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${PROJECT_NAME} pthread)
From target_link_libraries's documentation:
The named must have been created in the current directory by a command such as add_executable() or add_library()