Cmake produces file extensions in static library archives - c++

I recently switch from Autotools to CMake because CMake seems to be better for cross platform development and what I've noticed is when I build a static library of my C++ code all the files inside have a suffix .cpp.o
ar -t PA8/libgenericTZR.a
genericTZR.cpp.o
I've looked at other libraries built by other tools and they don't do that. I'm not sure if this is really a bad thing but, how can I get CMake to build the static libraries without the .cpp added file extension?
This is my CMake File
add_executable(PA8 ISP_Charges.cpp genericTZR.cpp genericTZR.h)
set(LIBSRC genericTZR.c genericTZR.h)
add_library(genericTZR SHARED ${LIBSRC})
add_library(genericTZR SHARED $<TARGET_OBJECTS:myObjects>)
add_library(genericTZR-static STATIC ${LIBSRC})
set_target_properties(genericTZR-static PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME $
install (TARGETS PA8 DESTINATION bin)
install (TARGETS genericTZR genericTZR-static DESTINATION lib)
install (FILES "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/PA8/genericTZR.h" DESTINA$
Thanks

According to this thread on cmake list (and I agree with it), it is not a good idea to try to change the output file names.
Consider the example gave in the link:
add_executable(foo foo.c foo.cpp)
Generated objects would be foo.c.o and foo.cpp.o. They would conflict if you forced them to have just the .o extension.
You can try to use the non-documented, internal, might-change-in-the-future
set(CMAKE_C_OUTPUT_EXTENSION_REPLACE 1)
set(CMAKE_CXX_OUTPUT_EXTENSION_REPLACE 1)
I don't know if they're still available or if works at all. I've never used them.
As comments on your post have clarified it, the names inside the static lib aren't really used, you shouldn't worry about them.

Related

how to use pb.cc to make libraries in subdirectories, i got "Cannot find source file"

I tries to use FOREACH to generated several pb files. And make two list names PROTO_SRCS & PROTO_HDRS like below.
I can use it in the main CMakeLists. Like add_executable(a SHARED ${PROTO_SRCS} main.cpp).
But I can not use this param in subdirectories to make a library. when I type "cmake .." in main CMakelists build dir. It shown that "Cannot find source file: a.pb.cc".
main CMakeLists.txt
add_library(xxx SHARED ${PROTO_SRCS})
add_subdirectory(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/back back)
in src/back CMakeLists.txt
add_executable(yyy ${PROTO_SRCS})
and I can use message to show ${PROTO_SRCS} in subdir so it pass into successfully.
Please help me to point out the problem. Thx a lot
The issue is that in CMake versions older than 3.20 the GENERATED property of source files is only visible in the directory where it is set. Thus, when you add the protobuf-generated source files to a target defined in a different directory, CMake will no longer know that these are files generated during the build. Consequently, CMake will try to locate these files at configuration time, when they obviously do not exist yet.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing there is only a release candidate for CMake 3.20 and no official release yet. So depending on whether you need to coordinate with other coworkers or whether you're working on this project on your own it might not be feasible to use the release candidate.
If you can't use it, the alternative is to create an object library via add_library(protobuf_objs OBJECT ${PROTO_SRCS}) in the directory where you generate the files and to use target_sources(xxx PRIVATE $<TARGET_OBJECTS:protobuf_objs>) and target_sources(yyy PRIVATE $<TARGET_OBJECTS:protobuf_objs>) instead of adding the ${PROTO_SRCS} as source files to these targets directly.

Collect all header files when compiling static library

I am using Cmake to compile a static version of the library from source.
The source code has a structure that looks like this:
src/
module1/
x.cpp
x.h
...
module2/
y.cpp
y.h
...
and so on...
Compiling a static version of the library is not difficult. However for distribution purposes, I just want to distribute the the headers (x.h, y.h, ...) and static libraries (module1.a, module2.a, ...).
Is there some command in GCC or CMAKE to automatically collect all of the headers and put them into a separate folder?
I am aware that I could manually separate the source and headers, or I could simply distribute all of the code (source and headers), but that is wasteful and undesireable for my particular use case. Alternatively, I could write a pretty simple Python script to do it, but it seems to me that this is probably a pretty common scenario. So I would guess that there is something in Gcc or Cmake to do it.
Note: I am not in charge of maintaining the codebase, so I have no say in how the project is structured. If I was, I could have separated the code into src and include folders.
The best thing to do is have cmake glob and install all your artifacts.
# append to your existing CMakeLists.txt
install(TARGETS module1 module2 #adjust to use your names
ARCHIVE DESTINATION lib)
file(GLOB_RECURSE header_list "*.h") #adjust if necessary
install(FILES ${header_list}
DESTINATION include)
Be aware that globbing isn't perfect, and the file list is only updated when cmake is run (i.e., it won't detect added or removed files on its own).

preferred cmake project structure

I would like to have the following structure A -> B -> C, where:
C is boilerplate code, wrappers for third-party libraries, very
basic code etc.
B is the common classes, functions and data
structures specific to the project's domain.
A is the project itself.
I would like to make it easy to reuse C or B(+C) in future in my other projects. In addition, I have the following requirements:
As all three projects are in-progress, I would like to have an ability to build C, C+B and C+B+A in one shot.
I would prefer the static linkage over dynamic, so that C and C+B would be static libraries, and C+B+A would be the executable
I would like to keep cmake lists and config files simple and clean. Examples which I found in the official wiki and over the internet are pretty big and monstrous.
It would be great if it won't require changing more than a couple of lines if I'd change the locations of A, B or C in the filesystem.
All these three components are using google-test, but I'm not sure if it is important for the project layout.
I am pretty new to cmake and I don't even understand is it better to write XXXConfig.cmake or FindXXX.cmake files. Also, I am not sure, how should I pass relative paths from subcomponent to the parent component using X_INCLUDE_DIRS.
First I have to admit that I agree with #Tsyvarev. Your CMake environment should fit to your processes/workflow and should take project sizes and team structure into account. Or generally speaking the environment CMake will be used in. And this tends to be - in a positive way - very alive.
So this part of your question is difficult to answer and I'll concentrate on the technical part:
CMake has to know the location of the dependencies - relative or absolute - by
having a monolithic source tree (the one you don't want anymore)
CMake share library with multiple executables
CMake: How to setup Source, Library and CMakeLists.txt dependencies?
a common directory location for includes/libraries/binaries
Custom Directory for CMake Library Output
cmake install not installing libraries on windows
getting the paths via config files/variable definitions
How can I get cmake to find my alternative boost installation?
How to add_custom_command() for the CMake build process itself?
using registration in or installation from a database provided on the host
Making cmake library accessible by other cmake packages automatically
cmake wont run build_command in ExternalProject_Add correctly
To keep your CMake files as simple as possible I would recommend to group your CMake code into separate dedicated files:
Prefer toolchain files over if(SomeCompiler) statements
Move common/repeating code parts as function() bodies into a shared CMake include file
Move complex non-target specific code parts into their own (CMake) script files
Example Code
Since you have specifically asked for the find_package() variant, taking Use CMake-enabled libraries in your CMake project and the things listed above:
MyCommonCode.cmake
cmake_policy(SET CMP0022 NEW)
function(my_export_target _target _include_dir)
file(
WRITE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_target}Config.cmake"
"
include(\"\$\{CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR\}/${_target}Targets.cmake\")
set_property(
TARGET ${_target}
APPEND PROPERTY
INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES \"${_include_dir}\"
)
"
)
export(
TARGETS ${_target}
FILE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${_target}Targets.cmake"
EXPORT_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES
)
export(PACKAGE ${_target})
endfunction(my_export_target)
C/CMakeLists.txt
include(MyCommonCode.cmake)
...
my_export_target(C "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include")
B/CMakeLists.txt
include(MyCommonCode.cmake)
find_package(C REQUIRED)
...
target_link_libraries(B C)
my_export_target(B "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include")
A/CMakeLists.txt
include(MyCommonCode.cmake)
find_package(B REQUIRED)
...
target_link_libraries(A B)
This keeps all 3 build environments separate, only sharing the relatively static MyCommonCode.cmake file. So in this approach I have so far not covered your first point, but would recommend the use of a external script to chain/trigger your build steps for A/B/C.

How does CMake know which prefixes and suffixes to add to shared libraries?

I am trying to use INSTALL in CMake to copy some external binaries to an install directory. My code goes like:
SET(SimTK_SHARED_LIBS
SimTKsimbody
SimTKmath
SimTKcommon
SimTKmolmodel
)
INSTALL(TARGETS ${SimTK_SHARED_LIBS}
LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib
)
I get this error:
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:216 (INSTALL):
install TARGETS given target "SimTKsimbody" which does not exist in this
directory.
this is in spite of putting files called both libSimTKsimbody.so and (incorrectly) SimTKsimbody in the current directory as well as in the library directory.
Interestingly, this:
SET(SHARED_MMB_TARGET MMBlib)
ADD_LIBRARY(${SHARED_MMB_TARGET} SHARED
${MMB_LIBRARY_SOURCE_FILES}
${MMB_HEADER_FILES})
SET_TARGET_PROPERTIES(${SHARED_MMB_TARGET}
PROPERTIES
COMPILE_FLAGS "-DMMB_BUILDING_SHARED_LIBRARY"
PROJECT_LABEL "MMBlib (dynamic)")
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${SHARED_MMB_TARGET}
${SimTK_SHARED_LIBS_D}
${SimTK_SHARED_LIBS}
${OpenMM_SHARED_LIBS_D}
${OpenMM_SHARED_LIBS}
${SimTK_GENERAL_LIBS})
INSTALL(TARGETS ${SHARED_MMB_TARGET}
LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib
RUNTIME DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/bin
)
.. works fine. It installs libMMBlib.so in ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib as it should. Does this mean that INSTALL will only work for this if I issue ADD_LIBRARY and/or SET_TARGET_PROPERTIES? The SimTK_SHARED_LIBS are compiled separately, I really do not want to compile them here.
I have thought about using INSTALL FILES, and just writing code to process the library names for each operating system. However I am convinced that CMake has the means to do this for me easily and elegantly.
Many thanks
Sam
Yes, you should use INSTALL(FILES) for install external libraries files.
CMake uses CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX and CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX as default prefix and suffix for libraries created with add_library(... SHARED), so you may expect these components from external library:
INSTALL(FILES /path/to/library/${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX}SimTKsimbody${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX}
...)
Also you may use FIND_LIBRARY for automatic(and nice) check of your expectations about library suffix and prefix:
FIND_LIBRARY(SIMTK_SIMBODY_LIB
${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX}SimTKsimbody${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX}
PATH /path/to/library)
INSTALL(FILES ${SIMTK_SIMBODY_LIB} ...)

How do I add objects with a custom extension to a cmake library?

I'd like to add some object files to a CMake static library, but they have a custom extension.
Here's what I've tried:
set(SRCS testfile.cxx jsobj.js)
add_library(testlib STATIC ${SRCS})
When made, CMake invokes ar testfile.cxx.o (ie the other file is completely ignored). How do I get it included in the archive? Here are some other tricks I've tried:
list(APPEND CMAKE_CXX_SOURCE_FILE_EXTENSIONS js)
list(APPEND CMAKE_C_SOURCE_FILE_EXTENSIONS js) # no luck
add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/jsobj.js.o
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/jsobj.js
${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/jsobj.js.o
DEPENDS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/jsobj.js.o) # still no luck
(In case you're interested, I'm using the emscripten compiler, which can accept C/C++ files as source input, and JavaScript files are essentially "precompiled objects". I want to find a way to get CMake to add them to the ar commandline, that's all!)
For the record, this is how I solved my problem in a hacky way: "proper" solutions would be gladly accepted.
I made up a new file extension for my special pre-compiled objects, "jso", then added it to the list of input files CMake understands:
list(APPEND CMAKE_CXX_SOURCE_FILE_EXTENSIONS jso)
Then, I add my object files with the extension ".jso" to the CMake sources for inclusion in a static library target.
Finally, I hacked the compiler by setting CC=mycc, where mycc is a Python script which checks if the input has the extension ".jso": if not, it simply re-invokes the standard compiler; otherwise it copies the input to the output with no changes at all, so that mycc -c input.jso -o output.jso.o is just a file copy.
This isn't pretty, but it picks up all the dependencies perfectly for incremental builds. I can't pretend it's pretty, but doing things the way CMake likes seems to work. Here, we're just pretending all inputs are source files, even if they're actually already compiled.