CMake how to avoid recursive add_subdirectory? - cmake

My workspace is structured as
workspace
library1
library2
library3
library3 depends on library2 and library1
library2 depends on library1
In library3 CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.9)
add_subdirectory(../library2 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE}/../library2/build)
add_subdirectory(../library1 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE}/../library1/build)
In library2 CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.9)
add_subdirectory(../library1 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE}/../library1/build)
cmake in library2 throws an error that library1/build already contains cmake files.
CMake Error at C:/Users/me/workspace/Library2/CMakeLists.txt:12 (add_subdirectory):
The binary directory
C:/Users/me/workspace/Library1/build
is already used to build a source directory. It cannot be used to build
source directory
C:/Users/me/workspace/Library1
Specify a unique binary directory name.

What I would personally do for something like this, is that in workspace, I have a root CMakeList.txt file that sets up the project:
# Set the minimum version of cmake required
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.9)
project(MyProject)
add_subdirectory(library1)
add_subdirectory(library2)
add_subdirectory(library3)
(This is really all you need, your root CMakeLists.txt file doesn't need to be long at all).
And then instead of calling relative path add_subdirectory() calls, then for the libraries that require dependencies, use add_dependencies(<target> \[<target-dependency>\]...) to ensure that the dependency targets are built before the current target.
So inside of library3/CMakeLists.txt, after your add_library/add_executable and target_link_libraries calls (if applicable) add:
add_dependencies(library3 general path/to/library2 general path/to/library1
As an example.

Related

CMake copy dll transitively

Basically I want CMake to copy dependency's dll to the same directory of the executable. Suppose I have the following directory structure:
my-project/
CMakeLists.txt
lib/
CMakeLists.txt
... # Some source files
app/
CMakeLists.txt
... # Some source files
The library lib depends on some third party dll, say foo.dll. The executable in app, say app.exe, depends on lib.
I've written a FindFOO.cmake to make the third party library foo.dll an imported target named foo.
Now when I compile app, in order to run the executable, foo.dll is required to be in the same directory as app.exe. How can this be achieved automatically with cmake? And what if I want to use CPack to package the application into an installer?
CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY is your friend.
If this variable is created before creating some target, if the target is RUNTIME, it will define where the output of the target will be placed.
In your case, it can be used to force foo.dll and app.exe to be in the same folder. Your root CMakeLists.txt should look like this:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)
project(foo_and_app)
# app.exe and foo.dll will be in bin subfolder of build dir
set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
add_subdirectory(lib)
add_subdirectory(app)
#not connected to placement, but only to package creation
include(CPack)
It should be noted that this variable is used to initialize the properties of the targets added, meaning that everything may also be achieved by directly manipulating appropriate target properties.
Regarding packaging, what you ask is possible, regardless of the placement of runtime targets, by using install cmake statement. In lib/CMakeLists.txt you should add something like this:
# suppose that the target named `foo`,
# i.e. it is added by add_library(foo SHARED .....)
install(TARGETS foo
RUNTIME DESTINATION bin
)
same should be done for app/CMakeLists.txt:
# suppose that the target named `app`,
# i.e. it is added by add_executable(app .....)
install(TARGETS app
RUNTIME DESTINATION bin
)
If you have these install statements, the final destination will be bin folder within the chosen install folder.
In the end, here are the links for CMake documentation describing:
CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY variable
RUNTIME cmake targets
install(TARGETS ...)

CMake execution order - first build shared library then look for it from another project

I have the following cmake setup:
colorizer_root
|
|-------colorizer_lib
|-------colorizer_template_project
The colorizer_root contains the top level CMakeLists.txt which is invoked when running cmake:
colorizer_root CMakeLists.txt
project(colorizer_root)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Debug)
add_subdirectory(colorizer_lib)
add_subdirectory(colorizer_template_project)
As you can see it contains 2 subdirectories each a project on its own. Basically what the colorizer_lib does is create a shared library named libcolorize.so (no executables here!), which then is to be used by the other project colorizer_template_project (the executable is created in this project). Here are the two CMakeLists.txt files for their respective projects:
colorizer_lib CMakeLists.txt
project(colorizer_lib)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "--std=gnu++11 ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
include_directories(. INCLUDES)
add_library(colorizer SHARED colorizer.cpp)
colorizer_template_project CMakeLists.txt
project(colorizer_template_project)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
find_library(COLORIZER_LIB colorizer
PATHS ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/colorizer_lib
)
aux_source_directory(. SRC_LIST)
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} ${SRC_LIST})
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} ${COLORIZER_LIB})
I'm having trouble figuring out how the whole lookup thing works. The problem here is that when I run the top level CMakeLists.txt it goes through both (obviously) but during processing the colorizer_template_project it breaks with a complaint:
CMake Error: The following variables are used in this project, but they are set to NOTFOUND.
Please set them or make sure they are set and tested correctly in the CMake files:
COLORIZER_LIB
linked by target "colorizer_template_project" in directory /home/USER/Programming/C_Cpp/colorizer/colorizer_template_project
This is an expected behaviour since libcolorizer.so cannot be present at the time of running cmake because it is created after make has been invoked.
How do I tell cmake to first process the first project (including the build step!) and then go to the next one? I know that this works if I add an executable to the project that creates the library and then directly link it to the binary but in this case I want separate projects for the library and the executable that is using it.
PS: I haven't given any details about the sources because they are not important here. It is - I believe - a general question, which is not specific to whether I'm using C, C++ or something similar.
project command doesn't make subprojects independent, so colorizer target is actually accessible for colorizer_template_project, and you can directly link with it:
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} ${SRC_LIST})
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} colorizer)

CMake and dependencies

I have the following directory structure and library dependencies:
./lib-a
./lib-b (depending on lib-a)
Each directory contains a CMakeLists.txt file for generating its own library.
I am using an out-of-source building policy.
In order to say that lib-b depends on lib-a, I have put the command add_subdirectory(../lib-a lib-a) in ./lib-b/CMakeLists.txt, according to what is taught by the official CMake tutorial. This way I obtain that a subdirectory lib-a is created in ./lib-b/build dir.
This is not the behaviour I desire. What I would like to obtain is CMake making reference to lib-a in generating lib-b and, if lib-a has not been already generated, CMake should generate it inside ./lib-a/build by using the CMakeLists.txt of lib-a (in a behaviour similar to the one of the make tool when dealing with dependencies).
I would also like to add that I am not using a root CMakeLists.txt in my example, but what I would like to have is the lib-b/CMakeLists.txt declaring the dependency on lib-a, thus making lib-a to be compiled, if not already, by using its own lib-a/CMakeLists.txt.
Here is the dirs structure and their contents:
lib-a/
CMakeLists.txt (for compiling lib-a)
src/
test.cpp
include/
test.hpp
lib-b/
main.cpp
CMakeLists.txt (for compiling lib-b; here is the point where I would like to make reference to lib-a, that I need for the generation of lib-b)
lib-b/main.cpp contains also an include of test.hpp of lib-a, because it is using a function of lib-a. This should be taken into consideration in the specification of lib-b/CMakeLists.txt.
What should the content of the two lib-a/CMakeLists.txt and lib-b/CMakeLists.txt files be?
I think you misunderstand the tutorial. The thing that links the libraries together is target_link_library(lib_b lib_a). If the name of the dependency is a library that is part of the build, CMake will magically make the dependencies work. It has nothing to do with subdirectories. In fact, if I have the following directory structure:
./
./a.hpp
./a.cpp
./b.hpp
./b.cpp
./CMakeLists.txt
The following will set the dependencies just fine:
PROJECT(lib_a)
ADD_LIBRARY(lib_a a.hpp a.cpp)
PROJECT(lib_b)
ADD_LIBRARY(lib_b b.hpp b.cpp)
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(lib_b lib_a)
This will work across subdirectory projects as well:
./
./CMakeLists.txt
./lib_a/CMakeLists.txt
./lib_a/a.hpp
./lib_a/a.cpp
./lib_b/CMakeLists.txt
./lib_b/b.hpp
./lib_b/b.cpp
And the list files:
# ./CMakeLists.txt
CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(lib_a)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(lib_b)
# ./lib_a/CMakeLists.txt
CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8)
PROJECT(lib_a)
ADD_LIBRARY(lib_a a.hpp a.cpp)
# ./lib_b/CMakeLists.txt
CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8)
PROJECT(lib_b)
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${lib_a_SOURCE_DIR})
ADD_LIBRARY(lib_b b.hpp b.cpp)
TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(lib_b lib_a)

What use is find_package() when you need to specify CMAKE_MODULE_PATH?

I'm trying to get a cross-plattform build system working using CMake. Now the software has a few dependencies. I compiled them myself and installed them on my system.
Some example files which got installed:
-- Installing: /usr/local/share/SomeLib/SomeDir/somefile
-- Installing: /usr/local/share/SomeLib/SomeDir/someotherfile
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/SomeLib/somesharedlibrary
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/SomeLib/cmake/FindSomeLib.cmake
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/SomeLib/cmake/HelperFile.cmake
Now CMake has a find_package() which opens a Find*.cmake file and searches after the library on the system and defines some variables like SomeLib_FOUND etc.
My CMakeLists.txt contains something like this:
set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "/usr/local/lib/SomeLib/cmake/;${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}")
find_package(SomeLib REQUIRED)
The first command defines where CMake searches after the Find*.cmake and I added the directory of SomeLib where the FindSomeLib.cmake can be found, so find_package() works
as expected.
But this is kind of weird because one of the reasons why find_package() exists is to get away from non-cross-plattform hard coded paths.
How is this usually done? Should I copy the cmake/ directory of SomeLib into my project and set the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH relatively?
Command find_package has two modes: Module mode and Config mode. You are trying to
use Module mode when you actually need Config mode.
Module mode
Find<package>.cmake file located within your project. Something like this:
CMakeLists.txt
cmake/FindFoo.cmake
cmake/FindBoo.cmake
CMakeLists.txt content:
list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/cmake")
find_package(Foo REQUIRED) # FOO_INCLUDE_DIR, FOO_LIBRARIES
find_package(Boo REQUIRED) # BOO_INCLUDE_DIR, BOO_LIBRARIES
include_directories("${FOO_INCLUDE_DIR}")
include_directories("${BOO_INCLUDE_DIR}")
add_executable(Bar Bar.hpp Bar.cpp)
target_link_libraries(Bar ${FOO_LIBRARIES} ${BOO_LIBRARIES})
Note that CMAKE_MODULE_PATH has high priority and may be usefull when you need to rewrite standard Find<package>.cmake file.
Config mode (install)
<package>Config.cmake file located outside and produced by install
command of other project (Foo for example).
foo library:
> cat CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
project(Foo)
add_library(foo Foo.hpp Foo.cpp)
install(FILES Foo.hpp DESTINATION include)
install(TARGETS foo DESTINATION lib)
install(FILES FooConfig.cmake DESTINATION lib/cmake/Foo)
Simplified version of config file:
> cat FooConfig.cmake
add_library(foo STATIC IMPORTED)
find_library(FOO_LIBRARY_PATH foo HINTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../../")
set_target_properties(foo PROPERTIES IMPORTED_LOCATION "${FOO_LIBRARY_PATH}")
By default project installed in CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX directory:
> cmake -H. -B_builds
> cmake --build _builds --target install
-- Install configuration: ""
-- Installing: /usr/local/include/Foo.hpp
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/libfoo.a
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/cmake/Foo/FooConfig.cmake
Config mode (use)
Use find_package(... CONFIG) to include FooConfig.cmake with imported target foo:
> cat CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
project(Boo)
# import library target `foo`
find_package(Foo CONFIG REQUIRED)
add_executable(boo Boo.cpp Boo.hpp)
target_link_libraries(boo foo)
> cmake -H. -B_builds -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON
> cmake --build _builds
Linking CXX executable Boo
/usr/bin/c++ ... -o Boo /usr/local/lib/libfoo.a
Note that imported target is highly configurable. See my answer.
Update
Example
If you are running cmake to generate SomeLib yourself (say as part of a superbuild), consider using the User Package Registry. This requires no hard-coded paths and is cross-platform. On Windows (including mingw64) it works via the registry. If you examine how the list of installation prefixes is constructed by the CONFIG mode of the find_packages() command, you'll see that the User Package Registry is one of elements.
Brief how-to
Associate the targets of SomeLib that you need outside of that external project by adding them to an export set in the CMakeLists.txt files where they are created:
add_library(thingInSomeLib ...)
install(TARGETS thingInSomeLib Export SomeLib-export DESTINATION lib)
Create a XXXConfig.cmake file for SomeLib in its ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BUILD_DIR} and store this location in the User Package Registry by adding two calls to export() to the CMakeLists.txt associated with SomeLib:
export(EXPORT SomeLib-export NAMESPACE SomeLib:: FILE SomeLibConfig.cmake) # Create SomeLibConfig.cmake
export(PACKAGE SomeLib) # Store location of SomeLibConfig.cmake
Issue your find_package(SomeLib REQUIRED) commmand in the CMakeLists.txt file of the project that depends on SomeLib without the "non-cross-platform hard coded paths" tinkering with the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH.
When it might be the right approach
This approach is probably best suited for situations where you'll never use your software downstream of the build directory (e.g., you're cross-compiling and never install anything on your machine, or you're building the software just to run tests in the build directory), since it creates a link to a .cmake file in your "build" output, which may be temporary.
But if you're never actually installing SomeLib in your workflow, calling EXPORT(PACKAGE <name>) allows you to avoid the hard-coded path. And, of course, if you are installing SomeLib, you probably know your platform, CMAKE_MODULE_PATH, etc, so #user2288008's excellent answer will have you covered.
How is this usually done? Should I copy the cmake/ directory of SomeLib into my project and set the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH relatively?
If you don't trust CMake to have that module, then - yes, do that - sort of: Copy the find_SomeLib.cmake and its dependencies into your cmake/ directory. That's what I do as a fallback. It's an ugly solution though.
Note that the FindFoo.cmake modules are each a sort of a bridge between platform-dependence and platform-independence - they look in various platform-specific places to obtain paths in variables whose names is platform-independent.
You don't need to specify the module path per se. CMake ships with its own set of built-in find_package scripts, and their location is in the default CMAKE_MODULE_PATH.
The more normal use case for dependent projects that have been CMakeified would be to use CMake's external_project command and then include the Use[Project].cmake file from the subproject. If you just need the Find[Project].cmake script, copy it out of the subproject and into your own project's source code, and then you won't need to augment the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH in order to find the subproject at the system level.

How to point cmake at specific directory for library?

I have a CMake project where I am using a library and now I want to test my code with a different version of that library. I can set INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES (and possibly later also linking) in the below example. But because I only want to do this temporarily, I'd like to manually set this path with ccmake/cmake-gui.
How do I do this?
project(min_example)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
find_package(OpenCV REQUIRED)
# Without the following line please:
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES("/home/me/src/opencv/install/include")
add_executable(min_example main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(min_example ${OpenCV_LIBS})
This should be possible by setting the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable upon configuring your build. In your project directory generate a test_build directory and run:
mkdir test_build
cd test_build
cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/home/me/src/opencv/install ..
Setting the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable will make the find_package(OpenCV REQUIRED) command pick your OpenCV installation in /home/me/src/opencv and set the OpenCV_LIBS and OpenCV_INCLUDE_DIR variables accordingly.
Alternatively you can edit a CMakeCache.txt file of an existing build directory with the CMake GUI editor and add the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH definition there. You have to re-configure your project then.
Using config in find_package will restrict search path to OpenCV_DIR. This will use the cmake config that opencv generates at build time to setup paths to include and libs
set(OpenCV_DIR "<cusompath>" CACHE PATH '' ${SHOULD_FORCE_CACHE})
find_package(OpenCV REQUIRED CONFIG)