How to retrieve a target's relative runtime destination directory? - cmake

Let's suppose I create a target as follows:
add_executable(app main.c)
install(TARGETS app
RUNTIME DESTINATION some/path}
)
How do I retrieve some/path with a generator expression?
$<TARGET_FILE:tgt> returns the full absolute path with the installation prefix
$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:tgt> does the same thing and includes the filename
$<TARGET_FILE_NAME:tgt> only returns the filename, not the path
What am I missing? Is there a property that contains this information?

There are neither generator expressions nor properties reflected installation path of particular target. All generator expressions you list reflect information about build location of the target.
There is $<INSTALL_PREFIX> generator expression, but it is available only when target is exported (install(EXPORT)) and only within this command invocation.
So, if you need destination directory of some target, you should manually write it. Or store it in some target's property and use $<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,prop> generator expression. [Note, that if your property reflects relative path, such generator expression cannot be used with install command, because this commands accepts only generator expressions which contain absolute path.]

Related

Expand variable name containing a generator expression in cmake

In the build process, I set directories where I gather the build output of different sub-projects. The directories are set as :
set( CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../build/bin/debug" )
set( CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../build/bin/release" )
Now, I'd like to copy some files (a directory of qt plugins) to that directory dependent on the configuration which it is built for.
I tried:
# copy qt plugins
add_custom_command( TARGET mytarget POST_BUILD
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
"${QT_DIR}/../../../plugins"
"${$<UPPER_CASE:CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_$<CONFIG> >}/plugins"
COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS)
thus, I try to build a string that equals the variable name and then try to expand that as described here: CMake interpret string as variable. In other words: I would like to have a generator expression that evaluates to the content of CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG or CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTOR_RELEASE dependent on the current build configuration.
However running cmake with the statement above results in an error:
"CMakeLists.txt:112: error: Syntax error in cmake code at [..] when parsing string ${$<UPPER_CASE:CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_$<CONFIG> >}/plugins Invalid character ('<') in a variable name: '$'
So my question is, how can I use a generator-expression to access the corresponding variable? (Bonus question: is there another/better way to achieve the same goal?)
So my question is, how can I use a generator-expression to access the corresponding variable?
You cannot. There is currently (CMake <=3.23) no way to expand a variable whose name is determined by the value of a generator expression.
Bonus question: is there another/better way to achieve the same goal?
Yes, and you are almost there! You can use $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:...>:
add_custom_command(
TARGET mytarget POST_BUILD
COMMAND
${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
"${QT_DIR}/../../../plugins"
"$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:mytarget>/plugins"
VERBATIM
)
This works because TARGET_FILE_DIR evaluates to the actual directory containing the executable or library file for mytarget, no matter the active configuration, property values, etc.
Docs: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/manual/cmake-generator-expressions.7.html#genex:TARGET_FILE_DIR
CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG> is already relative to the binary directory so you should not try to compute the binary directory in its definition. Also, it supports generator expressions. Thus, the following will be much more robust:
set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "bin/$<LOWER_CASE:$<CONFIG>>"
CACHE STRING "Common output directory for runtime artifacts")
This has a bunch of concrete benefits:
No need to set CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG or CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE
This will work for MinSizeRel and RelWithDebInfo, plus any custom configurations one might add down the line.
Since it's defined as a cache variable, it can be overridden for debugging / working around name clashes, etc.
A bit more context for (3): most CMAKE_* variables are intended to be either read-only or user-configurable (i.e. at the command line, from the GUI, etc.). Overriding their defaults via set(CACHE) is a polite compromise. A notable exception to this rule is the collection of Qt codegen flags (CMAKE_AUTO{MOC,RCC,UIC}). These must typically be set for the build to produce usable binaries.

CMake: How to specify a different link script for each target

I have multiple targets that are being made in a CMake project. Each target has a different linkscript (LD file). How do I write the CMakeLists.txt file to make this happen? This is for an embedded project with C/C++/ASM files.
This is what I have so far. The problem is that LINKER_SCRIPT is defined globally and not per-target.
# add alpha target
add_executable(alpha.elf ${SOURCES})
target_compile_definitions(alpha.elf PUBLIC -DALPHA_DEFINED)
set(LINKER_SCRIPT ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/Linker/alpha.ld)
# add beta target
add_executable(beta.elf ${SOURCES})
target_compile_definitions(beta.elf PUBLIC -DBETA_DEFINED)
set(LINKER_SCRIPT ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/Linker/beta.ld)
set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS
"${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} -T ${LINKER_SCRIPT}")
The problem is that LINKER_SCRIPT gets overwritten and the last definition is the one used. How can I make this work?
I have tried to define per-target variable using the following, however the output is not as expected. The file gets compiled, however things are not where they should be. For example, the generated HEX file does not start at 0x08000000 which is where it should be defined per the LD file.
set_target_properties(alpha.elf PROPERTIES
CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} -Wl,-Map=${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/alpha.elf.map -T ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/Linker/alpha.ld")
The variable LINKER_SCRIPT is just being over-ridden the second time you set it to a value. It doesn't have global scope but sub-directory / function scope. But like any variable it takes on its latest value.
CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS is being used for both targets in this case. Splitting this into separate sub-directories may work but I've never tried it.
There are no per-target variables that I am aware of. set_target_properties is used to set properties. Some properties are known to CMake, but the property CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS is not one of them. It should just be ignored when generating the build files.
Try using target_link_options to set per-target property LINK_OPTIONS which is known and the option will show up when linking the executable.
For example target_link_options(alpha.elf PRIVATE -T${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/Linker/alpha.ld). I haven't used it with options that have a space in them so that might be a problem.
To re-link if the linker script changes then refer to this answer:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/42138375/1028434

CMakeLists using variables to define source/include locations

I have an AndroidStudio project with 'C' files in. I can compile and run as-is.
My native files are in
src/main/jni/aes
src/main/jni/libjpeg
src/main/jni/smuglib
I am trying to move the source to a location external to the Android studio project so that I can use it from several locations/projects to avoid copy/paste/mistake cycle.
I have defined the include path in CMakeLists.txt
include_directories(src/main/jni/aes src/main/jni/libjpeg src/main/jni/smuglib)
And have specified the files in the add_library command
add_library( # Sets the name of the library.
native-lib
# Sets the library as a shared library.
SHARED
# Provides a relative path to your source file(s).
src/main/jni/aes/aes.c
src/main/jni/smuglib/smuglib.c
.... etc
How do I set up a variable to refer to these paths, eg 'src/main/jni/aes' so that I can use it in both the include and in the source list?
I tried variations on
set(aes_src, src/main/jni/aes)
but uses of it as ${aes_src} either in the include path statement or in the source list give me all sorts of arcane errors which I am at a loss to understand.
I will generate some of these and include them if folk think it would help, but I am likely barking up the wrong kettle of fish with this approach.
Is there a better approach?
It is set(VAR_NAME item1 item2 item3). No commas needed.

CMake and header search paths

I'm porting a project to CMake, and struggling to find how to set header search paths (previously set with compiler flags e.g. -I "../../Source").
I currently have:
target_include_directories (jni-bridge PRIVATE
"../../Analysis"
"../../Source"
)
But this does not work. How should I set the paths, and what location are they relative to?
Internally, CMake uses absolute paths as include directories. If relative path is used with target_include_directories, then it is interpreted relative to the current source directory (${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}).
The above is true when generator expressions are not used.
Generator expression $<INSTALL_INTERFACE:..> may (and strongly recommended to) use relative path which is interpreted relative to the install prefix.
Generator expression $<BUILD_INTERFACE:...> should use absolute path.
In case someone comes here for a simple and direct code example, referring to the example at https://cmake.org/examples/, append the following to the top-level CMakeLists.txt file:
target_include_directories( helloDemo
path/to/header1.h
path/to/header2.h
)

How to change the reference path for get_filename_component in cmake?

I'm using get_filename_component in cmake to get the absolute path of a possibly relative path given in a variable.
And I want to do an out-of-tree/out-of-source-build.
It seems to me that get_filename_component is using CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR as reference-path.
Is there a way to change that or to workaround it?
One way I tried is to prefix my potential relative path with ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR} but that stops working of the path given is not relative.
Assuming your relative path is always relative to CMAKE_BINARY_DIR, then you can handle this pretty easily using if(IS_ABSOLUTE ...):
if(NOT IS_ABSOLUTE ${MyPath})
set(MyAbsPath ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${MyPath})
endif()
If the subject file or dir exists at CMake run time, then you can always do a find_file call, passing the possible NAMES and PATHS. If the file exists and is found, the resulting variable will hold the full path to the file.
Or you can use the if(EXISTS ...) signature of if to check for the existence or not of the given file.