custom target as a target library in cmake - cmake

Question

I have a custom target that is in fact an externally generated library that I want to integrate in my build.
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/liblib2.a
COMMAND make -f ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/makefile liblib2.a)
add_custom_target(lib2
DEPENDS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/liblib2.a)
How can I tell cmake that this target is in fact a library, where it can be found and where are the headers ?
To be clear : I don't want the upper CMakeList using this library having to manually specify include folders and the library location folder It must be done automatically (from the target properties).
On a standard cmake library I would just have to add the INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES property in the library CMakeLists to make cmake link my app with the relevant -I and -L gcc parameters :
set_target_properties(lib1
PROPERTIES
INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
But in the case of a custom target I don't know how to to it.
Any clue ?
Thanks for your help.
Thanks to zaufi it works!
For others who may be interested in embedded externally build target inside cmake here is what I did :
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
SET(LIB_FILE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/bin/liblib2.a)
SET(LIB_HEADER_FOLDER ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
# how to build the result of the library
add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${LIB_FILE}
COMMAND make
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
# create a target out of the library compilation result
add_custom_target(lib2_target DEPENDS ${LIB_FILE})
# create an library target out of the library compilation result
add_library(lib2 STATIC IMPORTED GLOBAL)
add_dependencies(lib2 lib2_target)
# specify where the library is and where to find the headers
set_target_properties(lib2
PROPERTIES
IMPORTED_LOCATION ${LIB_FILE}
INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES ${LIB_HEADER_FOLDER})
Now in a CMakeLists.txt I can do somthing like
add_subdirectory(${ROOT_DIR}/lib1 bin/lib1)
add_subdirectory(${ROOT_DIR}/lib2 bin/lib2)
add_executable(app app.c )
target_link_libraries(app lib1 lib2)
No need to specify where the .a and the .h are.

Answer 1

You can use add_library() and tell that it actually imported. Then, using set_target_properties() you can set required INTERFACE_XXX properties for it. After that, you can use it as an ordinal target like every other built by your project.

Answer 2

Thank you for posting the solution. I have wrapped your snippet in a function:
function(add_external_library)
set(options)
set(oneValueArgs TARGET WORKING_DIRECTORY OUTPUT COMMENT)
set(multiValueArgs COMMAND INCLUDE_DIRS)
cmake_parse_arguments(ARGS "${options}" "${oneValueArgs}" ${multiValueArgs}" ${ARGN})
# Specify how to build the result of the library
add_custom_command(OUTPUT "${ARGS_OUTPUT}"
COMMAND ${ARGS_COMMAND}
WORKING_DIRECTORY "${ARGS_WORKING_DIRECTORY}"
COMMENT "${ARGS_COMMENT}")
# Create a target out of the library compilation result
add_custom_target(${ARGS_TARGET}_target DEPENDS ${ARGS_OUTPUT})
# Create an library target out of the library compilation result
add_library(${ARGS_TARGET} STATIC IMPORTED GLOBAL)
add_dependencies(${ARGS_TARGET} ${ARGS_TARGET}_target)
# Specify where the library is and where to find the headers
set_target_properties(${ARGS_TARGET}
PROPERTIES
IMPORTED_LOCATION "${ARGS_OUTPUT}"
INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES "${ARGS_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
endfunction()
# Example
add_external_library(TARGET YourLib
COMMAND /bin/bash compile_your_lib.sh
WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}"
OUTPUT "output/yourlib.a"
INCLUDE_DIRS "include/a" "include/b"
COMMENT "Building YourLib")
add_executable(YourExe)
target_link_libraries(YourExe YourLib)