INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES

List public interface libraries for a library.

This property contains the list of transitive link dependencies. When the target is linked into another target using the target_link_libraries() command, the libraries listed (and recursively their link interface libraries) will be provided to the other target also. This property is overridden by the LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES or LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES_<CONFIG> property if policy CMP0022 is OLD or unset.

The value of this property is used by the generators when constructing the link rule for a dependent target. A dependent target's direct link dependencies, specified by its LINK_LIBRARIES target property, are linked first, followed by indirect dependencies from the transitive closure of the direct dependencies' INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES properties. See policy CMP0022.

Contents of INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES may use "generator expressions" with the syntax $<...>. See the cmake-generator-expressions(7) manual for available expressions. See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for more on defining buildsystem properties.

Note

A call to target_link_libraries(<target> ...) may update this property on <target>. If <target> was not created in the same directory as the call then target_link_libraries() will wrap each entry with the form ::@(directory-id);...;::@, where the ::@ is literal and the (directory-id) is unspecified. This tells the generators that the named libraries must be looked up in the scope of the caller rather than in the scope in which the <target> was created. Valid directory ids are stripped on export by the install(EXPORT) and export() commands.

INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES adds transitive link dependencies for a target's dependents. In advanced use cases, one may update the direct link dependencies of a target's dependents by using the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES_DIRECT and INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES_DIRECT_EXCLUDE target properties.

Handling Compiler Driver Differences

Added in version 4.0.

To pass options to the linker tool, each compiler driver has its own syntax. The LINKER: prefix and , separator can be used to specify, in a portable way, options to pass to the linker tool. LINKER: is replaced by the appropriate driver option and , by the appropriate driver separator. The driver prefix and driver separator are given by the values of the CMAKE_<LANG>_LINKER_WRAPPER_FLAG and CMAKE_<LANG>_LINKER_WRAPPER_FLAG_SEP variables.

For example, "LINKER:-z,defs" becomes -Xlinker -z -Xlinker defs for Clang and -Wl,-z,defs for GNU GCC.

The LINKER: prefix supports, as an alternative syntax, specification of arguments using the SHELL: prefix and space as separator. The previous example then becomes "LINKER:SHELL:-z defs".

Note

Specifying the SHELL: prefix anywhere other than at the beginning of the LINKER: prefix is not supported.

Creating Relocatable Packages

Note that it is not advisable to populate the INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES of a target with absolute paths to dependencies. That would hard-code into installed packages the library file paths for dependencies as found on the machine the package was made on.

See the Creating Relocatable Packages section of the cmake-packages(7) manual for discussion of additional care that must be taken when specifying usage requirements while creating packages for redistribution.