[cmake-developers] Why does this work - linking against a library before it has been defined ?

[Alexander Neundorf]

Hi,

I was surprised today, something worked which I expected to fail:


add_executable(kf5-config kde-config.cpp )
target_link_libraries(kf5-config ${KDE4_KDECORE_LIBS} kde4support)

add_subdirectory(lib)


The thing is, the library "kde4support" is built inside the "lib" 
subdirectory, which is added after using "kde4support" in 
target_link_libraries().

I think in previous version of cmake the "kde4support" in the tll() call would 
have been recognized as the name of a library and added to the link command 
using "-lkde4support".

Now it seems to be recognized as the name of a target.

Is this correct ?
Is this because more stuff happens now at generate time, when all targets are 
known ?

Alex