[CMake] EXECUTABLE_OUTPUT_PATH is not just deprecated, it's harmful!

[kent williams]

So we have a big program (well a couple of them Brains2 and Brains3),
and a bunch of 'unbundled' programs (BRAINSFit, BRAINSDemonWarp,
BRAINSTracer etc..).

We use SVN to add the 'unbundled' programs as subdirectories of our
BRAINS svn checkout.

So our CMakeLists.txt files in our unbundled programs MUST work
properly as a standalone build, or as a sub-directory of BRAINS.

We've done this, at the cost of some slight added complexity in the
unbundled CMakeLists.txt.  But one thing has REALLY been kicking my
butt since CMake 2.6 -- they each set EXECUTABLE_OUTPUT_PATH, relative
to their own CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR

The problem? If you're running standalone, everything's fine. If
you're building inside the BRAINS tree, though, the LAST
CMakeLists.txt file in the directory tree that sets
EXECUTABLE_OUTPUT_PATH wins, and consequently executable files end up
unexpected places.

So I've had to go through and change everywhere that variable occurs
with CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY, and replace LIBRARY_OUTPUT_PATH
with CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY.

Now, ideally, you should be able set those CMAKE_*_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
variables in your top level Makefile, and then the path properties for
targets are set, and everybody's happy.

But this isn't the case with, for example ADD_TEST.  ADD_TEST will
search for the named executable in a number of places, but not,
apparently, in CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY.  So you must do your
add test like this

add_test(gumby ${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/gumbyTest args)

So I guess the question is this -- how should I manage this issue?
Since EXECUTABLE_OUTPUT_PATH is deprecated, it looks like it has
functionally been replaced by CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY.  It's
also subject to the same problem if any CMakeLists.txt file set it
incorrectly somewhere in a build tree.