[CMake] .dll rpath crutch needed

[Thomas Sondergaard]

I've got a project with 21 shared libraries and a number of executables. 
The shared libraries end up in their various directories but on Linux 
not-installed binaries can still be run because the path to the shared 
libraries are "burned in" to the shared libraries and executables as rpaths.

The exact same project build on Windows doesn't work as well because the 
shared libraries are not found. For the short term solution we have 
chosen to set up the PATH variable prior to starting visual studio from 
a command prompt, e.g

set PATH=%PATH%;C:\path\to\myproject_build\module1\src\Debug
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\path\to\myproject_build\module2\src\Debug
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\path\to\myproject_build\module3\src\Debug
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\path\to\myproject_build\module4\src\Debug
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\path\to\myproject_build\module5\src\Debug
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\path\to\myproject_build\module6\src\Debug
...

It would be very handy and get us closer to common behaviour if CMake 
could provide a crutch of some kind in the absence of rpath support in 
Windows .dlls.

First, it would be handy if the project CMake output included a .cmd 
script for setting all the paths above. This would allow you to start a 
Visual Studio (or Windows SDK) command shell and get the environment 
right by running e.g. 
"C:\path\to\myproject_build\setup_build_paths_debug.cmd".

You could use the above solution with Visual Studio if you run the 
script before opening visual studio from a command prompt. A supplement 
would be to have CMake generate an appropriate environment setting for 
the debugging section of all executables. This way you can start visual 
studio without any tricks and still get it right most of the time. It 
would also (unlike the former solution) work correctly if you switch 
between build types (e.g Debug, RelWithDbg, Release).

Does something like this exist? Any alternative solutions out there. 
Obviously I can't be the first cmake user with this problem. I've found 
this stackoverflow question which is related but not identical, but no 
convincing solution:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1005901/how-to-set-path-environment-variable-using-cmake-and-visual-studio-to-run-test


Thanks,

Thomas