[CMake] Imported libraries and cross platform target names

[Miller Henry]

Use find_library to find the library.  You will probably need this anyway because different systems install libraries in different locations.

http://www.cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.3/command/find_library.html


From: CMake [mailto:cmake-bounces at cmake.org] On Behalf Of Ette, Anthony (CDS)
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 1:30 PM
To: CMake at cmake.org
Subject: [CMake] Imported libraries and cross platform target names
Importance: High

Given that add_library() produces a unique filename per platform (the "actual file name of the library built is constructed based on conventions of the native platform (such as lib<name>.a or<name>.lib"), how does one add the library to the final application without having to deal with the filename difference?  In other words, I've got one library that, by default, produces 'libtest.a' on Linux and 'test.lib' on Windows.  How can I add this imported library into the final application in a cross platform manner?  I know I can specify two different imported locations (see below), but it seems odd to me that Cmake - the cross-platform build env generator - doesn't have a better native way of dealing with this....

The snippet below will work, but just seems wrong given the nature of what CMake is intended to do...is there a better way that I'm missing?!  If not, can I request that a future release of Cmake handle platform naming convention difference internally when invoking ADD_LIBRARY with the IMPORTED tag set?  Ok so, to be fair, Cmake can be used to cross compile and that certainly complicates my feature request but, when not cross compiling, CMake knows what platform it's being executed on so it should be able to resolve static archive platform decorations internally.

ADD_LIBRARY(test STATIC IMPORTED)
if(WIN32)
   SET_PROPERTY(TARGET test PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION ${LIB_D}/timer.lib)
endif()
if(UNIX)
   SET_PROPERTY(TARGET test PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION ${LIB_D}/libtimer.a)
endif()

Thanks in advance,
Anthony Ette
Control Systems Engineer

Rolls-Royce Controls and Data Services
7661 N Perimeter Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46241
tel: +1 (317) 230-6943
mob: +1 (317) 864-7975
email: Anthony.R.Ette at controlsdata.com<mailto:Anthony.R.Ette at controlsdata.com>

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