CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cmake
Nick
Nick

Reputation: 248

CMake force install after add_subdirectory

We are converting a large Makefile based project to a CMake based system. I have numerous dependencies that I need to build prior to building our code. The first three dependencies are build using the following:

add_subdirectory(dependencies/libexpat/expat)
add_subdirectory(dependencies/libuuid-1.0.3)
add_subdirectory(dependencies/log4c-1.2.4)

expat has it's own CMakeLists.txt file and build with no problems. I would like to force expat to install to the staging directory before continuing. For libuuid I am using a ExternalProject_Add and as part of that process it does install into the staging directory.

Then when I build log4c, which needs expat, I can point it to the location of expat. Otherwise I would need to someone get access to the absolutely path for the temporary build location of expat.

I've tried to add the following after add_subdirectory:

add_subdirectory(dependencies/libexpat/expat)
add_subdirectory(dependencies/libuuid-1.0.3)
install(TARGETS expat LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/usr/lib)
add_subdirectory(dependencies/log4c-1.2.4)

Unfortunately CMake will not run expat's install code. How do I force expat to install after building but before it builds the rest of the project?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 529

Answers (1)

Angew is no longer proud of SO
Angew is no longer proud of SO

Reputation: 171177

This looks like the primary use case for ExternalProject_Add, which is best used as a superbuild setup. This means that your top-level project (the "superbuild") does not build any actual code and instead consists only of ExternalProject_Add calls. Your "real" project is added as one of these "external" projects. This allows you to set up the superbuild with all dependencies, ordering, etc.

The workflow is then as follows:

  1. Generate the superbuild project.
  2. Build the superbuild project. This will build and install all dependencies, and also generate (and build) your real project.
  3. Switch to the buildsystem generated for your real project and start doing further development using that. Your dependencies are already correctly set up and installed by the build of the superbuild project in the previous step.

Upvotes: 2

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