CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cmake
PluginPenguin
PluginPenguin

Reputation: 1940

CMake: Modifying library output directory of a target from a sub-project

I have a top-level CMakeLists.txt which includes another third party project from a subdirectory, like

add_subdirectory(ext/third_party/cmake)

third_party contains a library target which I want to build, but I want to modify some properties and want to avoid to modify the original CMake file. I do not want to link some of my own targets to that library, I'd rather want that third party library to be build with some modified properties and then put it into a custom output directory. So I do

set_target_properties(libthird_party PROPERTIES
        # some properties that successfully get applied here
        LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "/my/output/dir")

I can see that other properties are successfully applied and the build is modified to my needs correctly, but the generated output library is not put into the directory I set. What could be the reason for that?

If this is a totally wrong or bad approach please also feel free to propose a better approach for my goal.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2329

Answers (2)

Mizux
Mizux

Reputation: 9291

You have to deal with [LIBRARY, ARCHIVE, EXECUTABLE] x [Single, Multi]config generator x [Unix, Windows]way.

note: On Windows everything (.dll, .exe) is on the same directory while on Unix you generally have a bin and a lib directories.

include(GNUInstallDirs)

# Single config (e.g. makefile, ninja)
set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
if(UNIX)
 set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
 set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
else()
 set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
 set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
endif()

# For multi-config build system (e.g. xcode, msvc, ninja-multiconfig)
foreach(OUTPUTCONFIG IN LISTS CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES)
  string(TOUPPER ${OUTPUTCONFIG} OUTPUTCONFIG)
  set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} 
    ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${OUTPUTCONFIG}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
  if(UNIX)
    set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} 
      ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${OUTPUTCONFIG}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
    set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} 
      ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${OUTPUTCONFIG}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
  else()
    set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} 
      ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${OUTPUTCONFIG}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
    set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_${OUTPUTCONFIG} 
      ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${OUTPUTCONFIG}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
  endif()
endforeach()

Upvotes: 1

PluginPenguin
PluginPenguin

Reputation: 1940

Figured it out myself with help from the comments. I was trying to modify a static library target, which is not affected by LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY (which only applies to dynamic libraries) but which needs the setting ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY. So the corrected call is

set_target_properties(libthird_party PROPERTIES
        # some properties that successfully get applied here
        ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "/my/output/dir")

Upvotes: 3

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