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cmakelinkerstatic-libraries
Oleksandr Novik
Oleksandr Novik

Reputation: 738

What does target_link_directories() do in CMake?

I'm learning standard CMake functions, and after reading the documentation, I still have this question. They say

"Specifies the paths in which the linker should search for libraries when linking a given target"

But I don't really get how linker can look for libraries, when I use target_link_libraries() which already knows where my libraries are.

Thank you.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 4640

Answers (1)

fabian
fabian

Reputation: 82471

The directories you pass to this command are used you pass something that's not a cmake target to target_link_libraries.

From the docs of target_link_libraries

This command has several signatures as detailed in subsections below. All of them have the general form

target_link_libraries(<target> ... <item>... ...)

[...]

Each <item> may be:

  • A library target name: [...]
  • A full path to a library file: [...]
  • A plain library name: The generated link line will ask the linker to search for the library (e.g. foo becomes -lfoo or foo.lib). [...]
  • ...

The third option ("A plain library name") is the one where target_link_directories gets relevant; if the linker does not find the library by default, you need to add provide the path via target_link_directories (or by similar means of modifying the LINK_DIRECTORIES target property).

Upvotes: 1

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