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einpoklum
einpoklum

Reputation: 131968

semantics of target_link_libraries PRIVATE for a library target

In the CMake documentation for target_link_libraries, it says:

target_link_libraries(<target>
                      <PRIVATE|PUBLIC|INTERFACE> <item>...
                     [<PRIVATE|PUBLIC|INTERFACE> <item>...]...)

The PUBLIC, PRIVATE and INTERFACE keywords can be used to specify both the link dependencies and the link interface in one command.

Libraries and targets following PUBLIC are linked to, and are made part of the link interface. Libraries and targets following PRIVATE are linked to, but are not made part of the link interface. Libraries following INTERFACE are appended to the link interface and are not used for linking .

I don't quite understand how this applies to library targets.

Suppose my language is C or C++; that targets lib1 and lib2 are libraries, and that target e1 is an executable. Now, if I write:

target_link_libraries(lib1 PRIVATE lib2)
target_link_libraries(e1 PRIVATE lib1)

Will e1 necessarily be linked against lib2 when I build e1?

Note: If the answer differs depending on whether lib1/lib2 are static or dynamic libraries, please say so.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2074

Answers (1)

KamilCuk
KamilCuk

Reputation: 141493

Will e1 necessarily be linked against lib2 when I build e1?

Yes.

But e1 will not have INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES nor COMPILE_DEFINITIONS that are PUBLIC from lib2.

Upvotes: 1

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