How do I effectively manage dependencies between multiple projects, their supporting libraries, and CMakeLists.txt files?

CMake: Dependencies between Source, Library, and CMakeLists.txt

Question:

How to effectively manage dependencies between multiple projects, their supporting libraries, and CMakeLists.txt files?

Answer:

There are two primary methods for structuring CMake projects with dependencies:

Method 1: In-Project Libraries

• Build the necessary libraries within the same project as the main application.
• The main CMakeLists.txt handles all dependencies and includes the subdirectories of the libraries.
• This approach is suitable for actively developed libraries that require frequent rebuilding and IDE support.

Method 2: External Libraries

• Build the libraries in separate CMake projects and install them as packages.
• The main CMakeLists.txt uses the find_package command to locate and link to the installed libraries.
• This method is preferred for third-party libraries or libraries that are not actively worked on.

Adding Subdirectories

Adding the same subdirectory multiple times is discouraged in CMake. Instead, you can include a guard in each CMakeLists.txt file to prevent duplicate inclusions:

<code class="cmake">if (NOT TARGET LibA)
    # Build and add LibA
endif()</code>

Target Construction

When creating libraries, it's recommended to include all necessary information such as include directories using the target_include_directories command. This ensures that dependent targets automatically inherit the include paths.

Best Practices

• Mix methods 1 and 2 as needed to handle both internal and external dependencies.
• Consider using ExternalProject as a compromise between in-project and external libraries.
• Alternatively, export the library artifacts from an external project instead of installing them for direct use from source.

The above is the detailed content of How do I effectively manage dependencies between multiple projects, their supporting libraries, and CMakeLists.txt files?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!