[CMake] ExternalProject_Add - Automatic Incremental Rebuilds + Add Sources to IDE

[Aaron Nowack]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out how to use externalproject_add to allow my work
group to code more rapidly. We have a mercurial repository which builds a
set of libraries, and a separate repository which contains applications
that use those libraries. It is important for us to keep them separate.

Currently, I use ExternalProject_Add in the application CMakeLists.txt file
to build the libraries and install them to a local directory which the
applications link to. This works great as long as I am _only_ working in
the applications repository. If I need to work on the libraries repository
I need to go through, navigate and edit the sources, build them myself, and
have the applications repository point to the built libraries and test it.

Ideally, for these rapid co-development phases I would like to
a) Be able to rebuild a project using ExternalProject_Add whenever any
source file changes.
b) Provide the mechanism for an IDE project to include all the sources from
another project specified by ExternalProject_Add.

For b) there was a bug open and closed here,
http://www.cmake.org/Bug/view.php?id=12322
I understand David's point about making bad assumptions, but I would find
it extremely useful if I was able to include the sources and force a
rebuild as I'm describing.

Does anyone have any ideas? We're currently doing a lot of refactoring on
both repositories so removing as much development overhead will really
help. When things get stable we will be using ExternalProject_Add on tagged
revisions.

I highly appreciate any ideas, thanks.
- Aaron
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