[CMake] Copying DLLs to output directory

Fri Oct 31 15:37:18 EDT 2014

If it were only a matter of style / visual annoyance, I wouldn't mind.
However it complicates dependency management when you have to specify
"ZZ_QT_LIB1", "ZZ_QT_LIB2", etc... instead of just "QT" when calling
target_link_libraries().

Unless you do it differently...

On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 2:28 PM, Michael Jackson
<mike.jackson at bluequartz.net> wrote:
> It sucks, but I do that with Qt's libraries. One target for each library. I prefix the target with "ZZ_" so that in IDEs like Visual Studio and Xcode those targets fall to the bottom of the list. I also group them in folders if Visual Studio will allow it. I use the "copy if different" argument to the CMake command for the copy. Seems to work.
>
> Mike Jackson
>
> On Oct 31, 2014, at 3:11 PM, Robert Dailey <rcdailey.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I like this idea but it doesn't seem like it will work for targets
>> with multiple DLLs... for example boost. It has several DLLs. I don't
>> want to define 1 target for each DLL either. Sometimes that doesn't
>> make sense.
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 10:45 AM, Hendrk Sattler
>> <post at hendrik-sattler.de> wrote:
>>> Am 2014-10-28 18:25, schrieb Robert Dailey:
>>>>
>>>> I have a third party library like OpenSSL prebuilt for each platform
>>>> and in my own structure in version control. I have a CMake script that
>>>> creates an INTERFACE library target for it. I setup the include
>>>> directories and link targets. However, I don't see a way to configure
>>>> DLLs in the interface library target. How would you do this, and what
>>>> would CMake do to these targets to make sure they are copied to the
>>>> output directory of the executable I run from Visual Studio for
>>>> debugging?
>>>
>>>
>>> I have this for ZLib:
>>> if ( ZLIB_FOUND )
>>>  if ( WIN32 )
>>>    get_filename_component( ZLIB_LIBDIR "${ZLIB_LIBRARY}" PATH )
>>>    get_filename_component ( ZLIB_BASENAME "${ZLIB_LIBRARY}" NAME_WE )
>>>    get_filename_component ( ZLIB_LIBDIR_BASE "${ZLIB_LIBDIR}" PATH )
>>>    find_file ( ZLIB_DLL
>>> "${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX}${ZLIB_BASENAME}${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX}"
>>>      HINTS
>>>        "${ZLIB_LIBDIR_BASE}"
>>>      PATH_SUFFIXES
>>>        bin
>>>      NO_DEFAULT_PATH
>>>    )
>>>    mark_as_advanced ( ZLIB_DLL )
>>>    if ( ZLIB_DLL )
>>>      add_library ( zlib SHARED IMPORTED GLOBAL )
>>>      set_property ( TARGET zlib PROPERTY IMPORTED_IMPLIB "${ZLIB_LIBRARY}"
>>> )
>>>      set_property ( TARGET zlib PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION "${ZLIB_DLL}" )
>>>    else ( ZLIB_DLL )
>>>      add_library ( zlib STATIC IMPORTED GLOBAL )
>>>      set_property ( TARGET zlib PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION
>>> "${ZLIB_LIBRARY}" )
>>>    endif ( ZLIB_DLL )
>>>  else( WIN32 )
>>>    add_library ( zlib UNKNOWN IMPORTED GLOBAL )
>>>    set_property ( TARGET zlib PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION "${ZLIB_LIBRARY}"
>>> )
>>>  endif( WIN32 )
>>>  set_property ( TARGET zlib PROPERTY INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
>>>    "${ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR}"
>>>  )
>>>
>>>  set ( ZLIB_LIBRARIES zlib )
>>>  set ( ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIRS "${ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR}" )
>>> endif ( ZLIB_FOUND )
>>>
>>> The .lib goes into IMPORTED_IMPLIB and the .dll goes into IMPORTED_LOCATION.
>>> The way to find the .dll from the location of the .lib might differ for
>>> different libraries.
>>> For ZLib, the base name is the same.
>>>
>>> Later, you can use this imported target:
>>>  add_custom_command ( TARGET myTarget POST_BUILD
>>>    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different $<TARGET_FILE:zlib>
>>> $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:myTarget>
>>>  )
>>> Now, zlib.dll is in the same directory as myTarget.dll.
>>>
>>> HS
>>>
>>>> On Tue, Oct 28, 2014 at 12:21 AM, Hendrik Sattler
>>>> <post at hendrik-sattler.de> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> you can use generator expression in a post build rule to copy the dll
>>>>> file to the same target dir as the target you link it with. The easiest way
>>>>> to do this is to properly define all 3rd party libraries as imported targets
>>>>> that contains both, the lib and the dll file.
>>>>> Sadly, the FindQt4 on Windows doesn't do this and thus make life harder
>>>>> than needed. CMake configuration files should always do this right.
>>>>>
>>>>> OTOH, you could also write a wrapper batch file or change VS properties
>>>>> to modify PATH to include all libraries before the regular path.
>>>>>
>>>>> HS
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Am 28. Oktober 2014 02:55:08 MEZ, schrieb Robert Dailey
>>>>> <rcdailey.lists at gmail.com>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This actually used to be a very difficult problem to solve. However,
>>>>>> to debug in visual studio it's essential.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If I have DLLs located in third party directories OR from targets that
>>>>>> I depend on, those must all be copied to the directory of the
>>>>>> executable I'm debugging in order for those DLLs to be found and
>>>>>> loaded.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Using CMake 3.0.2, I hope this task is simpler, especially with the
>>>>>> introduction of a nice suite of generator expressions. Can anyone
>>>>>> recommend a good way to do this?
>>>>>
>>>>>
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