[CMake] Copying files to runtime directory

[Clinton Stimpson]

On Monday 21 September 2009 09:48:38 am Jeroen Dierckx wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 5:29 PM, Tyler Roscoe <tyler at cryptio.net> wrote:
> > On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 02:54:04PM +0200, Jeroen Dierckx wrote:
> >> In Windows, we need to copy a bunch of files (dlls and other runtime
> >> dependencies) to the runtime directory, mostly belonging to external
> >> dependencies. Those files are different for debug and release builds.
> >> So I created a function to do just that. I came across several
> >> problems or limitations in cmake while doing that. Here is how I did
> >> it, and some remarks for each step
> >
> > I posted a thread last Thursday with similar questions.
> >
> > The short version, I think, is that you really want to use install() for
> > these kinds of operations. install() already knows how to EXCLUDE, copy
> > files on a per-configuration basis, and update files when they are
> > out-of-date.
> >
> > If you don't use install(), I think the types of hacks you mentioned
> > (copy all files, debug and release; manually handle exclusions) are the
> > only way to do what you want.
>
> I understand your reasoning, but I don't completely agree.
>
> We do use the install commands, but for preparing the build for
> packaging. That way, we can use cpack later on to release our SDK or
> applications. The problem is that I have to build the install target
> every time I want to debug something, which is not exactly ideal. But
> maybe doing that is easier than what I am trying to achieve now :-)
>
> How do other windows users do this kind of thing? The problem is that,
> when linking with external dynamic libraries, the dlls belonging to
> that library have to be in the runtime directory in order for the
> application to start.

I don't know about your setup, but for our apps, our developers just set the 
PATH environment variable for their dlls not built as part of the project.

Clint