[CMake] Alias of imported target

[CHEVRIER, Marc]

My need is the following:
I have two imported targets, let say, IMPORTED::TARGET and IMPORTED::STATIC::TARGET


And I have a project which can be customised, through an option, by selecting which imported target will be used (shared or static).

So I tried, at first place:
if (USE_IMPORTED_STATIC)
  add_library (MY_IMPORTED_TARGET ALIAS IMPORTED::STATIC::TARGET)
else()
  add_library (MY_IMPORTED_TARGET ALIAS IMPORTED::TARGET)
endif()

So, after, I do not longer take care of which imported target is selected!

For now, I rely on a variable storing selected imported target but it is, by far, less elegant and coherent with target handling.

On 05/05/15 19:01, "Stephen Kelly" <steveire at gmail.com> wrote:

>CHEVRIER, Marc wrote:
>
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Currently it is not possible to create an alias target for an imported
>> target (I.e. add_library with ALIAS keyword). But I don’t understand what
>> is the technical constraint or semantic reason behind this limitation. If
>> anybody can explain this limitation, it will be nice.
>
>It was designed with as many restrictions as I could think of (everything 
>which was not part of the need to add it at all):
>
> http://www.cmake.org/gitweb?p=cmake.git;a=commitdiff;h=370bf554
>
>The restrictions are there because they are easy to lift later when a need 
>arises without breaking user code. It also means that design considerations 
>which were not known or understood two years ago can be considered in 
>designing new interfaces.
>
>Do you have a need for ALIAS IMPORTED libraries? Can you describe it?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Steve.
>
>
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