CMake - linking to library downloaded from ExternalProject_add()

Question

I am trying to use ExternalProject_add() to download/install dependencies. It installs fine, but I can't figure out how to actually link the libraries after they are downloaded.

I want to call target_link_libraries() on the library that was just downloaded, but the path to the library will vary by system.

If this were a system dependency, I could just call find_package() - but the packages weren't installed on the default search path. I don't think you can specify a search path for find_package in module mode.

Here's a snippet of my CMakeLists.txt that doesn't work:

ExternalProject_Add(
protobuf
URL http://protobuf.googlecode.com/files/protobuf-2.4.1.tar.gz
CONFIGURE_COMMAND /configure --prefix=
PREFIX ${MYPROJ_SOURCE_DIR}/dependencies
)
find_package(protobuf REQUIRED)
set(LIBS ${LIBS} ${PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES})
target_link_libraries (mybinary ${LIBS})

user_339387 · Answer

You can use the link_directories command to link libraries within a specific directory. In your case the directory were your external project is build.

ExternalProject_Add(MyExternalLibrary ...)

Add the output directory to the search path:

link_directories(${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib/MyExternalLibrary-prefix/lib)

Make sure to add the executable after specifying the link directory:

add_executable(MyProgram main.c)

Specify the libraries your project should be linked to:

target_link_libraries(MyProgram ExternalLibraryName)

Don't forget to depend on the external project:

add_dependencies(MyProgram MyExternalLibrary)

user_309798 · Answer

You can use find_package with ExternalProject_add like the following code snippet:

# --------------------------------------------------

function (build_external_project target file_name)

    set(CMAKELIST_CONTENT "
        cmake_minimum_required(VERSION ${CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED_VERSION})

        project(build_external_project)

        file(MD5 \"${file_name}\" FILE_HASH)

        include(ExternalProject)
        ExternalProject_add(${target}
            URL \"${file_name}\"
            URL_MD5 \${FILE_HASH}
            CMAKE_GENERATOR \"${CMAKE_GENERATOR}\"
            CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM \"${CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM}\"
            CMAKE_GENERATOR_TOOLSET \"${CMAKE_GENERATOR_TOOLSET}\"
            CMAKE_GENERATOR_INSTANCE \"${CMAKE_GENERATOR_INSTANCE}\"
            CMAKE_ARGS ${ARGN})

        add_custom_target(build_external_project)
        add_dependencies(build_external_project ${target})
    ")

    set(TARGET_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ExternalProjects/${target}")

    file(WRITE "${TARGET_DIR}/CMakeLists.txt" "${CMAKELIST_CONTENT}")

    file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${TARGET_DIR}" "${TARGET_DIR}/build")

    execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
        -G "${CMAKE_GENERATOR}"
        -A "${CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM}"
        -T "${CMAKE_GENERATOR_TOOLSET}"
        ..
        WORKING_DIRECTORY "${TARGET_DIR}/build")

    execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
        --build .
        --config ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
        WORKING_DIRECTORY "${TARGET_DIR}/build")

endfunction()

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

set(THIDR_PARTY_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}")
set(THIDR_PARTY_INSTALL_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ThirdParty")

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# OpenCV.

set(OPENCV_OPTIONS "")

list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_1394=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_ADE=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_CUDA=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_EIGEN=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_FFMPEG=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_IPP=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_ITT=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_JASPER=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_JPEG=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_OPENCL=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_OPENEXR=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_OPENJPEG=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_PNG=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_PROTOBUF=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_QT=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_TBB=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_TIFF=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D WITH_WEBP=ON)

list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_CUDA_STUBS=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_DOCS=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_IPP_IW=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_ITT=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_JASPER=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_JAVA=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_JPEG=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_OPENEXR=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_PACKAGE=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_PERF_TESTS=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_PNG=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_PROTOBUF=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_TBB=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_TESTS=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_TIFF=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_WEBP=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_ZLIB=ON)

list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_opencv_apps=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_opencv_java_bindings_generator=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_opencv_js=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_opencv_python_bindings_generator=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_opencv_python_tests=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_opencv_world=OFF)

list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D OPENCV_ENABLE_NONFREE=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D OPENCV_FORCE_3RDPARTY_BUILD=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_WITH_STATIC_CRT=OFF)

list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=${CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE})
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE})
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF)
list(APPEND OPENCV_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${THIDR_PARTY_INSTALL_DIR}/OpenCV)

build_external_project(OpenCV "${THIDR_PARTY_DIR}/OpenCV/opencv-4.3.0+cache.zip" ${OPENCV_OPTIONS})

set(OpenCV_STATIC ON)

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Dlib.

set(DLIB_OPTIONS "")

list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D USE_SSE2_INSTRUCTIONS=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D USE_SSE4_INSTRUCTIONS=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D USE_AVX_INSTRUCTIONS=ON)

list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_GIF_SUPPORT=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_JPEG_SUPPORT=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_PNG_SUPPORT=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_USE_BLAS=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_USE_CUDA=OFF)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_USE_LAPACK=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_USE_MKL_FFT=OFF)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_LINK_WITH_SQLITE3=OFF)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_NO_GUI_SUPPORT=OFF)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_ENABLE_ASSERTS=OFF)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D DLIB_ENABLE_STACK_TRACE=OFF)

list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=${CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE})
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE})
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF)
list(APPEND DLIB_OPTIONS -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${THIDR_PARTY_INSTALL_DIR}/dlib)

build_external_project(dlib ${THIDR_PARTY_DIR}/Dlib/dlib-19.20.tar.bz2 ${DLIB_OPTIONS})

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

####################################################################################################
# Now, you can use find_package:
find_package(OpenCV REQUIRED PATHS "${THIDR_PARTY_INSTALL_DIR}/OpenCV" NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
find_package(dlib REQUIRED PATHS "${THIDR_PARTY_INSTALL_DIR}/dlib" NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
####################################################################################################

https://gist.github.com/amir-saniyan/4339e6f3ef109c75eda8018f7d5192a7

CMake - linking to library downloaded from ExternalProject_add()

6 Answers