These is a memo on how

• to package an external library as if it was built with cmake;
• to find and to use transitive package dependencies;
• to fix debug symbols output location on Windows and install them along with targets.

project_0 is to kick off and simulate non cmake artifacts provided by a third party. It produces a static library and a shared library. No cmake package.

cd examples_cmake

cmake -S project_0 -B build_0 -G "Ninja Multi-Config";
cmake --build build_0 --config Debug;
cmake --build build_0 --config Release;
cmake --install build_0 --config Debug --prefix installed/project_0;
cmake --install build_0 --config Release --prefix installed/project_0;

# for single, non multiple configuration generators
cmake -S project_0 -B build_0_release -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release;
cmake --build build_0_release;
cmake --install build_0_release --prefix installed/project_0;

Package the artifacts with project_1.

# use -Dproject_0_location="" to point cmake to the files
cmake -B build_1 -S project_1 -G "Ninja Multi-Config";
cmake --install build_1 --config Debug --prefix installed/project_1;
cmake --install build_1 --config Release --prefix installed/project_1;

project_2 uses library_1 and library_2 from the package and produces a static library library_3.

# export project_1_DIR="installed/project_1/package";
# $env:project_1_DIR="installed\project_1\package";
cmake -B build_2 -S project_2 -G "Ninja Multi-Config";
cmake --build build_2 --config Debug;
cmake --build build_2 --config Release;
cmake --install build_2 --config Debug --prefix installed/project_2;
cmake --install build_2 --config Release --prefix installed/project_2;

./build_2/Debug/test_1;
./build_2/Release/test_1;

project_3 creates an executable executable_1 that uses static library_3 and therefore requires linking with the libraries from the project_1 package. This dependency is defined by the project_2 package.

# export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="installed/project_2/package";
# $env:CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="installed\project_2\package";
cmake -B build_3 -S project_3 -G "Ninja Multi-Config";
cmake --build build_3 --config Debug;
cmake --install build_3 --config Debug --prefix installed/project_3;

# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${PWD}/installed/project_3/executables"
./installed/project_3/executables/executable_1;

cmake --build build_3 --config Release;
cmake --install build_3 --config Release --prefix installed/project_3;

./installed/project_3/executables/executable_1;