In CMake, specify all executables target_link_libraries certain libraries

Question

In CMake, is there a way to specify that all my executables links to some library? Basically I want all my executables link to tcmalloc and profiler. Simply specify -ltcmalloc and -lprofiler is not a good solution because I want to let CMake find the paths to the library in a portable way.

Churchill

Answer 1

You can override the built-in add_executable function with your own which always adds the required link dependencies:

macro (add_executable _name)
    # invoke built-in add_executable
    _add_executable(${ARGV})
    if (TARGET ${_name})
        target_link_libraries(${_name} tcmalloc profiler)
    endif()
endmacro()

Delaryd

I wasn't aware you could override the built-in commands. Good to know. – Nussbaum

I just read in the tcmalloc documentation that it must come at the end of the linker list, and just specifying the dependency with target_link_libraries does not guarantee that condition. If it is not at the end of the link list, then there will be false leak reports. – Alloy

Answer 2

You can write a function/macro in CMake that does the work for you.

function(setup name sources
add_executable(name sources)
target_link_library(name tcmalloc profiler)
endfunction(setup)
setup(foo foo.c)
setup(bar bar.c)

Check out the documentation for more information.

Nussbaum

It works, but kind of hacky. I need to replace every add_executable with setup. Is there some variable that I can set globally to achieve this? – Churchill

You can modify the CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS variable (check CMakeCache.txt in your build directory). Personally I'd say that's more of a hack than switching to a function, but if you have a significant number of executables in your project that's the faster solution. – Nussbaum