Adding compiled libraries and include files to a CMake Project?

Question

What is the best method to include a prebuilt library to a cmake project? I want to include FreeType into the project I am working on and the file structure is like this:

• Build
  • MacOS
    • Make/
    • XCode/
  • Windows
    • VisualStudio/
• Source
  • libs
    • MacOS
      • libfreetype
    • Windows
      • freetype.dll
  • includes
    • freetype/ (Various header files that are included automatically by ftbuild.h)
    • ftbuild.h (this is what is included in code from my understanding.)
  • MyProject
    • main.cpp
    • foo.cpp
    • foo.h

The library is already compiled. MyProject is the name of the current project.

Thanks! Mike

Answer 1

Just use target_link_libraries with the full path to the prebuilt lib.

So, something like:

# In the file Source/MyProject/CMakeLists.txt
add_executable(my_exe main.cpp foo.cpp foo.h)
if(WIN32)
  target_link_libraries(my_exe ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../libs/Windows/freetype.lib)
endif()
if(APPLE)
  target_link_libraries(my_exe ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../libs/MacOS/libfreetype.a)
endif()