How to print all the properties of a target in cmake?

Question

With the following cmake scrpt:

get_cmake_property(_variableNames VARIABLES)
foreach (_variableName ${_variableNames})
    message(STATUS \"${_variableName}=         


        

Answer 1

This isn't really intended to be a competing answer, just an expansion on the answer by AlwaysTraining (and edited by Dawid Drozd)!

If the target is an INTERFACE_LIBRARY, this will print out a whole bunch of errors about whitelisted properties. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a good way to dynamically query what the whitelisted properties are - by checking the source for cmTargetPropertyComputer::WhiteListedInterfaceProperty I was able to come up with a regexp, but it could change from version to version (I was looking at the source for cmake-3.11). Anyway, here's my revised version, with support for INTERFACE_LIBRARYtargets - I also removes duplicate, and made the filtering of LOCATION properties happen once, outside of the loop.

(I've made a suggested edit to the original question, but this is here in case it isn't accepted...)

Thanks AlwaysTraining and Dawid Drozd!

# Get all propreties that cmake supports
execute_process(COMMAND cmake --help-property-list OUTPUT_VARIABLE CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST)

# Convert command output into a CMake list
STRING(REGEX REPLACE ";" "\\\\;" CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST "${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")
STRING(REGEX REPLACE "\n" ";" CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST "${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")
# Fix https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32197663/how-can-i-remove-the-the-location-property-may-not-be-read-from-target-error-i
list(FILTER CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST EXCLUDE REGEX "^LOCATION$|^LOCATION_|_LOCATION$")
# For some reason, "TYPE" shows up twice - others might too?
list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST)

# build whitelist by filtering down from CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST in case cmake is
# a different version, and one of our hardcoded whitelisted properties
# doesn't exist!
unset(CMAKE_WHITELISTED_PROPERTY_LIST)
foreach(prop ${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST})
    if(prop MATCHES "^(INTERFACE|[_a-z]|IMPORTED_LIBNAME_|MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_)|^(COMPATIBLE_INTERFACE_(BOOL|NUMBER_MAX|NUMBER_MIN|STRING)|EXPORT_NAME|IMPORTED(_GLOBAL|_CONFIGURATIONS|_LIBNAME)?|NAME|TYPE|NO_SYSTEM_FROM_IMPORTED)$")
        list(APPEND CMAKE_WHITELISTED_PROPERTY_LIST ${prop})
    endif()
endforeach(prop)

function(print_properties)
    message ("CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST = ${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")
endfunction(print_properties)

function(print_whitelisted_properties)
    message ("CMAKE_WHITELISTED_PROPERTY_LIST = ${CMAKE_WHITELISTED_PROPERTY_LIST}")
endfunction(print_whitelisted_properties)

function(print_target_properties tgt)
    if(NOT TARGET ${tgt})
      message("There is no target named '${tgt}'")
      return()
    endif()

    get_target_property(target_type ${tgt} TYPE)
    if(target_type STREQUAL "INTERFACE_LIBRARY")
        set(PROP_LIST ${CMAKE_WHITELISTED_PROPERTY_LIST})
    else()
        set(PROP_LIST ${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST})
    endif()

    foreach (prop ${PROP_LIST})
        string(REPLACE "<CONFIG>" "${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}" prop ${prop})
        # message ("Checking ${prop}")
        get_property(propval TARGET ${tgt} PROPERTY ${prop} SET)
        if (propval)
            get_target_property(propval ${tgt} ${prop})
            message ("${tgt} ${prop} = ${propval}")
        endif()
    endforeach(prop)
endfunction(print_target_properties)

Answer 2

I have had limited success with the following work-around to the apparent lack of ability to dynamically query for the properties of a target.

I invoke the cmake command to list all properties, and then try each one on the target.

# Get all propreties that cmake supports
execute_process(COMMAND cmake --help-property-list OUTPUT_VARIABLE CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST)

# Convert command output into a CMake list
STRING(REGEX REPLACE ";" "\\\\;" CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST "${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")
STRING(REGEX REPLACE "\n" ";" CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST "${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")

function(print_properties)
    message ("CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST = ${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")
endfunction(print_properties)

function(print_target_properties tgt)
    if(NOT TARGET ${tgt})
      message("There is no target named '${tgt}'")
      return()
    endif()

    foreach (prop ${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST})
        string(REPLACE "<CONFIG>" "${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}" prop ${prop})
    # Fix https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32197663/how-can-i-remove-the-the-location-property-may-not-be-read-from-target-error-i
    if(prop STREQUAL "LOCATION" OR prop MATCHES "^LOCATION_" OR prop MATCHES "_LOCATION$")
        continue()
    endif()
        # message ("Checking ${prop}")
        get_property(propval TARGET ${tgt} PROPERTY ${prop} SET)
        if (propval)
            get_target_property(propval ${tgt} ${prop})
            message ("${tgt} ${prop} = ${propval}")
        endif()
    endforeach(prop)
endfunction(print_target_properties)

Answer 3

Improved @AlwaysTraining's and @PaulMolodowitch's answers.
Solves problem with INTERFACE_LIBRARY described in kyb's comment

Functionally my implementation does at most the same as @PaulMolodowitch's implementation. But it is more laconic.

## https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32183975/how-to-print-all-the-properties-of-a-target-in-cmake/56738858#56738858
## https://stackoverflow.com/a/56738858/3743145

## Get all properties that cmake supports
execute_process(COMMAND cmake --help-property-list OUTPUT_VARIABLE CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST)
## Convert command output into a CMake list
STRING(REGEX REPLACE ";" "\\\\;" CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST "${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")
STRING(REGEX REPLACE "\n" ";" CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST "${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST}")

list(REMOVE_DUPLICATES CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST)

function(print_target_properties tgt)
    if(NOT TARGET ${tgt})
      message("There is no target named '${tgt}'")
      return()
    endif()

    foreach (prop ${CMAKE_PROPERTY_LIST})
        string(REPLACE "<CONFIG>" "${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}" prop ${prop})
        get_target_property(propval ${tgt} ${prop})
        if (propval)
            get_target_property(propval ${tgt} ${prop})
            message ("${tgt} ${prop} = ${propval}")
        endif()
    endforeach(prop)
endfunction(print_target_properties)