cmake doesn't support imported libraries?

Question

When I try to import a library using

 add_library(libname SHARED IMPORTED)
    set_property(TARGET libname PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION //&l         


        

Answer 1

I was getting the same error as navderm when trying to import the Poco C++ libPocoFoundation.so library into my project, and after trying different solutions unsuccessfully, I managed to find one that worked for me:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
project(MyProject)

set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++11")

add_library(PocoLib SHARED IMPORTED GLOBAL)

# It's important to specify the full path to the library you want to import
set_target_properties(PocoLib PROPERTIES IMPORTED_LOCATION "/usr/local/lib/Poco_1.7.2/lib/libPocoFoundation.so")

# create my executable
set(EXEC_SOURCE_FILES main.cpp)
add_executable(MyProject ${EXEC_SOURCE_FILES})

target_link_libraries(MyProject PocoLib)

Answer 2

Cannot specify link libraries for target "libname" which is not built by this project

When you use target_link_libraries to some target you're specifying how to build it, but imported library is already build. CMake told you that...

Example of linking imported target to executable:

add_library(boo SHARED IMPORTED)
set_target_properties(boo PROPERTIES IMPORTED_LOCATION "/path/to/boo/library")
add_executable(foo foo.cpp)
target_link_libraries(foo boo)

Note: using imported targets