Specify libraries or flags to use when linking a given target and/or its dependents. Usage requirements from linked library targets will be propagated. Usage requirements of a target’s dependencies affect compilation of its own sources.

Overview¶

This command has several signatures as detailed in subsections below. All of them have the general form

target_link_libraries(<target>...<item>......)

The named <target> must have been created by a command such as add_executable() or add_library() and must not be an ALIAS target. If policy CMP0079 is not set to NEW then the target must have been created in the current directory. Repeated calls for the same <target> append items in the order called.

Each <item> may be:

• A library target name: The generated link line will have the full path to the linkable library file associated with the target. The buildsystem will have a dependency to re-link <target> if the library file changes.

  The named target must be created by add_library() within the project or as an IMPORTED library. If it is created within the project an ordering dependency will automatically be added in the build system to make sure the named library target is up-to-date before the <target> links.

  If an imported library has the IMPORTED_NO_SONAME target property set, CMake may ask the linker to search for the library instead of using the full path (e.g. /usr/lib/libfoo.so becomes -lfoo).

  The full path to the target’s artifact will be quoted/escaped for the shell automatically.

• A full path to a library file: The generated link line will normally preserve the full path to the file. The buildsystem will have a dependency to re-link <target> if the library file changes.

  There are some cases where CMake may ask the linker to search for the library (e.g. /usr/lib/libfoo.so becomes -lfoo), such as when a shared library is detected to have no SONAME field. See policy CMP0060 for discussion of another case.

  If the library file is in a macOS framework, the Headers directory of the framework will also be processed as a usage requirement. This has the same effect as passing the framework directory as an include directory.

  On Visual Studio Generators for VS 2010 and above, library files ending in .targets will be treated as MSBuild targets files and imported into generated project files. This is not supported by other generators.

  The full path to the library file will be quoted/escaped for the shell automatically.

• A plain library name: The generated link line will ask the linker to search for the library (e.g. foo becomes -lfoo or foo.lib).

  The library name/flag is treated as a command-line string fragment and will be used with no extra quoting or escaping.

• A link flag: Item names starting with -, but not -l or -framework, are treated as linker flags. Note that such flags will be treated like any other library link item for purposes of transitive dependencies, so they are generally safe to specify only as private link items that will not propagate to dependents.

  Link flags specified here are inserted into the link command in the same place as the link libraries. This might not be correct, depending on the linker. Use the LINK_OPTIONS target property or target_link_options() command to add link flags explicitly. The flags will then be placed at the toolchain-defined flag position in the link command.

  The link flag is treated as a command-line string fragment and will be used with no extra quoting or escaping.

• A generator expression: A $<...> generator expression may evaluate to any of the above items or to a semicolon-separated list of them. If the ... contains any ; characters, e.g. after evaluation of a ${list} variable, be sure to use an explicitly quoted argument "$<...>" so that this command receives it as a single <item>.

  Additionally, a generator expression may be used as a fragment of any of the above items, e.g. foo$<1:_d>.

  Note that generator expressions will not be used in OLD handling of policy CMP0003 or policy CMP0004.

• A debug, optimized, or general keyword immediately followed by another <item>. The item following such a keyword will be used only for the corresponding build configuration. The debug keyword corresponds to the Debug configuration (or to configurations named in the DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS global property if it is set). The optimized keyword corresponds to all other configurations. The general keyword corresponds to all configurations, and is purely optional. Higher granularity may be achieved for per-configuration rules by creating and linking to IMPORTED library targets. These keywords are interpreted immediately by this command and therefore have no special meaning when produced by a generator expression.

Items containing ::, such as Foo::Bar, are assumed to be IMPORTED or ALIAS library target names and will cause an error if no such target exists. See policy CMP0028.

See the cmake-buildsystem(7) manual for more on defining buildsystem properties.