Path to target output file

Question

I have a .so library target created by add_library, and need to pass an absolute path to this library to an external script. Now I have ${LIBRARY_OUTPUT_P

Answer 1

Try:

get_property(fancy_lib_location TARGET fancy_lib PROPERTY LOCATION)
message (STATUS "fancy_lib_location == ${fancy_lib_location}")

Where fancy_lib is the target created with add_library (fancy_lib SHARED ...).

I found that works directly with Makefile generators, but there is more work to be done for Visual Studio generators since the value of fancy_lib_location is not what you would expect:

1. fancy_lib_location will contain an embedded reference to a Visual-Studio-specific $(OutDir) reference that you will have to replace with the value of the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE CMake variable (which resolves to something like Debug, or Release).
2. At least for CMake 2.8.1, and at least on Visual Studio targets, and if you have set the CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX variable, then it will not be included in the value (which may or may not be a bug, I don't know).