How to add_custom_target that depends on “make install”

Question

I\'d like to add a custom target named \"package\" which depends on install target. When I run make package it should cause first running make install

Answer 1

You can create custom target which will run install and some other script after.

CMake script

For instance if you have a CMake script MyScript.cmake:

add_custom_target(
    MyInstall
    COMMAND
    "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" --build . --target install
    COMMAND
    "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" -P "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/MyScript.cmake"
    WORKING_DIRECTORY
    "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}"
)

You can run it by building target MyInstall:

cmake --build /path/to/build/directory --target MyInstall

Python script

Of course you can use any scripting language. Just remember to be polite to other platforms (so probably it's a bad idea to write bash script, it will not work on windows).

For example python script MyScript.py:

find_package(PythonInterp 3.2 REQUIRED)

add_custom_target(
    MyInstall
    COMMAND
    "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" --build . --target install
    COMMAND
    "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/MyScript.py"
    WORKING_DIRECTORY
    "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}"
)