Make Yato a library type target in cmake

[ckorikov]

Why not to use

add_library(Yato INTERFACE)

instead of add_custom_target ?

https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/add_library.html#interface-libraries

[agruzdev]

As I see the INTERFACE target doesn't compile the provided source files (since 3.19 it can contain them), but the Yato library can be either header-only or contain .cpp files depending on build flags. So I would like to build it as a separate target, when it has sources.

[ckorikov]

I see. Actually, I asked because it could be pretty convenient to use the library in the following way.

add_library(MyLib)
target_link_libraries(MyLib PRIVATE Yato)

According to cmake specification it seems to be impossible for custom targets.

https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/target_link_libraries.html

[agruzdev]

If you use only the core headers, then you dont need to add link to the Yato at all, since it is header-only library, just include_directories( ) would be enough.
If you use the config or actors module, the link the YatoConfig or YatoActors libraries directly, like this:

add_library(MyLib)
target_link_libraries(MyLib PRIVATE YatoConfig)

Let me know if you think it is still inconvenient

[ckorikov]

Right, but target_link_libraries also enables usage requirements propagation from a child to a parent target. It can be only headers in the header-only library or something else in other cases. From the user side, it looks like a general way to connect a dependency that hides its compilation details.

[agruzdev]

I got your point now. I'll think how I can improve this...