Stop CMake from prepending `lib` to library names

Question

Sadly, CMake follows the awkward "implicit lib" convention, which inevitably causes problems when library names don't actually follow the convention (e.g. zlib), or have 'lib' as an explicit part of their name.

For example, suppose I want to add libusb:

add_library(libusb ...)

On Windows this will correctly produce libusb.lib. On Unix it will produce the hilarious liblibusb.a. Is there any way to prevent this behaviour? I know I can set the output name explicitly using OUTPUT_NAME but I'd have to use some funky generator expressions to preserve libusb.lib on Windows. I wonder if there is a better way?

(And no add_library(usb ... is not a solution; the library is called libusb not usb.)

You could also rename your library to "usb" and force Windows to add "lib" to it.... — André, Jan 23 '17 at 11:29

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 23 '17 at 11:26

17

You can modify it via CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX. So in your case just do after your project() command:

set(CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX "")

Or you can change it per target via the PREFIX target property.

answered Jan 23 '17 at 11:26

Florian

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Also `set_target_properties(libusb PROPERTIES PREFIX "")` to achieve this per target. – Emil Laine Jan 22 '19 at 23:58
Why doesn't it work when set in a toolchain file? Why does it need to be set **after** the project() command? – Spidey Nov 05 '19 at 19:44

Stop CMake from prepending `lib` to library names

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