I am developing a library to easily create an OpenGL window context and display an image on it. I have two CMakeLists.txt files. The first one (top project) is for the .exe file, and the second one (sub project) is for the shared or static library file. I know I can bind two CMakeLists.txt files via the add_subdirectory() command and, by doing that, link the sub project’s output (shared or static lib) to the top-level project.

I am statically linking glew32s.lib and glfw3.lib to my sub project. Then, I am linking my sub project to the top-level project. My sub project compiles without any errors, but my top-level project fails to compile. My top-level project always asks for glew32s.lib and glfw3.lib. Why is this happening if they are statically linked to my sub project?

Here are the error messages:

LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'glew32s.lib'
LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'glfw3.lib'

Here is the GitHub repository for the entire code: https://github.com/YsBsr/Some_Test.git

And these are the CMakeLists.txt files that I mentioned.

Sub Project’s CMakeLists.txt file:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.22)

project(windowhandler)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)

if (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")
    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} /O2 /GA /GL /MT /arch:AVX2")
endif ()

if (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} /Od /GA /MTd /arch:AVX2")
endif ()

set(BASE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
set(THIRD_PARTY_FOLDER ${BASE_DIR}/../__third_party__)

message("sdasd ${THIRD_PARTY_FOLDER}")

# Project Includes
include_directories(${BASE_DIR}/include)

# Third Party Includes
include_directories(${THIRD_PARTY_FOLDER}/glew/include)
add_compile_definitions(GLEW_STATIC)
include_directories(${THIRD_PARTY_FOLDER}/glfw/include)

# GLEW
link_directories(${THIRD_PARTY_FOLDER}/glew/lib/windows)
set(GLEW_TARGET glew32s.lib)

# GLFW
if (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")
    link_directories(${THIRD_PARTY_FOLDER}/glfw/lib/windows/release)
endif ()

if (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
    link_directories(${THIRD_PARTY_FOLDER}/glfw/lib/windows/debug)
endif ()

set(GLFW_TARGET glfw3.lib)

add_library(
    ${PROJECT_NAME}

    STATIC

    ${BASE_DIR}/source/window_handler.cpp
)

target_link_libraries(
    ${PROJECT_NAME}

    PRIVATE

    ${GLEW_TARGET}
    ${GLFW_TARGET}

    #Kernel
    user32
    opengl32
    gdi32
    shell32
)

if(NOT VSCODE_BUILD)
    set(LIB_OUT_DIR ${BASE_DIR}/__build_out__)

    if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")
        set(LIB_OUT_DIR ${LIB_OUT_DIR}/release)
    endif(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")

    if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
        set(LIB_OUT_DIR ${LIB_OUT_DIR}/debug)
    endif(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
endif(NOT VSCODE_BUILD)

if(VSCODE_BUILD)
    set(LIB_OUT_DIR ../${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY})
endif(VSCODE_BUILD)

set_target_properties(
    ${PROJECT_NAME}
    PROPERTIES
    RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${LIB_OUT_DIR}
)

add_test(
    NAME ${PROJECT_NAME}
    COMMAND ${PROJECT_NAME}
)

# End Of File

And this is my Top Level Project’s CMakeLists.txt file:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.22)

set(CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES Debug Release)

project(OPENCL_IMAGE_PROCESSING_EXAMPLES)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)

if (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")
    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} /O2 /GA /GL /MT /arch:AVX2")
endif ()

if (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} /Od /GA /MTd /arch:AVX2")
endif ()

if(VSCODE_BUILD)
    if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")
        set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/release")
    endif(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")

    if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
        set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/debug")
    endif(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
endif(VSCODE_BUILD)

if(NOT VSCODE_BUILD)
    if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")
        set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/__build_out__/release")
    endif(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")

    if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
        set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/__build_out__/debug")
    endif(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
endif(NOT VSCODE_BUILD)


set(WORKSPACE_FOLDER ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})

# SubProjects
add_subdirectory(${WORKSPACE_FOLDER}/window_handler)

# SubProject Includes
include_directories(${WORKSPACE_FOLDER}/window_handler/include)

add_executable(
    ${PROJECT_NAME}

    ${WORKSPACE_FOLDER}/main.cpp
)

target_link_libraries(
    ${PROJECT_NAME}

    PRIVATE
    
    #subprojects
    windowhandler
)

# END OF FILE