What use is find_package() when you need to specify CMAKE_MODULE_PATH?

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I’m trying to get a cross-plattform build system working using CMake. Now the software has a few dependencies. I compiled them myself and installed them on my system.

Some example files which got installed:

-- Installing: /usr/local/share/SomeLib/SomeDir/somefile
-- Installing: /usr/local/share/SomeLib/SomeDir/someotherfile
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/SomeLib/somesharedlibrary
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/SomeLib/cmake/FindSomeLib.cmake
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/SomeLib/cmake/HelperFile.cmake

Now CMake has a find_package() which opens a Find*.cmake file and searches after the library on the system and defines some variables like SomeLib_FOUND etc.

My CMakeLists.txt contains something like this:

set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "/usr/local/lib/SomeLib/cmake/;${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH}")
find_package(SomeLib REQUIRED)

The first command defines where CMake searches after the Find*.cmake and I added the directory of SomeLib where the FindSomeLib.cmake can be found, so find_package() works
as expected.

But this is kind of weird because one of the reasons why find_package() exists is to get away from non-cross-plattform hard coded paths.

How is this usually done? Should I copy the cmake/ directory of SomeLib into my project and set the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH relatively?

4 Answers
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