Commit b04f3b9a (Create make rules for INTERFACE_LIBRARY
targets., 2013-08-21) extended the makefile generator to create
build targets for INTERFACE_LIBRARY targets. No other generators
were extended with this feature.
This conflicts with the feature of whitelisting of target properties
read from INTERFACE_LIBRARY targets. The INTERFACE_* properties
of the INTERFACE_LIBRARY may legitimately contain TARGET_PROPERTY
generator expressions for reading properties from the 'head target'.
The 'head target' would be the INTERFACE_LIBRARY itself when creating
the build rules for it, which means that non-whitelisted properties
would be read.
This target type only contains INTERFACE_* properties, so it can be
used as a structural node. The target-specific commands enforce
that they may only be used with the INTERFACE keyword when used
with INTERFACE_LIBRARY targets. The old-style target properties
matching LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES_<CONFIG> are always ignored for
this target type.
The name of the INTERFACE_LIBRARY must match a validity generator
expression. The validity is similar to that of an ALIAS target,
but with the additional restriction that it may not contain
double colons. Double colons will carry the meaning of IMPORTED
or ALIAS targets in CMake 2.8.13.
An ALIAS target may be created for an INTERFACE library.
At this point it can not be exported and does not appear in the
buildsystem and project files are not created for them. That may
be added as a feature in a later commit.
The generators need some changes to handle the INTERFACE_LIBRARY
targets returned by cmComputeLinkInterface::GetItems. The Ninja
generator does not use that API, so it doesn't require changes
related to that.
Stephen Kelly