static libraries that need to be linked with whole-archive downstream

[jcar87]

is there a way for a CPS file that describes a static library, to model where a library should be linked as a "whole archive" downstream?

the end result is that the consumer passes something like the following to the linker:

-Wl,--whole-archive -foobar -Wl,--no-whole-archive

I think CMake has a related feature
https://discourse.cmake.org/t/automatically-wrapping-a-static-library-in-whole-archive-no-whole-archive-when-used-during-linking/5883/2

but I think it requires a proxy interface target to model this, e.g.

add_library(L INTERFACE)
target_link_libraries(L INTERFACE "$<LINK_LIBRARY:WHOLE_ARCHIVE,internal_L>")

[mwoehlke]

So... "yes and no". I think this (or something very similar) came up in another context, and the CPS way of implementing this is likely via a link feature. However, there is not presently such a feature specified by CPS.

Additionally, $<LINK_LIBRARY:WHOLE_ARCHIVE,...>, as you note, is not specified on the library, but by the consumer. For this reason, I don't think CPS can model that genex. (IIRC, exactly that problem was raised elsewhere.) I think the best way forward for this is to start by fixing CMake; that is, by modifying CMake to have a target property specifying that a particular target should be linked thusly. That gives us a concrete implementation to use as a basis/rationale for adding a link feature to CPS.

Alternatively, does some other tool already implement such a link feature?