protobuf: library targets have different names under Windows and Linux

[sigiesec]

Description of Problem, Request, or Question

Library targets have different names under Windows and Linux because of different handling if "lib" prefix.

Package Details (Include if Applicable)

• Package Name/Version: protobuf/3.6.1
• Operating System: Linux, Windows

Steps to reproduce (Include if Applicable)

Using the conan cmake generator, in the CMakeLists.txt of a dependent package, I want to reference the library as

include(${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/conanbuildinfo.cmake)
conan_basic_setup(TARGET)

add_library(my_library STATIC)
target_link_libraries(my_library PUBLIC CONAN_LIB::Protobuf_protobuf)

But this variant only works under Linux, while under Windows, I need to use CONAN_LIB::Protobuf_libprotobuf instead.

[SSE4]

@sigiesec have you tried to use CONAN_PKG::protobuf instead?

[sigiesec]

Yes, but CONAN_PKG::protobuf also depends on (lib)protoc, which I don't want. In general, I want to specify depedencies on a specific library, not a whole package.

Actually, we have a modified version of the recipe, which also builds (lib)protobuf_lite, which makes the problem more apparent, since you cannot link to both libraries, since this would yield ambiguous symbols.

[sigiesec]

I found a way to circumvent this problem now by using find_package(Protobuf).

[SSE4]

this one might be tricky to solve. I guess the following proposed conan feature may help:
conan-io/conan#2387

[sigiesec]

Really? Hm, then the problem appears to be more fundamental than I thought, in general. As I wrote, for libprotobuf specifically I found a way to circumvent this, so for my part, we could close this issue.

[SSE4]

okay, I am closing this for now, as this requires some new conan feature to implement.