Add INTERFACE libraries to generated buildsystem if they have SOURCES

INTERFACE libraries were created with the intention of collecting usage
requirements for use by other targets via `target_link_libraries`.
Therefore they were not allowed to have SOURCES and were not included in
the generated buildsystem.  In practice, this has become limiting:

* Header-only libraries do have sources, they just do not compile.
  Developers should be able to edit those sources (the header files)
  in their IDE.

* Header-only libraries may need to generate some of their header
  files via custom commands.

Some projects work around these limitations by pairing each interface
library with an `add_custom_target` that makes the header files and
custom commands appear in the generated buildsystem and in IDEs.

Lift such limitations by allowing INTERFACE libraries to have SOURCES.
For those with sources, add a corresponding build target to the
generated buildsystem.

Fixes: #19145

1 files changed, 21 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/Help/manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.rst b/Help/manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.rst
index 6eea191638..cd273165b9 100644
--- a/Help/manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.rst
+++ b/Help/manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.rst
@@ -922,8 +922,8 @@ property from it:
 Interface Libraries
 -------------------
 
-An ``INTERFACE`` target has no :prop_tgt:`LOCATION` and is mutable, but is
-otherwise similar to an :prop_tgt:`IMPORTED` target.
+An ``INTERFACE`` library target does not compile sources and does not
+produce a library artifact on disk, so it has no :prop_tgt:`LOCATION`.
 
 It may specify usage requirements such as
 :prop_tgt:`INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES`,
@@ -937,11 +937,22 @@ Only the ``INTERFACE`` modes of the :command:`target_include_directories`,
 :command:`target_sources`, and :command:`target_link_libraries` commands
 may be used with ``INTERFACE`` libraries.
 
+Since CMake 3.19, an ``INTERFACE`` library target may optionally contain
+source files.  An interface library that contains source files will be
+included as a build target in the generated buildsystem.  It does not
+compile sources, but may contain custom commands to generate other sources.
+Additionally, IDEs will show the source files as part of the target for
+interactive reading and editing.
+
 A primary use-case for ``INTERFACE`` libraries is header-only libraries.
 
 .. code-block:: cmake
 
-  add_library(Eigen INTERFACE)
+  add_library(Eigen INTERFACE
+    src/eigen.h
+    src/vector.h
+    src/matrix.h
+    )
   target_include_directories(Eigen INTERFACE
     $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src>
     $<INSTALL_INTERFACE:include/Eigen>
@@ -980,7 +991,12 @@ to must be installed separately:
 
 .. code-block:: cmake
 
-  add_library(Eigen INTERFACE)
+  set(Eigen_headers
+    src/eigen.h
+    src/vector.h
+    src/matrix.h
+    )
+  add_library(Eigen INTERFACE ${Eigen_headers})
   target_include_directories(Eigen INTERFACE
     $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src>
     $<INSTALL_INTERFACE:include/Eigen>
@@ -990,9 +1006,6 @@ to must be installed separately:
   install(EXPORT eigenExport NAMESPACE Upstream::
     DESTINATION lib/cmake/Eigen
   )
-  install(FILES
-      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/eigen.h
-      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/vector.h
-      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/matrix.h
+  install(FILES ${Eigen_headers}
     DESTINATION include/Eigen
   )