CMake Build with Protobuf on Windows

To build Visual C++ projects on Windows that has dependency on Google protobuf library, we can use CMake. The executable of protobuf is not sufficient to compile C++ projects.

Dependency on protobuf

To specify a dependency on protobuf, the following line can be added into CMakeLists.txt file:

find_package(Protobuf REQUIRED)

Install protobuf library on Windows

1. Follow this article to install Microsoft vcpkg on Windows: Microsoft vcpkg C++ Library Manager

2. Install protobuf library using the following command:

   vcpkg install protobuf:x64-windows
   

3. Wait until the installation is completed:

Test the dependency

1. Create a test CMake project with the following lists (CMakeLists.txt):

   cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
   
   # set the project name
   project(Test)
   
   # Find package
   find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
   find_package(Protobuf REQUIRED)
   

2. Run the build command (under project folder path, for my environment, it locates in C:\hdp\cmaketest):

   cmake .
   

3. The output looks like the following:

   C:\hdp\cmaketest>cmake .
   -- Building for: Visual Studio 14 2015
   -- Selecting Windows SDK version  to target Windows 10.0.18363.
   -- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.0.24215.1
   -- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.0.24215.1
   -- Detecting C compiler ABI info
   -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
   -- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/cl.exe - skipped
   -- Detecting C compile features
   -- Detecting C compile features - done
   -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
   -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
   -- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/cl.exe - skipped
   -- Detecting CXX compile features
   -- Detecting CXX compile features - done
   -- Found OpenSSL: C:/dev/vcpkg/installed/x64-windows/lib/libcrypto.lib (found version "1.1.1i")
   -- Found Protobuf: C:/dev/vcpkg/installed/x64-windows/lib/libprotobuf.lib (found version "3.14.0")
   -- Configuring done
   -- Generating done
   -- Build files have been written to: C:/hdp/cmaketest