How to start working with GTest and CMake

The solution involved putting the gtest source directory as a subdirectory of your project. I've included the working CMakeLists.txt below if it is helpful to anyone.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6)
project(basic_test)

################################
# GTest
################################
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY (gtest-1.6.0)
enable_testing()
include_directories(${gtest_SOURCE_DIR}/include ${gtest_SOURCE_DIR})

################################
# Unit Tests
################################
# Add test cpp file
add_executable( runUnitTests testgtest.cpp )
# Link test executable against gtest & gtest_main
target_link_libraries(runUnitTests gtest gtest_main)
add_test( runUnitTests runUnitTests )

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Here is a complete working example that I just tested. It downloads directly from the web, either a fixed tarball, or the latest subversion directory.

cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.1)

project (registerer)

##################################
# Download and install GoogleTest

include(ExternalProject)
ExternalProject_Add(gtest
  URL https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/release-1.8.0.zip
  # Comment above line, and uncomment line below to use subversion.
  # SVN_REPOSITORY http://googletest.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ 
  # Uncomment line below to freeze a revision (here the one for 1.7.0)
  # SVN_REVISION -r700
  
  PREFIX ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/gtest
  INSTALL_COMMAND ""
)
ExternalProject_Get_Property(gtest source_dir binary_dir)

################
# Define a test
add_executable(registerer_test registerer_test.cc)

######################################
# Configure the test to use GoogleTest
#
# If used often, could be made a macro.

add_dependencies(registerer_test gtest)
include_directories(${source_dir}/include)
target_link_libraries(registerer_test ${binary_dir}/libgtest.a)
target_link_libraries(registerer_test ${binary_dir}/libgtest_main.a)

##################################
# Just make the test runnable with
#   $ make test
    
enable_testing()
add_test(NAME    registerer_test 
         COMMAND registerer_test)

---

You can get the best of both worlds. It is possible to use ExternalProject to download the gtest source and then use add_subdirectory() to add it to your build. This has the following advantages:

gtest is built as part of your main build, so it uses the same compiler flags, etc. and hence avoids problems like the ones described in the question.

There's no need to add the gtest sources to your own source tree.

Used in the normal way, ExternalProject won't do the download and unpacking at configure time (i.e. when CMake is run), but you can get it to do so with just a little bit of work. I've written a blog post on how to do this which also includes a generalised implementation which works for any external project which uses CMake as its build system, not just gtest. You can find them here:

https://crascit.com/2015/07/25/cmake-gtest/

https://github.com/Crascit/DownloadProject

Update: This approach is now also part of the googletest documentation.

---

Most likely, the difference in compiler options between your test binary and the Google Test library is to blame on such errors. That's why it's recommended to bring in Google Test in the source form and build it along with your tests. It's very easy to do in CMake. You just invoke ADD_SUBDIRECTORY with the path to the gtest root and then you can use public library targets (gtest and gtest_main) defined there. There is more background information in this CMake thread in the googletestframework group.

[edit] The BUILD_SHARED_LIBS option is only effective on Windows for now. It specifies the type of libraries that you want CMake to build. If you set it to ON, CMake will build them as DLLs as opposed to static libs. In that case you have to build your tests with -DGTEST_LINKED_AS_SHARED_LIBRARY=1 and copy the DLL files produced by the CMake to the directory with your test binary (CMake places them in a separate output directory by default). Unless gtest in static lib doesn't work for you, it's easier not to set that option.

---

The OP is using Windows, and a much easier way to use GTest today is with vcpkg+cmake.

Install vcpkg as per https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg , and make sure you can run vcpkg from the cmd line. Take note of the vcpkg installation folder, eg. C:\bin\programs\vcpkg.

Install gtest using vcpkg install gtest: this will download, compile, and install GTest.

Use a CmakeLists.txt as below: note we can use targets instead of including folders.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)
project(sample CXX)
enable_testing()
find_package(GTest REQUIRED)
add_executable(test1 test.cpp source.cpp)
target_link_libraries(test1 GTest::GTest GTest::Main)
add_test(test-1 test1)

Run cmake with: (edit the vcpkg folder if necessary, and make sure the path to the vcpkg.cmake toolchain file is correct)

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=C:\bin\programs\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake

and build using cmake --build build as usual. Note that, vcpkg will also copy the required gtest(d).dll/gtest(d)_main.dll from the install folder to the Debug/Release folders.

Test with cd build & ctest.

---

Having done some more digging, I think my issue is something to do with the type of library I am building gtest into. When building gtest with CMake, if BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is un-checked, and I link my program against these .lib files I get the errors mentioned above. However, if BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is checked then I produce a set of .lib and .dll files. When now linking against these .lib files the program compiles, but when run complains that it can't find gtest.dll.

That is because you have to add -DGTEST_LINKED_AS_SHARED_LIBRARY=1 to compiler definitions in your project if you want to use gtest as a shared library.

You could also use the static libraries, provided you compiled it with gtest_force_shared_crt option on to eliminate errors you have seen.

I like the library but adding it to the project is a real pain. And you have no chance to do it right unless you dig (and hack) into the gtest cmake files. Shame. In particular I do not like the idea of adding gtest as a source. :)

---

Just as an update to @Patricia's comment in the accepted answer and @Fraser's comment for the original question, if you have access to CMake 3.11+ you can make use of CMake's FetchContent function.

CMake's FetchContent page uses googletest as an example!

I've provided a small modification of the accepted answer:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.11)
project(basic_test)

set(GTEST_VERSION 1.6.0 CACHE STRING "Google test version")

################################
# GTest
################################
FetchContent_Declare(googletest
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/googletest.git
GIT_TAG release-${GTEST_VERSION})

FetchContent_GetProperties(googletest)
if(NOT googletest_POPULATED)
  FetchContent_Populate(googletest)
  add_subdirectory(${googletest_SOURCE_DIR} ${googletest_BINARY_DIR})
endif()

enable_testing()

################################
# Unit Tests
################################
# Add test cpp file
add_executable(runUnitTests testgtest.cpp)

# Include directories
target_include_directories(runUnitTests 
                      $<TARGET_PROPERTY:gtest,INTERFACE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>
                      $<TARGET_PROPERTY:gtest_main,INTERFACE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>)

# Link test executable against gtest & gtest_main
target_link_libraries(runUnitTests gtest
                                   gtest_main)

add_test(runUnitTests runUnitTests)

You can use the INTERFACE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target property of the gtest and gtest_main targets as they are set in the google test CMakeLists.txt script.

---

Yours and VladLosevs' solutions are probably better than mine. If you want a brute-force solution, however, try this:

SET(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS /NODEFAULTLIB:\"msvcprtd.lib;MSVCRTD.lib\")

FOREACH(flag_var
    CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE
    CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_MINSIZEREL CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO)
    if(${flag_var} MATCHES "/MD")
        string(REGEX REPLACE "/MD" "/MT" ${flag_var} "${${flag_var}}")
    endif(${flag_var} MATCHES "/MD")
ENDFOREACH(flag_var)

---

The simplest CMakeLists.txt I distilled from answers in this thread and some trial and error is:

project(test CXX C)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6.2)

#include folder contains current project's header filed
include_directories("include")

#test folder contains test files
set (PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR test) 
add_executable(hex2base64 ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/hex2base64.cpp)

# Link test executable against gtest nothing else required
target_link_libraries(hex2base64 gtest pthread)

Gtest should already be installed on your system.

---

I decided to throw something generic together real quick demonstrating a different way of doing it than the answers previously posted, in hope that it might help someone. The following worked for me on my mac. Firstly I ran setup commands for gtests. I just used a script I found to setup everything.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# install gtests script on mac
# https://gist.github.com/butuzov/e7df782c31171f9563057871d0ae444a

#usage
# chmod +x ./gtest_installer.sh
# sudo ./gtest_installer.sh

# Current directory
__THIS_DIR=$(pwd)


# Downloads the 1.8.0 to disc
function dl {
    printf "\n  Downloading Google Test Archive\n\n"
    curl -LO https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/release-1.8.0.tar.gz
    tar xf release-1.8.0.tar.gz
}

# Unpack and Build
function build {
    printf "\n  Building GTest and Gmock\n\n"
    cd googletest-release-1.8.0
    mkdir build 
    cd $_
    cmake -Dgtest_build_samples=OFF -Dgtest_build_tests=OFF ../
    make
}

# Install header files and library
function install {
    printf "\n  Installing GTest and Gmock\n\n"

    USR_LOCAL_INC="/usr/local/include"
    GTEST_DIR="/usr/local/Cellar/gtest/"
    GMOCK_DIR="/usr/local/Cellar/gmock/"

    mkdir $GTEST_DIR

    cp googlemock/gtest/*.a $GTEST_DIR
    cp -r ../googletest/include/gtest/  $GTEST_DIR
    ln -snf $GTEST_DIR $USR_LOCAL_INC/gtest
    ln -snf $USR_LOCAL_INC/gtest/libgtest.a /usr/local/lib/libgtest.a
    ln -snf $USR_LOCAL_INC/gtest/libgtest_main.a /usr/local/lib/libgtest_main.a

    mkdir $GMOCK_DIR
    cp googlemock/*.a   $GMOCK_DIR
    cp -r ../googlemock/include/gmock/  $GMOCK_DIR
    ln -snf $GMOCK_DIR $USR_LOCAL_INC/gmock
    ln -snf $USR_LOCAL_INC/gmock/libgmock.a /usr/local/lib/libgmock.a
    ln -snf $USR_LOCAL_INC/gmock/libgmock_main.a /usr/local/lib/libgmock_main.a
}

# Final Clean up.
function cleanup {
    printf "\n  Running Cleanup\n\n"

    cd $__THIS_DIR
    rm -rf $(pwd)/googletest-release-1.8.0
    unlink $(pwd)/release-1.8.0.tar.gz
}

dl && build && install && cleanup 

Next, I made a simple folder structure and wrote some quick classes

utils/
  cStringUtils.cpp
  cStringUtils.h
  CMakeLists.txt
utils/tests/
    gtestsMain.cpp
    cStringUtilsTest.cpp
    CMakeLists.txt

I made a top level CMakeLists.txt for the utils folder, and a CMakeLists.txt for the tests folder

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6)

project(${GTEST_PROJECT} C CXX)

set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 98)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 98)

#include .h and .cpp files in util folder
include_directories("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}")

##########
# GTests
#########
add_subdirectory(tests)

This is the CMakeLists.txt in the tests folder

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.6)

set(GTEST_PROJECT gtestProject)

enable_testing()

message("Gtest Cmake")

find_package(GTest REQUIRED)

# The utils, test, and gtests directories
include_directories("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}")
include_directories("/usr/local/Cellar/gtest/include")
include_directories("/usr/local/Cellar/gtest/lib")

set(SOURCES
  gtestsMain.cpp
  ../cStringUtils.cpp
  cStringUtilsTest.cpp
)

set(HEADERS
  ../cStringUtils.h
)

add_executable(${GTEST_PROJECT} ${SOURCES})
target_link_libraries(${GTEST_PROJECT} PUBLIC
  gtest
  gtest_main
)

add_test(${GTEST_PROJECT} ${GTEST_PROJECT})

Then all that's left is to write a sample gtest and gtest main

sample gtest

#include "gtest/gtest.h"
#include "cStringUtils.h"

namespace utils
{

class cStringUtilsTest : public ::testing::Test {

 public:

  cStringUtilsTest() : m_function_param(10) {}
  ~cStringUtilsTest(){}

 protected:
  virtual void SetUp() 
  {
    // declare pointer 
    pFooObject = new StringUtilsC();    
  }

  virtual void TearDown() 
  {
    // Code here will be called immediately after each test
    // (right before the destructor).
    if (pFooObject != NULL)
    {
      delete pFooObject;
      pFooObject = NULL;
    }
  }


  StringUtilsC fooObject;              // declare object
  StringUtilsC *pFooObject;
  int m_function_param;                // this value is used to test constructor
};

TEST_F(cStringUtilsTest, testConstructors){
    EXPECT_TRUE(1);

  StringUtilsC fooObject2 = fooObject; // use copy constructor


  fooObject.fooFunction(m_function_param);
  pFooObject->fooFunction(m_function_param);
  fooObject2.fooFunction(m_function_param);
}

} // utils end

sample gtest main

#include "gtest/gtest.h"
#include "cStringUtils.h"

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  ::testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv); 
  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
}

I can then compile and run gtests with the following commands from the utils folder

cmake .
make 
./tests/gtestProject

---