Premake5 compiling additional executables

Question

I am a bit stuck with premake atm. I want to add multiple test files, that, well, run tests. These executables are completely independent from each other and from the main.cpp file that actually generates the final executable.

I am not 100% sure how to indicate to premake to assemble build commands for the tests. I have read on modules and actions but I am not entirely sure they do what I need.

The documentation on modules doesn't seem to imply that this is their intended purpose.

Assume this is the test I want to run:

#include "gtest/gtest.h"

TEST(DummyTest, Negative) {

  EXPECT_EQ(1, 0);
  EXPECT_EQ(1, 1);
  EXPECT_GT(93, 0);
}

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

How can I tell premake to compile and link this file independently to create a stand alone executable?

Answer 1

You'll need to create one project per executable you want to build.

workspace "MyWorkspace"
   -- settings

project "MyProject"
   -- settings

project "DummyTest"
   -- settings

-- repeat as needed

You find it useful to create a function that can set up these test projects for you.

function testProject(name)
    project(name)
    kind "ConsoleExe"
    -- etc.
end

testProject("DummyTest1")
testProject("DummyTest2")

If you're using Visual Studio, you may want to use a workspace group to organize these test projects within your workspace.