CMake to create a exe and lib with (prepackaged headers and dlls) - visual-c++

Question

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8 FATAL_ERROR)
project(ImageProc)
set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib)
set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib)
set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
find_package(PCL 1.2 REQUIRED)
find_package(OpenCV REQUIRED)
add_definitions( -fPIC -Wall -O3)
include_directories(${PCL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
#link_directories(${PCL_LIBRARY_DIRS}) Dont think neccesary..
add_definitions(${PCL_DEFINITIONS})
add_executable (ImageProc svm.cpp ImageProc.cpp testImageProc.cpp)
target_link_libraries (ImageProc ${OpenCV_LIBS} ${PCL_LIBRARIES})
add_library(ImageProcLib STATIC svm.cpp ImageProc.cpp)
target_link_libraries (ImageProcLib ${OpenCV_LIBS} ${PCL_LIBRARIES})
Currently, I run this and open with VS C++ and generate an exe and lib.
The exe runs on my machine.
Current limitations:
When I pass the exe to my friend, he cant run it on his machine as he gets hit by host of missing dlls.
When I use the lib files, to create a new project in VS C++, there is a fatal error in not finding a header file.
I know, I can manually add all the dlls and or package all the header and library files for the lib. But it is definitely cumbersome and ugly also.
Question:
Does CMake offer a way, so that when compiling into
An exe (it will automatically find all the necessary dlls into bin directory)
Into a lib (it will automatically source out all the header files and also the neccesary library for the linking part into the lib directory)

Answer 1

Preparing your package for deployment on other development environment can still be a tough task. You will need to setup your own interfaces/API correctly and will need to deal with cross-dll issues, different runtimes, etc.
However, there are a few tools from CMake at your disposal:
Check out the Install and Export. You can use it to specify (in your CMakeLists.txt) which files are necessary for deployment. This way, you can mark which header-files, but also which targets (libs and exes) should be deployed.
Also take a look at CPack in combination with NSIS, which can be used to build NSIS installers of your project.
Together with the InstallRequiredSystemLibraries and BundleUtilities you can then prepare an install or package target. See also this and this question demonstrating how third-party dlls can be added to such a deployment package.
InstallRequiredSystemLibraries is very useful for appending vcredist to your own package installer, which you will surely need if you are installing your project on a non-development pc.