[SOLVED] What install command does in cmake?

Issue

I am sorry for being so naive. I tried to understand from this cmake website's link But could not understand. I have a sample cmake file, where an executable is generated by

add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME}_node src/filename.cpp)

Then later it installed by the following command

install(TARGETS ${PROJECT_NAME}_node ${PROJECT_NAME}
ARCHIVE DESTINATION ${CATKIN_PACKAGE_LIB_DESTINATION}
LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CATKIN_PACKAGE_LIB_DESTINATION}
RUNTIME DESTINATION ${CATKIN_PACKAGE_BIN_DESTINATION} )

This cmake is from ROS so catkin is there. The overall question remains the same. Does someone know, why do we need to install TARGETS/ FILES?

Solution

You don't need to use the INSTALL function of catkin.

INSTALL function will just copy your final BINARY,LIBRARY,etc to a safer place (ex. main ros package space located at /opt/ros/<your-version>/share,lib,include) to keep the build workspace less crowded and to keep files safe in case your workspace got corrupted.

Answered By - Mohammad Ali

Answer Checked By - Terry (WPSolving Volunteer)