# CMake for compiling gtkmm4 : error adding symbols: DSO missing from command line
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-for-compiling-gtkmm4-error-adding-symbols-dso-missing-from-command-line/9705
**Category:** Usage
**Tags:** os:linux, gen:makefiles
**Created:** [December 24, 2023, 11:42am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-for-compiling-gtkmm4-error-adding-symbols-dso-missing-from-command-line/9705 "2023-12-24T11:42:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Raphy](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Raphy)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2023, 11:42am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-for-compiling-gtkmm4-error-adding-symbols-dso-missing-from-command-line/9705/1 "2023-12-24T11:42:53Z")
I’m trying to convert the command-line compilation and building to a CMake one for gtkmm-4 in Ubuntu 22.10
```
raphy@raohy:~/gtkmm-prj$ cmake -B build
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 12.3.0
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
-- Found PkgConfig: /usr/bin/pkg-config (found version "1.8.1")
-- Checking for module 'gtkmm-4.0'
-- Found gtkmm-4.0, version 4.10.0
-- Checking for module 'giomm-2.68'
-- Found giomm-2.68, version 2.76.0
-- Configuring done (0.4s)
-- Generating done (0.0s)
-- Build files have been written to: /home/raphy/gtkmm-prj/build
raphy@raohy:~/gtkmm-prj$ cmake --build build
[50%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/basic.dir/src/basic.cc.o
[100%] Linking CXX executable basic
/usr/bin/ld: CMakeFiles/basic.dir/src/basic.cc.o: undefined reference to symbol '_ZN4Glib7ustringD1Ev'
/usr/bin/ld: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglibmm-2.68.so.1: error adding symbols: DSO missing from command line
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
gmake[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/basic.dir/build.make:97: basic] Error 1
gmake[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:83: CMakeFiles/basic.dir/all] Error 2
gmake: *** [Makefile:91: all] Error 2
```
But the command-line compilation and building goes fine:
```
raphy@raohy:~/gtkmm-prj$
raphy@raohy:~/gtkmm-prj$ g++ src/basic.cc -o basic `pkg-config --cflags --libs gtkmm-4.0`
raphy@raohy:~/gtkmm-prj$ ./basic
```
This is my `CMakeLists.txt` file :
```
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.24)
project(tutorial01 LANGUAGES CXX)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
pkg_check_modules(gtkmm-4.0 REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET gtkmm-4.0)
pkg_check_modules(giomm-2.68 REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET giomm-2.68)
add_executable(basic src/basic.cc)
target_compile_options(basic PUBLIC ${gtkmm-4.0_CFLAGS_OTHER} ${giomm-2.68})
target_include_directories(basic PUBLIC ${gtkmm-4.0_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${giomm-2.68_INCLUDE_DIRS})
target_link_libraries(basic PUBLIC
gtkmm-4.0
giomm-2.68
)
```
What’s wrong with CMakeLists.txt file? How to make it work?
---
### Author:  [@ferdnyc](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ferdnyc)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmake-for-compiling-gtkmm4-error-adding-symbols-dso-missing-from-command-line/9705/2 "2023-12-24T21:34:39Z")
> [@Raphy](#):
>
> What’s wrong with CMakeLists.txt file?
Two things:
1. You’re using `pkg_check_modules(... IMPORTED_TARGET)`, but then you’re ignoring that imported target and manually consuming output variables like `${gtkmm-4.0_CFLAGS_OTHER}`.
2. (Related) Because you’re not using the `IMPORTED_TARGET` (which, the `FindPkgConfig` module docs reveal, is named `PkgConfig::`,so `PkgConfig::gtkmm-4.0` in your case) in your `target_link_libraries()` call, you’re simply telling CMake to have the linker link with _the shared library named `libgtkmm-4.0.so`_.
But gtkmm-4.0 has a _lot_ of library dependencies. (The output of `pkg-config --libs gtkmm-4.0` will list them all.) You’re not linking in any of those, so you have undefined symbols.
Solution: Skip all of that output variable stuff, and use the `IMPORTED_TARGET` the way it’s designed (which is to say, let it carry all of the necessary dependencies):
```cmake
find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
pkg_check_modules(gtkmm-4.0 REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET gtkmm-4.0)
pkg_check_modules(giomm-2.68 REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET giomm-2.68)
add_executable(basic src/basic.cc)
target_link_libraries(basic PUBLIC
PkgConfig::gtkmm-4.0
PkgConfig::giomm-2.68
)
```
…That’s it.
(Also, as a suggestion, always run `cmake --build build --verbose` to see what commands CMake is actually running, when a compile fails.)
…In fact, `giomm-2.68` is one of those library dependencies of `gtkmm-4.0`, so you can even leave that out – `gtkmm-4.0` will pull it in automatically. So the final, most-streamlined version is just:
```cmake
find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
pkg_check_modules(gtkmm-4.0 REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET gtkmm-4.0)
add_executable(basic src/basic.cc)
target_link_libraries(basic PUBLIC PkgConfig::gtkmm-4.0)
```