"CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH $ORIGIN" expands to empty

Taw_Moto · April 3, 2025, 1:36pm

Hi, I have an utils.cmake file which is used by all my projects and some of the lines were

set(CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS “${CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS} -Wl,-rpath,‘$ORIGIN’”)
set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS “${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} -Wl,-rpath,‘$ORIGIN’”)

Which was expanded to -Wl,-rpath,'$ORIGIN' and works perfectly.
Now I am trying to modernize my code and, based on the Professional CMake book, I replaced it with:

set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH $ORIGIN)

But it seems that for some of the files it expands to -Wl,-rpath,:::::::, and I don’t understand why.

Here is a comparison of the flags before and after.

Should I do something special? Maybe put that line first or last, or add something? Should I put it for all the targets? Not sure how should I make it work

Thanks

Angew · April 3, 2025, 1:44pm

The variable which you’re using is used to pre-initialise the property INSTALL_RPATH when a target is created, so if you want to use the variable, you must set it before you create the targets to which it should apply. Alternatively, you can set the property on the targets directly (after you create them).

Second, note that the variable affects install RPATH; that is, RPATH that will be set by CMake as part of the install step (make install or equivalent). If you want to use the same RPATH also during the build, look into the property BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH, which can similarly be pre-initialised with variable CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH.

Alternatively, you can modify the build RPATH directly using property BUILD_RPATH, which in turn can be pre-initialised using variable CMAKE_BUILD_RPATH.

Angew · April 3, 2025, 2:53pm

Scanning CMake docs for an unrelated thing, I came upon property BUILD_RPATH_USE_ORIGIN, which might also be relevant to your case.

Taw_Moto · April 3, 2025, 4:01pm

@Angew thanks a lot for your great help, it seems that I needed this line added set(CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH TRUE)

Meanwhile I found that CMake 3.15 (which I use) has a problem with escaping RPATH, so I am not sure if I should escape the $ or not, like it’s recommended here: https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/community/-/wikis/doc/cmake/RPATH-handling

Now I am trying to make it work on macos also
this set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH "@loader_path"), although it expands to -Wl,-rpath,"\$ORIGIN", the executable cannot find the libraries.
Library not loaded: @rpath/libfile.dylib

emaschino · August 8, 2025, 5:24pm

Hi,

Well, I’m hitting the same issue than @Taw_Moto.

No matter how I try to set INSTALL_RPATH to $ORIGIN with the CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH command (tried various syntax such as $ORIGIN, "\$ORIGIN", "${ORIGIN}", \\\$ORIGIN, '$ORIGIN', …), I’m always getting ::::::: (the number of colons depends on the used syntax) as RUNPATH entry in the target’s binary file. It’s noteworthy that the target’s cmake_install.cmake script correctly mirrors the used syntax $ORIGIN, "\$ORIGIN", "${ORIGIN}", \\\$ORIGIN, '$ORIGIN', … as RPATH in the file(RPATH_CHECK statement. Since it differs from the RUNPATH ::::::: entry in the binary file, the latter get deleted on install.

I’ve double-checked: the target is definitely created after the call to CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH command.

By contrast, as outlined by @Taw_Moto, setting RPATH to $ORIGIN using the CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS command yields to a correct RUNPATH $ORIGIN entry in the target’s binary file, matching the RPATH value expected by the file(RPATH_CHECK statement in the cmake_install.cmake script and the executable thus installs flawlessly.

What am I missing here? This is with CMake 3.26.5 as provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. I’m stuck with this version because of IT requirements.

Thanks.

vito.gamberini · August 9, 2025, 12:53pm

RPATHs are rewritten on install, the colons are placeholder characters. Perform the install and the RPATHs will be rewritten into the binaries.

emaschino · August 15, 2025, 8:35pm

Well, I wish I could As I said, because the generated target’s binary file has ::::::: as a placeholder for RUNPATH on one hand but the file(RPATH_CHECK statement in cmake_install.cmake expects $ORIGIN on the other hand, the target’s binary file is deleted rather than installed.

emaschino · September 24, 2025, 4:17pm

Just tried with recent CMake 4.1.0: still the same problem. At the moment, the only solution that works for me is to totally disable run time path information with set(CMAKE_SKIP_RPATH TRUE) and manually set them with set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} -Wl,-rpath,\$ORIGIN"). This not only allows to install the produced binary (as it successfully passes the file(RPATH_CHECK statement in cmake_install.cmake this way) but also allows the binary to run flawlessly by installing its runtime dependencies alongside the install directory.

ben.boeckel · February 20, 2026, 2:56am

Can you please provide an example project which showcases the problem so that someone else can reproduce the issue?

emaschino · April 30, 2026, 2:23pm

SharedLibraryExample.tbz (1.1 KB)

Please find the attached SharedLibraryExample project with CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH simply set to $ORIGIN.

To configure:

cmake -B build_x86_64/Debug -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-fPIC" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=build_x86_64/Debug/install -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug

To build:

cmake --build build_x86_64/Debug

Quick checks give:

$ readelf -d build_x86_64/Debug/libShared.so | grep PATH
0x000000000000001d (RUNPATH)            Library runpath: [:::::::]

$ readelf -d build_x86_64/Debug/Example | grep PATH
0x000000000000001d (RUNPATH)            Library runpath: [/home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug:]

file(RPATH_CHECK statements in cmake_install.cmake read as:

file(RPATH_CHECK
     FILE "$ENV{DESTDIR}${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib64/libShared.so"
     RPATH "\$ORIGIN")

file(RPATH_CHECK
     FILE "$ENV{DESTDIR}/home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug/Example"
     RPATH "\$ORIGIN")

Trying to perform install will thus fail, as expected and currently set RUNPATH differ and RPATH_CHECK ends up deleting the Example binary:

$ cmake --build build_x86_64/Debug -t install
[ 50%] Built target Shared
[100%] Built target Example
Install the project...
-- Install configuration: "Debug"
-- Installing: /home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug/install/lib64/libShared.so
-- Set non-toolchain portion of runtime path of "/home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug/install/lib64/libShared.so" to "$ORIGIN"
-- Installing: /home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug/install/include/SharedLibrary/SharedLibrary.h
CMake Error at cmake_install.cmake:87 (file):
file INSTALL cannot find
"/home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug/Example": No such file
or directory.

gmake: *** [Makefile:100 : install] Error 1

As explained in my previous post, skipping RUNPATH info and passing them as link options is actually the only solution giving me something working. To this end, in the CMakeLists.txt file provided in the SharedLibraryExample project:

comment out ln. 7: #set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH $ORIGIN)
uncomment ln. 10: set(CMAKE_SKIP_RPATH TRUE)
uncomment ln. 48: target_link_options(Example PRIVATE "LINKER:-rpath,$ORIGIN")

Re-run configure:

cmake -B build_x86_64/Debug -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-fPIC" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=build_x86_64/Debug/install -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug

Build and install at once:

$ cmake --build build_x86_64/Debug -t install
[ 25%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/Shared.dir/src/SharedLibrary.cpp.o
[ 50%] Linking CXX shared library libShared.so
[ 50%] Built target Shared
[ 75%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/Example.dir/src/main.cpp.o
[100%] Linking CXX executable Example
[100%] Built target Example
Install the project...
-- Install configuration: "Debug"
-- Installing: /home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug/install/lib64/libShared.so
-- Installing: /home/<user>/SharedLibraryExample/build_x86_64/Debug/install/include/SharedLibrary/SharedLibrary.h

No problem this time.

Checks give:

$ readelf -d build_x86_64/Debug/libShared.so | grep PATH

$ readelf -d build_x86_64/Debug/Example | grep PATH
0x000000000000001d (RUNPATH)            Library runpath: [$ORIGIN]

cmake_install.cmake is empty of any RPATH_CHECK statement. And of course, binary is working fine
$ ./build_x86_64/Debug/Example
Hello!

Hope this helps.