# feature request: list all (namespaced / imported / aliased) targets added by FetchContent
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-list-all-namespaced-imported-aliased-targets-added-by-fetchcontent/13863
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [April 1, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-list-all-namespaced-imported-aliased-targets-added-by-fetchcontent/13863 "2025-04-01T14:17:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@avagordon01](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/avagordon01)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-list-all-namespaced-imported-aliased-targets-added-by-fetchcontent/13863/1 "2025-04-01T14:17:47Z")
problem:
when adding a new library (with FetchContent\_Declare & MakeAvailable) I have no idea what targets are available. I can google / stackoverflow and hope someone has documented, but it’s not a good experience. I can also spelunk in the lib-config.cmake file. Or I can guess and hope the targets are sensibly named. cmake docs recommend “Check the documentation for the package or Find module to see what imported targets it defines, if any.” which doesn’t seem good enough to me!
solution:
there should be a way to list the (namespaced) targets added by a FetchContent\_Declare & MakeAvailable.
(bad) workarounds:
1. use a recursive subdirectory function, and print all BUILDSYSTEM\_TARGETS. problems: this only prints e.g. boost\_algorithm, etc not Boost::Algorithm (namespaced targets are the preferred way to include “If the dependency provides namespaced targets of the form SomePrefix::ThingName, the project should link to those rather than to any non-namespaced targets.”)
2.
```auto
graph=$(mktemp)
cmake --graphviz=$graph builddir
rg --only-matching --no-line-number "\w*::\w*" $graph | sort -u
```
this will print out all namespaced targets, but it is clearly not a good solution. however it does indicate that cmake internally has this information, but just doesn’t expose it neatly.
---
### Author:  [@avagordon01](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/avagordon01)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-list-all-namespaced-imported-aliased-targets-added-by-fetchcontent/13863/2 "2025-04-01T14:20:24Z")
an extension to this feature request would implement something like `cmake add-dependency https://github.com/jeremy-rifkin/libassert`, which would be a nicer experience than current, and comparable to `cargo add` among others.
I’m currently doing this with a (bad, flaky) bash script:
```auto
#!/bin/sh
set -eu
repo="$1/$2"
repo_org="$1"
repo_name="$2"
tag=$(
curl --silent -m 10 --connect-timeout 5 "https://api.github.com/repos/$repo/releases/latest" |
jq -r ".tag_name"
)
if (rg "FetchContent_MakeAvailable\($repo_name\)"); then
echo "dependency $repo already found in CMakeLists.txt"
else
template=$(mktemp)
echo "FetchContent_Declare(
$repo_name
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/$repo
GIT_TAG $tag
EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
SYSTEM
OVERRIDE_FIND_PACKAGE
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable($repo_name)
" > $template
sed -i "/include(FetchContent)/r $template" CMakeLists.txt
fi
graph=$(mktemp)
cmake --graphviz=$graph build
rg --only-matching --no-line-number "\w*::\w*" $graph | sort -u
```
---
### Author:  [@a\_toldaiev](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/a_toldaiev)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-list-all-namespaced-imported-aliased-targets-added-by-fetchcontent/13863/3 "2025-10-24T20:46:38Z")
I would like to support this feature request.
Right now, I thought FetchContent targets should show up in one of available CMake properties like BUILDSYSTEM\_TARGETS and IMPORTED\_TARGETS. But instead they show something unexpected like:
```auto
add_executable(app main.cpp)
get_property(TRGB DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PROPERTY BUILDSYSTEM_TARGETS)
get_property(TRGI DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PROPERTY IMPORTED_TARGETS)
message(STATUS "${TRGB} - ${TRGI}")
# let's add spdlog
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
spdlog
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/gabime/spdlog.git
GIT_TAG v1.16.0
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(spdlog)
get_property(TRGB DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PROPERTY BUILDSYSTEM_TARGETS)
get_property(TRGI DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PROPERTY IMPORTED_TARGETS)
message(STATUS "${TRGB} - ${TRGI}")
```
Make configuration runs and shows no spdlog target, but there is Git::Git
```auto
-- app -
-- Build spdlog: 1.16.0
-- Build type: Release
-- app - Git::Git
...
```
Probably FetchContent\_Declare creates Git::Git to clone the git repository?
---
### Author:  [@craig.scott](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/craig.scott)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2025, 3:41am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-list-all-namespaced-imported-aliased-targets-added-by-fetchcontent/13863/4 "2025-10-25T03:41:55Z")
`BUILDSYSTEM_TARGETS` and `IMPORTED_TARGETS` only show the targets added in the current directory scope. They do not include targets from subdirectories, and any targets created as part of a call to `FetchContent_MakeAvailable()` will be within subdirectories (unless dependency providers are involved, in which case it is completely up to the provider what it does to satisfy the dependencies).
> [@a\_toldaiev](#):
>
> Probably FetchContent\_Declare creates Git::Git to clone the git repository?
Most likely, yes. As long as policy `CMP0168` is `NEW`, `FetchContent_MakeAvailable()` would end up calling `FindGit` in the current directory scope so it could do the `git clone` before calling `add_subdirectory()`.