# how to refer to the package file in external projects?

**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-refer-to-the-package-file-in-external-projects/3338
**Category:** Usage
**Created:** [May 16, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-refer-to-the-package-file-in-external-projects/3338 "2021-05-16T12:15:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![hex](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/hex/32/363_2.png) [@hex](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/hex)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-refer-to-the-package-file-in-external-projects/3338/1 "2021-05-16T12:15:31Z")

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how to i refer to the downloaded package with ExternalProject? It is not in `<SOURCE_DIR>` nor `<BINARY_DIR>`:

```cmake
ExternalProject_Add(ext
	URL ${url}
	DOWNLOAD_NO_EXTRACT TRUE
	CONFIGURE_COMMAND "... ?"
)

```

i ended up using `<BINARY_DIR>/../my.pkg`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-refer-to-the-package-file-in-external-projects/3338/2 "2021-05-16T12:36:54Z")

</div>

There is the `<DOWNLOADED_FILE>` replacement available for `DOWNLOAD_NO_EXTRACT 1` projects.