Why are my custom compiler flags modified

Usage
1

I need to add a variable (a list) to the compiler flags. But that variable is modified when the compiler is invoked.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
project(test LANGUAGES C)
set(ISYSTEM_FLAGS -isystem path1 -isystem path2)
message("ISYSTEM_FLAGS is ${ISYSTEM_FLAGS}")
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} a.c)
target_compile_options(${PROJECT_NAME}
PRIVATE
	-Wall ${ISYSTEM_FLAGS} -Wextra)

The message shows as “ISYSTEM_FLAGS is -isystem;path1;-isystem;path2”

The compiler is invoked like cc -Wall -isystem path1 path2 -Wextra .... The third item in the ISYSTEM_FLAGS is omitted.

What I need is cc -Wall -isystem path1 -isystem path2 -Wextra .... Where does it go wrong? Thanks.

CMake version 3.27.4. Platform: MinGW.

2

I find that target_compile_options has this de-duplication feature so that the duplicate -isystem will be eliminated. One way is set(ISYSTEM_FLAGS "SHELL:-isystem path1" "SHELL:-isystem path2").
For this specific -isystem question, a better way is

set(ISYSTEM_PATH path1 path2)
target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} SYSTEM PRIVATE
	${ISYSTEM_PATH}
)
3

Why not use target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} SYSTEM)?