[bug] abseil/20230802.1: link failure

[gouriano]

Description

I have a problem linking against gRPC, but the real problem seems to be abseil package

Package and Environment Details

Linux
cmake 3.21.2
conan 2.6.0

Conan profile

Host profile:
[settings]
arch=x86_64
build_type=Release
compiler=gcc
compiler.cppstd=gnu17
compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11
compiler.version=13
os=Linux
[conf]

Build profile:
[settings]
arch=x86_64
build_type=Release
compiler=gcc
compiler.cppstd=gnu17
compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11
compiler.version=13
os=Linux
[conf]

Steps to reproduce

Take test_package.cpp source file from abseil recipe
https://github.com/conan-io/conan-center-index/blob/master/recipes/abseil/all/test_package/test_package.cpp

Create CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)
project(test_package LANGUAGES CXX)
find_package(absl REQUIRED)
add_executable(test test_package.cpp)
target_link_libraries(test abseil::abseil)

and create the following conanfile.txt:

[requires]
grpc/1.50.1
[options]
abseil*:shared=True
grpc*:shared=True
protobuf*:shared=True
[generators]
CMakeDeps
[layout]
cmake_layout

Yes, require grpc (which requires abseil, as we know)
Now run

conan install . --build missing -s build_type=Release

and look at build/Release/generators/absl-release-x86_64-data.cmake
we see:
set(abseil_LIBS_RELEASE )
The list is empty.

Now delete build directory, add abseil into conanfile.txt, and do "conan install" again

[requires]
abseil/20230802.1
grpc/1.50.1
[options]
abseil*:shared=True
grpc*:shared=True
protobuf*:shared=True
[generators]
CMakeDeps
[layout]
cmake_layout

Now in absl-release-x86_64-data.cmake we see

set(abseil_LIBS_RELEASE absl_flags_parse absl_log_flags .. and the long list of libraries)

Is this behavior by design, or is it a bug?

My point here is that I do not know what is abseil and I do not care.
What I need is grpc. I request grpc, I "find_package(gRPC)", and then linking fails because abseil libraries are missing
So, let me repeat my question.

Is this behavior by design, or is it a bug?

Logs

without requires/abseil/20230802.1:
lots of
test_package.cpp:(.text.startup+0x365): undefined reference to ...

with requires/abseil/20230802.1:
build is ok

[gouriano]

The same story is with protobuf.
If it is absent in the list of requires, protobuf_LIBS_RELEASE list in protobuf-release-x86_64-data.cmake file is empty.
If present, protobuf_LIBS_RELEASE list is not empty.
It is so in "shared" mode only. in "shared=False", everything works as expected - LIBS_RELEASE lists are never empty

[SpaceIm]

https://github.com/conan-io/conan/issues would be a better place for this question, conan-center is not responsible of the design of files generated by CMakeDeps generator depending on shared option of dependencies.

Your issue might be related to conan-io/conan#13560, but I can't say for sure since you didn't share full log.

[gouriano]

Can you move it into conan/issues, or should I resubmit?

[SpaceIm]

I'm not part of conan team, I can't move issues.

[gouriano]

resubmitted
conan-io/conan#16911

[memsharded]

Closing as duplicated, lets follow up better in the Conan repo ticket