Proposal: API 'prebuilt_files' for wrapping prebuilt libraries

[KageKirin]

Hi,

this proposal is kind of the corollary to #483, in so far that I've been using 'HeaderOnly' static libs to wrap library headers, and then link to a prebuilt lib.

The proposed change in #483 might, in some unfortunate naming cases, result in libs not being linked correctly, or worse, overwritten.

The idea I'd like to propose here, is to have the API field prebuilt_files to add prebuilt static libs or dlls instead of build units into a project, and then just copy said file into the targetdir for later linkage.

Does this makes any sense to you?

Cheers.

Note that the API field name prebuilt_files is completely open to change.

Thinking about it, a couple of project files I created for an earlier game solution just exactly do this via postbuildcommands: generate dummy static lib in targetdir, copy the actual lib to overwrite file in targetdir.

[KageKirin]

Addendum: some IDEs (VS, Xcode) actually allow to have static/dynamic libs among the project files, and even link them correctly.

The proposed change is kind of riding on this idea, but extending it to non-IDE build systems (make, ninja).