CMake ExternalProject_Add for Google Mock (gmock) and Google Test (gtest) Libraries With Includes and Example Usage

CMakeLists.txt

# Assuming this your tests/CMakeLists.txt (and your libs are setup in a root config)
# Just make sure to include(CTest) in your *root* cmake config.

# 3.9 adds support for "GoogleTest" which enumerates the tests inside
# of the code and adds them to ctest.
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.9)

# Configure google-test as a downloadable library.
include(External_GTest.cmake)

add_executable(myTests
    src/main.cpp)

# This will automatically handle all of the lib linkage and include dirs
target_link_libraries(myTests
    libraryTargetOfCodeBeingTested
    ${GTEST_LIBRARY}
)

# Tell ctest about my tests
include(GoogleTest)
gtest_add_tests(
    TARGET      myTests
    TEST_LIST   myTests_targets
)

# set each target to timeout if not finished within 10 sec
set_tests_properties(${myTests_targets} PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 10)

External_GTest.cmake

find_package(Threads REQUIRED)

include(ExternalProject)
ExternalProject_Add(
  googletest
  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/google/googletest.git
  UPDATE_COMMAND ""
  INSTALL_COMMAND ""
  LOG_DOWNLOAD ON
  LOG_CONFIGURE ON
  LOG_BUILD ON)

ExternalProject_Get_Property(googletest source_dir)
set(GTEST_INCLUDE_DIRS ${source_dir}/googletest/include)
set(GMOCK_INCLUDE_DIRS ${source_dir}/googlemock/include)

# The cloning of the above repo doesn't happen until make, however if the dir doesn't
# exist, INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES will throw an error.
# To make it work, we just create the directory now during config.
file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${GTEST_INCLUDE_DIRS})
file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${GMOCK_INCLUDE_DIRS})

ExternalProject_Get_Property(googletest binary_dir)
set(GTEST_LIBRARY_PATH ${binary_dir}/googlemock/gtest/${CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_PREFIXES}gtest.a)
set(GTEST_LIBRARY gtest)
add_library(${GTEST_LIBRARY} UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
set_target_properties(${GTEST_LIBRARY} PROPERTIES
    "IMPORTED_LOCATION" "${GTEST_LIBRARY_PATH}"
    "IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES" "${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}"
    "INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES" "${GTEST_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
add_dependencies(${GTEST_LIBRARY} googletest)

set(GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY_PATH ${binary_dir}/googlemock/gtest/${CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_PREFIXES}gtest_main.a)
set(GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY gtest_main)
add_library(${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY} UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
set_target_properties(${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY} PROPERTIES
    "IMPORTED_LOCATION" "${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY_PATH}"
    "IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES" "${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}"
    "INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES" "${GTEST_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
add_dependencies(${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARY} googletest)

set(GMOCK_LIBRARY_PATH ${binary_dir}/googlemock/${CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_PREFIXES}gmock.a)
set(GMOCK_LIBRARY gmock)
add_library(${GMOCK_LIBRARY} UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
set_target_properties(${GMOCK_LIBRARY} PROPERTIES
    "IMPORTED_LOCATION" "${GMOCK_LIBRARY_PATH}"
    "IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES" "${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}"
    "INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES" "${GMOCK_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
add_dependencies(${GMOCK_LIBRARY} googletest)

set(GMOCK_MAIN_LIBRARY_PATH ${binary_dir}/googlemock/${CMAKE_FIND_LIBRARY_PREFIXES}gmock_main.a)
set(GMOCK_MAIN_LIBRARY gmock_main)
add_library(${GMOCK_MAIN_LIBRARY} UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
set_target_properties(${GMOCK_MAIN_LIBRARY} PROPERTIES
    "IMPORTED_LOCATION" "${GMOCK_MAIN_LIBRARY_PATH}"
    "IMPORTED_LINK_INTERFACE_LIBRARIES" "${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}"
    "INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES" "${GMOCK_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
add_dependencies(${GMOCK_MAIN_LIBRARY} ${GTEST_LIBRARY})

Using as it is, I have the following error:
make[2]: *** No rule to make target 'googletest-prefix/src/googletest-build/googlemock/gtest/libgtest.a', needed by 'myTests'. Stop.

Any idea ?

just change "googlemock/gtest" with "lib" in External_GTest.cmake for you

Is it possible to rewrite External_GTest.cmake to build a project for windows?