Clarification: Should dependencies with DependencySetting.IncludePaths trigger "Cyclic dependency" errors?

[brianbatista93]

Hello folks,

I'm encountering a scenario in Sharpmake where two targets depend on each other, but each with different DependencySetting options. This setup currently throws a Cyclic dependency exception, and I wanted to clarify if this behavior is intentional.

Here's the scenario:

• Target A depends on Target B using only DependencySetting.IncludePaths (interface headers).
• Target B depends on Target A using the default DependencySetting.Default.

In this case, since the dependency from A to B is purely about include paths (no linking is involved), I would not expect a cyclic dependency issue. However, Sharpmake currently throws a cyclic dependency exception.
To avoid this, I can manually add include paths:
conf.IncludePaths.Add(Path.Combine(SourceRootPath, "../TargetB/include"));

But before proceeding, I'd like to confirm:
Is the cyclic dependency exception the intended behavior for dependencies marked only with DependencySetting.IncludePaths?
Thank you!

[jspelletier]

Hi,
My feeling is this is still conceptually a cyclic dependency. It is the kind of thing we want to avoid even if this is only a cycle in include paths.
Could you move the interface headers in another interface only project?

This is surely not something I would want to permit as this is the kind of thing we are trying to fight against at Ubisoft in our internal code bases.

[brianbatista93]

Thanks for responding.
Will move it to an interface only project.

[jspelletier]

thanks