Passing a dummy dependency to library() doesn't work

[lazka]

Trying to pass a dummy dependency to library() I saw that it is suggested in the dependency() docs that one creates a dependency with name "" and required: false.

project('glib', 'c', 'cpp',
  version : '2.55.0',
  meson_version : '>= 0.44.0',
)
thread_dep = dependency('', required : false)
library('glib-2.0',
        dependencies: [thread_dep])

but this results in the following error:

Meson encountered an error in file meson.build, line 6, column 0:
Argument is of an unacceptable type 'Dependency'.
Must be either an external dependency (returned by find_library() or dependency()) or an internal dependency (returned by declare_dependency()).

What am I doing wrong?

[lazka]

Would a simple "declare_dependency()" have the same effect? (maybe the docs should recommend that instead if that's the case)

[nirbheek]

@jon-turney I believe your patch from #2615 caused this regression.

[lazka]

ah, the object returned by declare_dependency() returns true for found(), so that's not a viable replacement.

[jon-turney]

Bother, that's a bit disappointing.

Not sure of the best way to fix this, so I created a couple of solutions as separate PRs.

[jon-turney]

I also notice that the test case given fails when using msvc and ninja backend, I think because library() is used with zero sources. I'll raise a separate issue for that.

[lazka]

Thanks @jon-turney!

[jon-turney]

@lazka no problem