CMake can't find freetype2 installed with homebrew

June 3, 2024

The error:

-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD
-- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD - Success
-- Found Threads: TRUE  
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:13 (find_package):
  Could not find a package configuration file provided by "freetype" with any
  of the following names:

    freetypeConfig.cmake
    freetype-config.cmake

  Add the installation prefix of "freetype" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set
  "freetype_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above files.  If
  "freetype" provides a separate development package or SDK, be sure it has
  been installed.


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

And this is my CMakeLists.txt:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.19)

project(ogle VERSION 1.0.0
            DESCRIPTION "Our first project" 
            LANGUAGES CXX)

set(CXX_STANDARD 20)
set(CXX_STANDARD true)
set(INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)

find_package(glfw3 CONFIG REQUIRED)
find_package(glm CONFIG REQUIRED)
find_package(freetype CONFIG REQUIRED)
find_package(assimp CONFIG required)

add_executable(ogle /src/*.cpp ./*.cpp /src/*.c)

target_link_libraries(ogle PUBLIC glfw3::glfw3 glm::glm freetype::freetype PRIVATE assimp::assimp)

How to troubleshoot this? Freetype is in the same directory where all the other stuff is. Is this a known issue with the library?

>Solution :

Freetype2 does not ship with a CMake Config or module.
But it does come with a pkg-config configuration file, so use that:

find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
pkg_check_modules(freetype2 REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET freetype2)
target_link_libraries(ogle PUBLIC PkgConfig::freetype2)