diff --git a/cmake/generic.cmake b/cmake/generic.cmake
index 55bf89ea8e6550d30d65a1ae2b0f12d69d4005e4..bd61e951b0cd6bc5443d9ef1c274f3b13fa182e1 100644
--- a/cmake/generic.cmake
+++ b/cmake/generic.cmake
@@ -29,11 +29,25 @@
 # https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.0/module/CMakeParseArguments.html
 #
 
+# generic.cmake depends on {GLOG,GFLAGS,GTEST,GTEST_MAIN}_LIBRARIES
+# generated by cmake/external/*.cmake.
+
 # Because gflags depends on pthread, I copied the following snippet
 # from https://stackoverflow.com/a/29871891/724872.
 set(THREADS_PREFER_PTHREAD_FLAG ON)
 find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
 
+function(link_glog_gflags TARGET_NAME)
+  target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${GLOG_LIBRARIES} ${GFLAGS_LIBRARIES} Threads::Threads)
+  add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} glog gflags)
+endfunction()
+
+function(link_gtest TARGET_NAME)
+  target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${GTEST_LIBRARIES} ${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARIES})
+  add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} gtest)
+endfunction()
+
+  
 # cc_library parses tensor.cc and figures out that target also depend on tensor.h.
 # cc_library(tensor
 #   SRCS
@@ -69,6 +83,7 @@ function(cc_binary TARGET_NAME)
     target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${cc_binary_DEPS})
     add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} ${cc_binary_DEPS})
   endif()
+  link_glog_gflags(${TARGET_NAME})
 endfunction(cc_binary)
 
 # The dependency to target tensor implies that if any of
@@ -88,12 +103,8 @@ function(cc_test TARGET_NAME)
     target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${cc_test_DEPS})
     add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} ${cc_test_DEPS})
   endif()
-  target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME}
-    ${GTEST_LIBRARIES} ${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARIES}
-    ${GLOG_LIBRARIES}
-    ${GFLAGS_LIBRARIES}
-    Threads::Threads)
-  add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} gtest glog gflags)
+  link_glog_gflags(${TARGET_NAME})
+  link_gtest(${TARGET_NAME})
   add_test(${TARGET_NAME} ${TARGET_NAME})
 endfunction(cc_test)
 
@@ -130,6 +141,7 @@ function(nv_binary TARGET_NAME)
     target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${nv_binary_DEPS})
     add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} ${nv_binary_DEPS})
   endif()
+  link_glog_gflags(${TARGET_NAME})
 endfunction(nv_binary)
 
 # The dependency to target tensor implies that if any of
@@ -149,12 +161,8 @@ function(nv_test TARGET_NAME)
     target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${nv_test_DEPS})
     add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} ${nv_test_DEPS})
   endif()
-  target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME}
-    ${GTEST_LIBRARIES} ${GTEST_MAIN_LIBRARIES}
-    ${GLOG_LIBRARIES}
-    ${GFLAGS_LIBRARIES}
-    Threads::Threads)
-  add_dependencies(${TARGET_NAME} gtest glog gflags)
+  link_glog_gflags(${TARGET_NAME})
+  link_gtest(${TARGET_NAME})
   add_test(${TARGET_NAME} ${TARGET_NAME})
 endfunction(nv_test)