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There is some nuance here.

Yes, the CMakeLists.txt will need to be updated if you add system dependences to your package.xml, but only if that dependency is actually used at build time (and if it's actually C++ (or some other compiled language) we're targeting).

So if a dependency does not provide headers or libraries, or some other artefact or piece of build infrastructure (like preprocessors, code generators, etc), CMakeList.txt would probably not need to be updated.

Having said that: the example shown on the page you linked to would seem to be a case where CMakeLists.txt would need to be updated -- assuming obviously that the dependency (ie: headers, libraries) are used by any of the C++ sources that are being build.