diff --git a/build_files/cmake/Modules/GTestTesting.cmake b/build_files/cmake/Modules/GTestTesting.cmake
index db93cd79c85..e1a07a6d611 100644
--- a/build_files/cmake/Modules/GTestTesting.cmake
+++ b/build_files/cmake/Modules/GTestTesting.cmake
@@ -47,17 +47,17 @@ macro(BLENDER_SRC_GTEST_EX)
     target_compile_definitions(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE ${GLOG_DEFINES})
     target_include_directories(${TARGET_NAME} PUBLIC "${TEST_INC}")
     target_include_directories(${TARGET_NAME} SYSTEM PUBLIC "${TEST_INC_SYS}")
-    target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${ARG_EXTRA_LIBS} ${PLATFORM_LINKLIBS})
+    blender_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} "${ARG_EXTRA_LIBS};${PLATFORM_LINKLIBS}")
     if(WITH_TBB)
       # Force TBB libraries to be in front of MKL (part of OpenImageDenoise), so
       # that it is initialized before MKL and static library initialization order
       # issues are avoided.
-      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${TBB_LIBRARIES})
+      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE ${TBB_LIBRARIES})
       if(WITH_OPENIMAGEDENOISE)
-        target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${OPENIMAGEDENOISE_LIBRARIES})
+        target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE ${OPENIMAGEDENOISE_LIBRARIES})
       endif()
     endif()
-    target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME}
+    target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE
                           bf_testing_main
                           bf_intern_eigen
                           bf_intern_guardedalloc
@@ -68,16 +68,16 @@ macro(BLENDER_SRC_GTEST_EX)
                           ${GLOG_LIBRARIES}
                           ${GFLAGS_LIBRARIES})
     if(WITH_OPENMP_STATIC)
-      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${OpenMP_LIBRARIES})
+      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE ${OpenMP_LIBRARIES})
     endif()
     if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
-      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} bf_intern_libc_compat)
+      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE bf_intern_libc_compat)
     endif()
     if(WITH_TBB)
-      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${TBB_LIBRARIES})
+      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE ${TBB_LIBRARIES})
     endif()
     if(WITH_GMP)
-      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ${GMP_LIBRARIES})
+      target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE ${GMP_LIBRARIES})
     endif()
 
     GET_BLENDER_TEST_INSTALL_DIR(TEST_INSTALL_DIR)
@@ -109,25 +109,3 @@ macro(BLENDER_SRC_GTEST_EX)
     unset(TARGET_NAME)
   endif()
 endmacro()
-
-macro(BLENDER_SRC_GTEST NAME SRC EXTRA_LIBS)
-  BLENDER_SRC_GTEST_EX(
-    NAME "${NAME}"
-    SRC "${SRC}"
-    EXTRA_LIBS "${EXTRA_LIBS}")
-endmacro()
-
-macro(BLENDER_TEST NAME EXTRA_LIBS)
-  BLENDER_SRC_GTEST_EX(
-    NAME "${NAME}"
-    SRC "${NAME}_test.cc"
-    EXTRA_LIBS "${EXTRA_LIBS}")
-endmacro()
-
-macro(BLENDER_TEST_PERFORMANCE NAME EXTRA_LIBS)
-  BLENDER_SRC_GTEST_EX(
-    NAME "${NAME}"
-    SRC "${NAME}_test.cc"
-    EXTRA_LIBS "${EXTRA_LIBS}"
-    SKIP_ADD_TEST)
-endmacro()
diff --git a/build_files/cmake/macros.cmake b/build_files/cmake/macros.cmake
index dc8b54db0ce..08513a4d7a1 100644
--- a/build_files/cmake/macros.cmake
+++ b/build_files/cmake/macros.cmake
@@ -159,31 +159,60 @@ function(absolute_include_dirs
 
   set(_ALL_INCS "")
   foreach(_INC ${ARGN})
-    get_filename_component(_ABS_INC ${_INC} ABSOLUTE)
-    list(APPEND _ALL_INCS ${_ABS_INC})
-    # for checking for invalid includes, disable for regular use
-    # if(NOT EXISTS "${_ABS_INC}/")
-    #   message(FATAL_ERROR "Include not found: ${_ABS_INC}/")
-    # endif()
+    # Pass any scoping keywords as is
+    if(("${_INC}" STREQUAL "PUBLIC") OR
+       ("${_INC}" STREQUAL "PRIVATE") OR
+       ("${_INC}" STREQUAL "INTERFACE"))
+      list(APPEND _ALL_INCS ${_INC})
+    else()
+      get_filename_component(_ABS_INC ${_INC} ABSOLUTE)
+      list(APPEND _ALL_INCS ${_ABS_INC})
+      # for checking for invalid includes, disable for regular use
+      # if(NOT EXISTS "${_ABS_INC}/")
+      #   message(FATAL_ERROR "Include not found: ${_ABS_INC}/")
+      # endif()
+    endif()
   endforeach()
 
   set(${includes_absolute} ${_ALL_INCS} PARENT_SCOPE)
 endfunction()
 
-function(blender_target_include_dirs
-  name
+function(blender_target_include_dirs_impl
+  target
+  system
+  includes
   )
+  set(next_interface_mode "PRIVATE")
+  foreach(_INC ${includes})
+    if(("${_INC}" STREQUAL "PUBLIC") OR
+       ("${_INC}" STREQUAL "PRIVATE") OR
+       ("${_INC}" STREQUAL "INTERFACE"))
+      set(next_interface_mode "${_INC}")
+    else()
+      if(system)
+        target_include_directories(${target} SYSTEM ${next_interface_mode} ${_INC})
+      else()
+        target_include_directories(${target} ${next_interface_mode} ${_INC})
+      endif()
+      set(next_interface_mode "PRIVATE")
+    endif()
+  endforeach()
+endfunction()
 
+# Nicer makefiles with -I/1/foo/ instead of -I/1/2/3/../../foo/
+# use it instead of target_include_directories()
+function(blender_target_include_dirs
+  target
+  )
   absolute_include_dirs(_ALL_INCS ${ARGN})
-  target_include_directories(${name} PRIVATE ${_ALL_INCS})
+  blender_target_include_dirs_impl(${target} FALSE "${_ALL_INCS}")
 endfunction()
 
 function(blender_target_include_dirs_sys
-  name
+  target
   )
-
   absolute_include_dirs(_ALL_INCS ${ARGN})
-  target_include_directories(${name} SYSTEM PRIVATE ${_ALL_INCS})
+  blender_target_include_dirs_impl(${target} TRUE "${_ALL_INCS}")
 endfunction()
 
 # Set include paths for header files included with "*.h" syntax.
@@ -277,23 +306,11 @@ macro(add_cc_flags_custom_test
 
 endmacro()
 
-
-# only MSVC uses SOURCE_GROUP
-function(blender_add_lib__impl
-  name
-  sources
-  includes
-  includes_sys
+function(blender_link_libraries
+  target
   library_deps
   )
 
-  # message(STATUS "Configuring library ${name}")
-
-  add_library(${name} ${sources})
-
-  blender_target_include_dirs(${name} ${includes})
-  blender_target_include_dirs_sys(${name} ${includes_sys})
-
   # On Windows certain libraries have two sets of binaries: one for debug builds and one for
   # release builds. The root of this requirement goes into ABI, I believe, but that's outside
   # of a scope of this comment.
@@ -331,23 +348,49 @@ function(blender_add_lib__impl
   # NOT: "optimized libfoo libbar debug libfoo_d libbar_d"
   if(NOT "${library_deps}" STREQUAL "")
     set(next_library_mode "")
+    set(next_interface_mode "PRIVATE")
     foreach(library ${library_deps})
       string(TOLOWER "${library}" library_lower)
       if(("${library_lower}" STREQUAL "optimized") OR
          ("${library_lower}" STREQUAL "debug"))
         set(next_library_mode "${library_lower}")
+      elseif(("${library}" STREQUAL "PUBLIC") OR
+             ("${library}" STREQUAL "PRIVATE") OR
+             ("${library}" STREQUAL "INTERFACE"))
+        set(next_interface_mode "${library}")
       else()
         if("${next_library_mode}" STREQUAL "optimized")
-          target_link_libraries(${name} INTERFACE optimized ${library})
+          target_link_libraries(${target} ${next_interface_mode} optimized ${library})
         elseif("${next_library_mode}" STREQUAL "debug")
-          target_link_libraries(${name} INTERFACE debug ${library})
+          target_link_libraries(${target} ${next_interface_mode} debug ${library})
         else()
-          target_link_libraries(${name} INTERFACE ${library})
+          target_link_libraries(${target} ${next_interface_mode} ${library})
         endif()
         set(next_library_mode "")
       endif()
     endforeach()
   endif()
+endfunction()
+
+# only MSVC uses SOURCE_GROUP
+function(blender_add_lib__impl
+  name
+  sources
+  includes
+  includes_sys
+  library_deps
+  )
+
+  # message(STATUS "Configuring library ${name}")
+
+  add_library(${name} ${sources})
+
+  blender_target_include_dirs(${name} ${includes})
+  blender_target_include_dirs_sys(${name} ${includes_sys})
+
+  if(library_deps)
+    blender_link_libraries(${name} "${library_deps}")
+  endif()
 
   # works fine without having the includes
   # listed is helpful for IDE's (QtCreator/MSVC)
@@ -477,8 +520,9 @@ endfunction()
 # To be used for smaller isolated libraries, that do not have many dependencies.
 # For libraries that do drag in many other Blender libraries and would create a
 # very large executable, blender_add_test_lib() should be used instead.
-function(blender_add_test_executable
+function(blender_add_test_executable_impl
   name
+  add_test_suite
   sources
   includes
   includes_sys
@@ -496,14 +540,48 @@ function(blender_add_test_executable
     EXTRA_LIBS "${library_deps}"
     SKIP_ADD_TEST
   )
-
+  if(add_test_suite)
+    blender_add_test_suite(
+      TARGET ${name}_test
+      SUITE_NAME ${name}
+      SOURCES "${sources}"
+    )
+  endif()
   blender_target_include_dirs(${name}_test ${includes})
   blender_target_include_dirs_sys(${name}_test ${includes_sys})
+endfunction()
 
-  blender_add_test_suite(
-    TARGET ${name}_test
-    SUITE_NAME ${name}
-    SOURCES "${sources}"
+function(blender_add_test_executable
+  name
+  sources
+  includes
+  includes_sys
+  library_deps
+  )
+  blender_add_test_executable_impl(
+    "${name}"
+    TRUE
+    "${sources}"
+    "${includes}"
+    "${includes_sys}"
+    "${library_deps}"
+   )
+endfunction()
+
+function(blender_add_performancetest_executable
+  name
+  sources
+  includes
+  includes_sys
+  library_deps
+  )
+  blender_add_test_executable_impl(
+    "${name}"
+    FALSE
+    "${sources}"
+    "${includes}"
+    "${includes_sys}"
+    "${library_deps}"
   )
 endfunction()
 
@@ -547,17 +625,17 @@ function(setup_platform_linker_libs
   )
   # jemalloc must be early in the list, to be before pthread (see #57998).
   if(WITH_MEM_JEMALLOC)
-    target_link_libraries(${target} ${JEMALLOC_LIBRARIES})
+    target_link_libraries(${target} PRIVATE ${JEMALLOC_LIBRARIES})
   endif()
 
   if(WIN32 AND NOT UNIX)
     if(DEFINED PTHREADS_LIBRARIES)
-      target_link_libraries(${target} ${PTHREADS_LIBRARIES})
+      target_link_libraries(${target} PRIVATE ${PTHREADS_LIBRARIES})
     endif()
   endif()
 
   # target_link_libraries(${target} ${PLATFORM_LINKLIBS} ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
-  target_link_libraries(${target} ${PLATFORM_LINKLIBS})
+  target_link_libraries(${target} PRIVATE ${PLATFORM_LINKLIBS})
 endfunction()
 
 macro(TEST_SSE_SUPPORT
diff --git a/intern/atomic/CMakeLists.txt b/intern/atomic/CMakeLists.txt
index 7307007525d..42ab86d1ca5 100644
--- a/intern/atomic/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/intern/atomic/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,25 @@ set(INC
 set(INC_SYS
 )
 
+add_library(bf_intern_atomic INTERFACE)
+target_include_directories(bf_intern_atomic INTERFACE .)
+
+# CMake 3.19+ allows one to populate the interface library with
+# source files to show in the IDE, for people on older CMake versions
+# these headers will be visible in the bf_intern_guardedalloc project
+# where they historically have been.
+if(${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "3.19")
+  set(SRC
+    atomic_ops.h
+    intern/atomic_ops_ext.h
+    intern/atomic_ops_msvc.h
+    intern/atomic_ops_unix.h
+    intern/atomic_ops_utils.h
+  )
+  target_sources(bf_intern_atomic PRIVATE ${SRC})
+  blender_source_group(bf_intern_atomic ${SRC})
+endif()
+
 if(WITH_GTESTS)
   set(TEST_SRC
     tests/atomic_test.cc
@@ -16,6 +35,7 @@ if(WITH_GTESTS)
   set(TEST_INC
   )
   set(TEST_LIB
+    PRIVATE bf_intern_atomic
   )
   include(GTestTesting)
   blender_add_test_executable(atomic "${TEST_SRC}" "${INC};${TEST_INC}" "${INC_SYS}" "${LIB};${TEST_LIB}")
diff --git a/intern/cycles/test/CMakeLists.txt b/intern/cycles/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 191d03cf1e9..1e74b160e40 100644
--- a/intern/cycles/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/intern/cycles/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -55,5 +55,6 @@ if(NOT APPLE)
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_GTESTS AND WITH_CYCLES_LOGGING)
-  blender_src_gtest(cycles "${SRC}" "${LIB}")
+  set(INC_SYS )
+  blender_add_test_executable(cycles "${SRC}" "${INC}" "${INC_SYS}" "${LIB}")
 endif()
diff --git a/source/blender/blenlib/tests/performance/CMakeLists.txt b/source/blender/blenlib/tests/performance/CMakeLists.txt
index dd1e61165fb..531bdf8a2fb 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenlib/tests/performance/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/source/blender/blenlib/tests/performance/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,14 @@ set(INC
   ../../../../../intern/guardedalloc
 )
 
-include_directories(${INC})
+set(INC_SYS
+)
 
-blender_test_performance(BLI_ghash_performance "bf_blenlib")
-blender_test_performance(BLI_task_performance "bf_blenlib")
+set(LIB
+  PRIVATE bf_blenlib
+  PRIVATE bf_intern_guardedalloc
+  PRIVATE bf_intern_atomic
+)
+
+blender_add_performancetest_executable(BLI_ghash_performance "BLI_ghash_performance_test.cc" "${INC}" "${INC_SYS}" "${LIB}")
+blender_add_performancetest_executable(BLI_task_performance "BLI_task_performance_test.cc" "${INC}" "${INC_SYS}" "${LIB}")
diff --git a/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt b/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt
index f3ba78490fc..8f572d71a81 100644
--- a/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1575,7 +1575,7 @@ endif()
 # Setup link libraries
 
 add_dependencies(blender makesdna)
-target_link_libraries(blender ${LIB})
+target_link_libraries(blender PRIVATE ${LIB})
 unset(LIB)
 
 setup_platform_linker_flags(blender)
diff --git a/tests/gtests/runner/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/gtests/runner/CMakeLists.txt
index 5e832545db4..99ca99d951a 100644
--- a/tests/gtests/runner/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/gtests/runner/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ if(WIN32)
     # Both target_link_libraries and target_link_options are required here
     # target_link_libraries will add any dependent libraries, while just setting
     # the wholearchive flag in target link options will not.
-    target_link_libraries(blender_test ${_lib})
+    target_link_libraries(blender_test PRIVATE ${_lib})
     target_link_options(blender_test PRIVATE /wholearchive:$<TARGET_FILE:${_lib}>)
   endforeach()
   set_target_properties(blender_test PROPERTIES VS_DEBUGGER_ENVIRONMENT "${PLATFORM_ENV_INSTALL};$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:blender>")
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ elseif(APPLE)
   foreach(_lib ${_test_libs})
     # We need -force_load for every test library and target_link_libraries will
     # deduplicate it. So explicitly set as linker option for every test lib.
-    target_link_libraries(blender_test ${_lib} "-Wl,-force_load,$<TARGET_PROPERTY:${_lib},IMPORTED_LOCATION>")
+    target_link_libraries(blender_test PRIVATE ${_lib} "-Wl,-force_load,$<TARGET_PROPERTY:${_lib},IMPORTED_LOCATION>")
   endforeach()
 endif()