34

I am getting the following error when building my code.

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\Microsoft.CppBuild.targets(990,5): warning MSB8012: TargetPath(E:\Study\FWIF\demola\ext-libs\libcommoncpp2-1.6.0\w32\Debug\ccgnu2.dll) does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value g\CapeCommon14.dll). This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(OutDir), $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt) property values match the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).

I hope that some one will know what to do.

dandan78
  • 13,328
  • 13
  • 64
  • 78
Abdul Samad
  • 5,748
  • 17
  • 56
  • 70

8 Answers8

30

Did you upgrade a project to Visual Studio 2010 from a previous version? If so, this is a well-known issue.

Visual Studio 2010 C++ Project Upgrade Guide http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2010/03/02/visual-studio-2010-c-project-upgrade-guide.aspx

Warnings during upgrade

Here are some of the common warnings that you may run into during conversion:

1) Linker output directory

One of the warnings you may see when upgrading you applications is MSB8012: $(TargetPath) and Linker’s OutputFile property value does not match:

  • MSB8012: $(TargetExt) ('.dll') does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value 'C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx' ('.ocx') in project configuration 'Debug|Win32'. This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(TargetExt) property value matches the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).

  • MSB8012: $(TargetPath) ('C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.dll') does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value 'C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx' ('C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx') in project configuration 'Debug|Win32'. This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(TargetPath) property value matches the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).

    Link.OutputFile is the value defined at Linker -> General -> Output File on the property page. By default, its value is $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt), which is the same as the value of $(TargetPath). When we convert an application from a previous version, however, there is not an easy way for conversion to parse Link.OutputFile to figure out what exactly the values are for $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt), as different customers may have formatted them in different ways. To work around that, we decided to preserve the value of Linker.OutputFile during conversion. After conversion, $(TargetName) will default to $(ProjectName). $(TargetExt) will default to the default extension for the application type: .dll for Dynamic Library, .lib for Static Library and .exe for Application. Link.OutputFile value will be preserved. Warning MSB8012 will be issued in the conversion log if Link.OutputFile and $(TargetPath) are not the same. You will get the same warnings when building the application.

    $(OutDir), $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt) are exposed on the "General" property page, as "Output Directory", "Target Name", "Target Extension", respectively. You can manually change the values of these properties so that you no longer get the warning.

  • If your project produces Import Library (Linker -> Advanced -> Import Library), you may need to change the Output folder of the Import Library as well after conversion if the Linker output directory is not the default output directory. Otherwise, the generated import lib maybe in a different directory than the linker output.

  • Debugging.Command is set to default $(TargetPath) after conversion. You may need to make changes so that the right executable will be launched upon F5 (Debugging) or Ctrl + F5 (Start without debugging).

Brown
  • 1,132
  • 1
  • 13
  • 33
  • 1
    How to exactly fix this? – Evandro Coan Feb 22 '20 at 23:01
  • You'll have to check your settings and identify which of the above scenarios fits your specific situation. To solve my problem 9 years ago, I had to dig through our project's configuration and understand where all the paths were pointing to. It's not a magic bullet situation here. – Brown Feb 23 '20 at 15:08
8

See also here Stackoverflow MSB8012. What worked for me when converting a VS2008 C++ project to VS2012: right click the project in solution explorer, select properties, in the pop-up: configuration properties, linker, general. Select Output file on the right, this gives a drop-down, select inherent from parent or project defaults. Click apply. This gives the default linker setting: $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt). Re-build the project and the warning should no longer appear.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
jdelange
  • 763
  • 2
  • 10
  • 22
6

The same problem occured to me for debug DLLs, that I wanted to have a trailing "D" in the basename. For example, foo.dll (Release) but fooD.dll (Debug). When you refine the output name in the Linker settings of the Debug-Configuration -- the ugly MSB8012 warning occurs.

The only solution that works with Visual-Studio 2010 seems to be a Postbuild-Event for the Debug-Configuration:

@echo off
echo Copying $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt) as $(TargetName)D$(TargetExt)
copy /Y $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt) $(OutDir)$(TargetName)D$(TargetExt)
Andreas Spindler
  • 7,568
  • 4
  • 43
  • 34
  • 21
    Change Linker -> General -> Output File to "$(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt)". And set General -> Target Name to "$(ProjectName)D" – Nathan Moinvaziri Oct 07 '12 at 19:24
3

I had the scenario where my executable name was different than the project name AND I wanted it to build the executable/dll to a different location than where the project was located.

1)Change the default project name to be different. General->TargetName
< my executable name>

2) Output to a different location where I want the executable to build. General->OutputDirectory < my new location goes here >

3) Update the Linker settings. Linker->General new value: $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt)
This takes on the new settings from 1 and 2.

VickyDaus
  • 31
  • 3
  • This does not seem to answer the OPs question. – Neil Masson Dec 16 '15 at 21:21
  • 1
    Main point is that the linker output name (Linker settings) and the target name must be the same. The latter didn't exist in earlier VS versions, it seems. – 0xC0000022L Sep 25 '18 at 10:09
  • 1
    The comment from @0xC0000022L fixed my problem. I wanted my output file to have a different name than the project. I had changed it in linker settings but not in the Project Setings->General->Target Name. – Jay Aug 02 '21 at 14:25
1

I obtained the same error after converting from old project to VS 2010.

To fix this I created empty project of the same type (e.g. .dll, .lib, .exe).
Then I copied its default values in Project Propeties to my project for Output Directory, Intermediate directory and Output File

sergtk
  • 10,714
  • 15
  • 75
  • 130
1

Goto Project->Properties->Configuration Properties -> Linker->General section

Specify 'Output File' as $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt)

Dattatraya Mengudale
  • 320
  • 3
  • 6
0

I managed to fix a similar issue by editing the vcxproj file manually.

The OutDir and TargetName settings were at the bottom of the project file.

   ...
      <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'">
        <OutDir>$(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)\</OutDir>
        <IntDir>$(ProjectDir)\$(Configuration)\$(ProjectName)\</IntDir>
        <TargetName>$(ProjectName)</TargetName>
      </PropertyGroup>
   </Project>

Moving the block above the ClCompile block solved the issue.

Synck
  • 2,727
  • 22
  • 20
0

I solved this by comparing the project to a very similar project that was working properly. All of the settings in the project properties matched but I found the following extra lines in the vcxproj file of the malfunctioning project:

<Lib>
   <OutputFile>.\MCtlDrvX.lib</OutputFile>
</Lib>

I deleted them and the message went away and the output went to the directory specified in the project settings.

Kevin S. Miller
  • 913
  • 1
  • 9
  • 21