Ninja not found by CMake

Question

I'm trying to build some code I got from GitHub using CMake, but keep getting the followings errors:

CMake Error: CMake was unable to find a build program corresponding to "Ninja".  CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM is not set.  You probably need to select a different build tool.
CMake Error: Error required internal CMake variable not set, cmake may be not be built correctly.
Missing variable is:
CMAKE_C_COMPILER_ENV_VAR
CMake Error: Error required internal CMake variable not set, cmake may be not be built correctly.
Missing variable is:
CMAKE_C_COMPILER
CMake Error: Could not find cmake module file:/golang/project/src/github.com/devsisters/goquic/libquic/build/debug/CMakeFiles/2.8.11/CMakeCCompiler.cmake
CMake Error: Error required internal CMake variable not set, cmake may be not be built correctly.
Missing variable is:
CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ENV_VAR
CMake Error: Error required internal CMake variable not set, cmake may be not be built correctly.
Missing variable is:
CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER
CMake Error: Could not find cmake module file:/golang/project/src/github.com/devsisters/goquic/libquic/build/debug/CMakeFiles/2.8.11/CMakeCXXCompiler.cmake
-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

How do I set these variables correctly?

I used a ./build_libs.sh file that came with the GitHub code to build this.

So, what **build system** do you want to use with CMake? Ninja? Or Makefiles? — Tsyvarev, Jul 29 '16 at 12:04
how can I set which build system to use? I have makefiles too and could use either of them — user3871995, Jul 29 '16 at 12:48
Add the command line you used to the question. What happens if you run `ninja` on the command line? — David Marquant, Jul 29 '16 at 14:13
Since posting the question I have editted CMakeCache.txt files with the location of the ninja binary where the CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM variable is. The build script now gives the ninja: command not found error as well — user3871995, Jul 29 '16 at 14:17
Sometimes it's not Ninja that's not found, it's whatever Ninja's trying to do, the error message gets passed through. But mine's at /usr/bin/ninja. "which ninja" should show it. — Alan Corey, Aug 06 '19 at 02:44
CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM:FILEPATH=/usr/bin/ninja, you need the FILEPATH= in there. — Alan Corey, Aug 06 '19 at 02:50

score 78 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 03 '19 at 17:51

78

The script you are executing uses the CMake Ninja generator. For that to work you need Ninja on the path. On most Linux distributions you can install it from a package.

Ubuntu: ninja-build

openSUSE: ninja

If you can't find it for your distribution, you have to download it and add its location to the path environment variable.

edited Jul 03 '19 at 17:51

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 29 '16 at 14:20

David Marquant

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Thanks for your answer. I have downloaded and built ninja, plus added it to my $PATH variable and still seeing this error. I'm using redhat if that makes any difference – user3871995 Jul 29 '16 at 14:27
2

Well if it really is in you PATH you should be able to run it.Run `echo $PATH` and make sure the folder ninja is in there. – David Marquant Jul 29 '16 at 14:33
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Maybe you have to clear your CMake cache. Just delete CMakeCache.txt in your build directory. – usr1234567 Jul 30 '16 at 05:22
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Mac: `brew install cmake ninja` (Source: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v3.3/get-started-cmake/macos-setup.html) – Tamás Sengel Apr 08 '22 at 15:41

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 13 '17 at 12:55

My solution: symlink "ninja-build" to "ninja".

# ln -s /usr/bin/ninja /usr/bin/ninja-build

This only works on very old versions of CMake, which I will explain below.

I had already dropped my fresh "ninja" binary into /usr/bin and checked it had 0755 permissions. I was stumped until I ran an strace on the generator command.

# strace cmake -GNinja .. | grep -i ninja
access("ninja-build", R_OK)             = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/usr/local/sbin/ninja-build", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/usr/local/bin/ninja-build", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/sbin/ninja-build", R_OK)       = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/bin/ninja-build", R_OK)        = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/usr/sbin/ninja-build", R_OK)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/usr/bin/ninja-build", R_OK)    = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/opt/texlive/2016/bin/i386-linux/ninja-build", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/root/bin/ninja-build", R_OK)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)

It was looking for "ninja-build", not "ninja"!

I use CMake with Ninja extensively at work and at home, on Windows and Linux. So why haven't I seen this bug before?

Well... in this instance I'm using a very old version of CMake, version 2.8.12. It's so old it's almost fossilised. So presumably it's either a CMake bug which was fixed later, or the Ninja project changed the name of the binary at some point.

Thanks. `# ln -s /usr/bin/ninja /usr/sbin/ninja` worked for me. — naveenKumar, Jun 29 '18 at 15:24
Building ninja from source only creates the "ninja" binary instead of ninja-build. The error messages from CMake don't clarify this, but your answer solves it. Thanks. — Miles, Mar 08 '19 at 19:31

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 06 '22 at 09:28

10

In Debian/Ubuntu systems, go ahead and install it

apt install ninja-build

Then rerun CMake.

edited Jun 06 '22 at 09:28

Antonio Pérez

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answered Jun 05 '22 at 05:16

PYK

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score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 03 '19 at 20:41

7

If ninja really exists in $PATH and it still does not work, you should check the permission of the executable file via ls -l /PATH/TO/NINJA. Make sure others have read and execute permissions (like '-rwxr-xr-x').

See also: 0013910: Ninja generator initialization fails if /usr/bin/ninja is not world-readable

edited Jul 03 '19 at 20:41

Jean-François Fabre

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answered Feb 21 '17 at 05:59

zhangyu chen

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It does not work for me. In the end, everything works well when i switch to ubuntu instead of centos... – zhangyu chen Feb 21 '17 at 08:41

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 01 '21 at 05:20

You may still suffer

CMake Error: CMake was unable to find a build program corresponding to "Ninja".  CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM is not set.  You probably need to select a different build tool.

even you already have::

put ninja in your PATH
ninja executable with proper privilege
newer version of cmake**

Then it might because -D CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM and -G Ninja are specified at the same time but CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM with invalid value (such as empty).

For example

Android Studio with gradle plugin version :

classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:7.0.0-alpha03'

and not using SDK Manager provided cmake, by:

put cmake executable in PATH environment variable
put ninja executable in PATH environment variable
specify cmake version equal to the one in PATH, in modules's build.gradle, like:

    externalNativeBuild {
        cmake {
            path "src/main/cpp/CMakeLists.txt"
            version "3.19.1" // this line
        }
    }

Then actually gradle calling cmake like this:

cmake ^
-HD:\dev\android_cv_examples\HelloNDK7\app\src\main\cpp ^
-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Android ^
-DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON ^
-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION=26 ^
-DANDROID_ABI=arm64-v8a ^
-DCMAKE_ANDROID_ARCH_ABI=arm64-v8a ^
-DANDROID_NDK=D:\soft\Android\ndk-r21b ^
-DCMAKE_ANDROID_NDK=D:\soft\Android\ndk-r21b ^
-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=D:\soft\Android\ndk-r21b\build\cmake\android.toolchain.cmake ^
-DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM= ^
-DCMAKE_C_FLAGS= ^
-DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-std=c++11 ^
-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=D:\dev\android_cv_examples\HelloNDK7\app\build\intermediates\cmake\debug\obj\arm64-v8a ^
-DCMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=D:\dev\android_cv_examples\HelloNDK7\app\build\intermediates\cmake\debug\obj\arm64-v8a ^
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ^
-BD:\dev\android_cv_examples\HelloNDK7\app\.cxx\cmake\debug\arm64-v8a ^
-GNinja ^
-DANDROID_PLATFORM=android-24

Note: If removing previous cmake build cache, and modify that calling script by deleting -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM then problem will be solved.

Raildex · Answer 6 · 2022-06-08T15:28:19.407

3

I am using Mac Monterey. I put ninja into /Applications and /Users/USER/Applications and made sure $PATH was pointing to these directories, but no luck.

I only made CMake discover Ninja by installing it via homebrew:

brew install ninja

edited Jun 08 '22 at 15:28

answered Jun 02 '22 at 06:45

Raildex

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 29 '21 at 03:16

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My issue was fixed by upgrading CMake to the latest version as specified in this answer: https://askubuntu.com/a/865294/924090

This was apparently an issue in CMake that is now fixed in the latest version. More information here: https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues/21486

answered Oct 29 '21 at 03:16

Amin Ya

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I also had to upgrade ninja then it started working – CJCombrink Nov 25 '21 at 09:54

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Nov 28 '22 at 16:54

1

At U20 was resolved for me only when using "pip install ninja" rather than "sudo apt install ninja-build"

answered Nov 28 '22 at 16:54

GM1

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Ninja not found by CMake

8 Answers8

For example

Linked