"Re-running CMake" loop after removing build/CMakeCache.txt

[blueyed]

Removing build/CMakeCache.txt manually will cause a loop with ninja -C build afterwards:

% ninja -d explain -C build
ninja: Entering directory `build'
ninja explain: output CMakeCache.txt of phony edge with no inputs doesn't exist
…
[0/1] Re-running CMake...
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 9.1.0
…
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/daniel/Vcs/neovim/build
ninja explain: output build.ninja older than most recent input CMakeCache.txt (1562188465425698113 vs 1562188969455556191)
[0/1] Re-running CMake...
…
ninja explain: output build.ninja older than most recent input CMakeCache.txt (1562188465425698113 vs 1562188704052391884)
[0/1] Re-running CMake...

touch build/build.ninja fixes it.

cmake version 3.14.5
ninja version 1.9.0
Arch Linux

[torarnv]

Saw this today, and realized it was the result of the CMakeLists.txt having a modified date several hours into the future.

Perhaps that's something ninja can warn about? It knows the current time, so if any of the inputs are > than that, then something is likely off?

[mohammad-nazari]

CMake is re-running because generate.stamp is out-of-date.
Check your System time ...

[Aleksbgbg]

+1 to @mohammad-nazari's comment. For some reason, Windows had set my system clock 1 hour in the past after restarting. For those on Windows, go to settings, turn off 'Set time automatically' and turn it back on.

[NawalElBoghdady]

Kudos @mohammad-nazari for your feedback! and thank you @Aleksbgbg for your suggested fix! Worked for me!

[iain-ilearner]

Saw this today, and realized it was the result of the CMakeLists.txt having a modified date several hours into the future.

@torarnv Thank you for this, it put me on the right track. I was building docker images in WSL2 and getting this error with an identical Dockerfile which had previously built fine.

The problem is that WSL2 suffers from clock drift and this comment made me realise it was also the cause of the problem here.

[aminya]

For me, the modification timestamps of my files were ahead of my system clock! The reason is that my clock wasn't correct when I cloned the repo. My clock sometimes gets out of sync because of my Windows/Linux dual boot.

I suggest using git-warp-time to fix the timestamps.
https://github.com/alerque/git-warp-time

[travnick]

I just hit the issue. In my case it looks like cmake/ninja jumps into an infinite loop because my build dir is a symlink to the other location:

• sources are in shared location - but there is quota limit
• so build is symlinked to location with enough space
• in such case I can see the build dir itself in VS Code workspace
• but symlink breaks the cmake build

Saw similar issue filed on cmake https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues/21819