[question] has anyone successfully configured msvc with ninja and cacche?

[hoyhoy]

What is your question?

I have it mostly working. vcvars are loading. I set my windskver, but something isn't quite right because cl.exe by way of ccache is complaining about PDB file errors immediately.

This is the error I'm seeing...

FAILED: src/lib/CMakeFiles/c-ares.dir/ares__htable.c.obj
C:\ccache\cl.exe  /nologo -DCARES_STATICLIB -DHAVE_CONFIG_H=1 -DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -D_WIN32_WINNT=0x0602 -IC:\Users\tperr\.conan2\p\b\c-are55f61936c5eed\b\build\Debug -IC:\Users\tperr\.conan2\p\b\c-are55f61936c5eed\b\src -IC:\Users\tperr\.conan2\p\b\c-are55f61936c5eed\b\src\include -IC:\Users\tperr\.conan2\p\b\c-are55f61936c5eed\b\src\src\lib /FS /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3 /W3 /we4013 /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1 -MDd /showIncludes /Fosrc\lib\CMakeFiles\c-ares.dir\ares__htable.c.obj /Fdbin\cares.pdb /FS -c C:\Users\tperr\.conan2\p\b\c-are55f61936c5eed\b\src\src\lib\ares__htable.c
C:\Users\tperr\.conan2\p\b\c-are55f61936c5eed\b\src\src\lib\ares__htable.c(388): fatal error C1090: PDB API call failed, error code '23': (0x00000006)

I tried setting various compiler flags like /Zf and the like, but I still keep getting this error.

This is my host profile.

[settings]
os=Windows
arch=x86_64
compiler=msvc
compiler.cppstd=14
compiler.version=193
compiler.update=9
compiler.toolset=v141_xp

compiler.cppstd=14
compiler.runtime=dynamic
build_type=Debug

[options]
verbose=True

[conf]
tools.build:compiler_executables = { "c" : "C:\ccache\cl.exe", "cpp": "C:\ccache\cl.exe" }
tools.build:cflags = [ "/FS" ]
tools.build:cxxflags = [ "/FS" ]

tools.microsoft:winsdk_version = 10.0.22621.0
tools.microsoft.msbuild:max_cpu_count = 4
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=Ninja

Cmake is invoking ccache and ccache is calling the correct cl.exe from msvc, but nothing will build.

Have you read the CONTRIBUTING guide?

• I've read the CONTRIBUTING guide

[perseoGI]

---

Hello @hoyhoy,

It has been a while since this issue was opened. Were you able to resolve your problem?

There are some workarounds available for the ccache integration issue with Conan. You can follow an interesting discussion on this topic here: #17754.

Additionally, we have an incubating repository called conan-toolchains. I’ve opened a pull request to add a new ccache recipe that includes a built-in CMake toolchain file. This should help configure ccache to work properly with the built-in Conan cache.

I encourage you to give it a try and share your feedback. I recently compiled a project using this recipe with Ninja as the CMake generator. It was my first time testing this combination on Windows with ccache, and it worked well!

# Your Windows profile (without any kind of ccache configuration nor anything)
include(default)

[tool_requires]
ccache/4.12

[conf]
# Setup ninja as your CMake generator
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=Ninja

In the compilation log, using this profile as a host profile, you will get something like:

-- ccache found: C:/Users/perseo/.conan2/p/b/ccacha3ec662f1af2b/p/bin/ccache.exe, enabling via CMake launcher and environment.     
-- Using ccache as compiler launcher for Ninja or Makefiles.

When using Ninja as your generator, you could set the CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER to ccache path, which is what is being done automatically by the above recipe:

https://github.com/perseoGI/conan-toolchains/blob/602bf2eaecb420ceeeeff3276c9080ab4d195d14/recipes/ccache/binary/ccache-autoinject.cmake?plain=1#L23-L24

I hope this helps!

[hoyhoy]

@perseoGI yeah, I could set our package to use ccache, but our dependencies aren't all using cmake. TBH, I should try adding CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER to tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:extra_variables.

[perseoGI]

Greetings @hoyhoy,
For the non-CMake scenarios, you need to define CC/CXX environment variables to use ccache.
In the future, we may attempt to add a native workaround; however, for now, you will need to do it manually.