[Qt-creator] CMake config failure == unfixable

[Tobias Hunger]

Hi Andy,

On Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 11:25 PM, Andy <asmaloney at gmail.com> wrote:
> I understand that, but the CMake application (GUI) is much easier to use to
> configure a project than the capabilities provided by Creator, so I'd rather
> just use it. Is there a way to make it work? When I generate things that
> way, I can't get Creator to work with the configuration.

Well, the cmake developers are just discussing moving their cmake GUI over to use cmake server-mode in the back. They have added code to server-mode to enable that all the features they have in their UI, so at least conceptually Creator should now be able to do everything cmake GUI can do (provided your cmake is new enough of course). That is a new 

> I tried to completely remove my config and copy one from another (working)
> kit using the "Copy steps from another kit...", but it doesn't copy the
> whole configuration,

It should do that, but then overlay the Kit's configuration options. Maybe something goes wrong there.

> so I still need to mess around with settings and
> sometimes I end up back in the "can't do anything" mode and have to restart.
> So I'm pretty frustrated with the built-in cmake config stuff.

Yes, that area needs more polish. I do have a few bug reports open in this area. The interaction between the setting the kit has for cmake, those that get added by the buildconfiguration and the settings actually used by cmake is tricky, especially when you add cmake-gui to the mix.

Unfortunately I have no real cmake projects (apart from cmake itself;-) that I routinely work on, so I do miss a lot of the finer details that pop up when working with a tool daily. I really appreciate people taking the time to tell me about their pain-points, so that I can (slowly) improve our support.

Best Regards,
Tobias