MantisBT - CMake
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IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
0012563CMakeCMakepublic2011-11-08 03:502016-06-10 14:31
ReporterRobert Pollak 
Assigned ToKitware Robot 
PrioritynormalSeveritymajorReproducibilityalways
StatusclosedResolutionmoved 
PlatformOSOS Version
Product VersionCMake 2.8.6 
Target VersionFixed in Version 
Summary0012563: CMAKE_USE_RELATIVE_PATHS should be removed from the documentation
DescriptionCurrently the doc says "May not work!" and "This option does not work for more complicated projects ..."

We lost some time trying to get this to work for our project, which is not *that* complicated. Only then we became aware of:
* issue 6642 "Absolute relative paths for VS?", "won't fix" since 2008
(Quote: "If you are looking to create relocatable vcproj files CMake is the wrong tool.")
* Bill Hoffman saying on the mailing list
"You should give up on CMAKE_USE_RELATIVE_PATHS , and we should deprecate it from CMake. It just does not work, and frustrates people." (2009-11-21)
* Michael Jackson saying on the list
"There are lots of questions on this CMake variable and the consensus is DO NOT USE IT. PERIOD. The implementation is basically broken for all but the most trivial case." (2009-12-21)

So I propose to remove this variable from the documentation in order to save your users a lot of time of unsuccessfully testing it.
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Issue History
Date ModifiedUsernameFieldChange
2011-11-08 03:50Robert PollakNew Issue
2011-11-10 09:27Niels DekkerNote Added: 0027744
2011-11-10 10:36Niels DekkerNote Added: 0027745
2012-08-11 21:09David ColeStatusnew => backlog
2012-08-11 21:09David ColeNote Added: 0030327
2016-06-10 14:28Kitware RobotNote Added: 0041928
2016-06-10 14:28Kitware RobotStatusbacklog => resolved
2016-06-10 14:28Kitware RobotResolutionopen => moved
2016-06-10 14:28Kitware RobotAssigned To => Kitware Robot
2016-06-10 14:31Kitware RobotStatusresolved => closed

Notes
(0027744)
Niels Dekker   
2011-11-10 09:27   
I would prefer to have CMAKE_USE_RELATIVE_PATHS supported correctly, especially for Microsoft Visual C++ 10, which prefers relative paths to source files.

Of course, Visual C++ 10 also support absolute path names to source files, but it has a major bug. See VC10 bug report 635294, "Using absolute path in ClCompile item prevents property pages from showing", by Niels M Hansen, 1/9/2011:
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/635294/using-absolute-path-in-clcompile-item-prevents-property-pages-from-showing [^]
(0027745)
Niels Dekker   
2011-11-10 10:36   
See also "[CMake] Visual Studio 10 property pages for single source file gone with CMake 2.8.5 and 2.8.6", http://www.cmake.org/pipermail/cmake/2011-November/047345.html [^] This VS10 issue could be avoided (i.e. worked around) if CMake would store relative path names of source files.
(0030327)
David Cole   
2012-08-11 21:09   
Sending old, never assigned issues to the backlog.

(The age of the bug, plus the fact that it's never been assigned to anyone means that nobody is actively working on it...)

If an issue you care about is sent to the backlog when you feel it should have been addressed in a different manner, please bring it up on the CMake mailing list for discussion. Sign up for the mailing list here, if you're not already on it: http://www.cmake.org/mailman/listinfo/cmake [^]

It's easy to re-activate a bug here if you can find a CMake developer who has the bandwidth to take it on, and ferry a fix through to our 'next' branch for dashboard testing.
(0041928)
Kitware Robot   
2016-06-10 14:28   
Resolving issue as `moved`.

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