MantisBT - CMake
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IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
0015927CMakeCMakepublic2016-01-19 10:072016-06-10 14:21
ReporterGehua Yang 
Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityminorReproducibilityalways
StatusclosedResolutionno change required 
PlatformOSWindowsOS Version
Product VersionCMake 3.4.1 
Target VersionFixed in Version 
Summary0015927: Escape semicolon ";" in CMake/CTest variables?
DescriptionMy CMake-Controlled private build depends on a couple external libraries. On Windows, the build needs to find the dll files of external libraries in order to run the automated tests. The solution I came up with is to add those folders to the PATH environment variable for the build. Here is what I did in the CTest script (using CMake 3.4.1 for Windows):

SET(MYPATH "$ENV{PATH}\;C:\\Gehua\\Code\\tbb\\tbb43_20150611oss\\bin\\intel64\\vc14")
# set any extra envionment variables here
# a. TBB path is needed to run tests
# b. Use the "true" command-line plink for git's ssh use.
SET (CTEST_ENVIRONMENT
  "GIT_SSH=c:\\Program Files (x86)\\PuTTY\\plink.exe"
  "PATH=${MYPATH}"
  )
MESSAGE(STATUS "env=${CTEST_ENVIRONMENT}")

Here is the output from running the build from the code above:

-- env=GIT_SSH=c:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\plink.exe;PATH=C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Broadcom\Broadcom 802.11 Network Adapter;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;%USERPROFILE%\.dnx\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\;C:\Program Files\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraCompare;C:\Program Files\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraFinder\\;C:\Gehua\Code\tbb\tbb43_20150611oss\bin\intel64\vc14


But this change does NOT work for the tests. The tests failed without execution. I suspected that it still did not find the depending dll files. So I added the following code in a simple test file:

  std::cout << "env PATH=" << getenv ("PATH") << '\n';
  std::cout << "env GIT_SSH=" << getenv ("GIT_SSH") << '\n';

The output is :

env PATH=C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath
env GIT_SSH=c:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\plink.exe


As one can see, The PATH variable content was truncated at the semicolon mark (";"). It is not surprising outcome as CMake use semicolon as delimiter of list elements. But in this particular case, I am seeking for a way to escape the semicolons so that CMake/CTest treats it as an integral part of the string. Is there a way to do it?
Steps To ReproduceSET(MYPATH "$ENV{PATH}\;C:\\Gehua\\Code\\tbb\\tbb43_20150611oss\\bin\\intel64\\vc14")
# set any extra envionment variables here
# a. TBB path is needed to run tests
# b. Use the "true" command-line plink for git's ssh use.
SET (CTEST_ENVIRONMENT
  "GIT_SSH=c:\\Program Files (x86)\\PuTTY\\plink.exe"
  "PATH=${MYPATH}"
  )
MESSAGE(STATUS "env=${CTEST_ENVIRONMENT}")


But the result is:
PATH=C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath
GIT_SSH=c:\Program Files (x86)\PuTTY\plink.exe
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Issue History
Date ModifiedUsernameFieldChange
2016-01-19 10:07Gehua YangNew Issue
2016-01-19 10:13Brad KingNote Added: 0040259
2016-01-19 15:25Gehua YangNote Added: 0040271
2016-01-20 10:29Brad KingStatusnew => resolved
2016-01-20 10:29Brad KingResolutionopen => no change required
2016-06-10 14:21Kitware RobotNote Added: 0041281
2016-06-10 14:21Kitware RobotStatusresolved => closed

Notes
(0040259)
Brad King   
2016-01-19 10:13   
The CTEST_ENVIRONMENT setting is an undocumented legacy variable left from early ctest scripts that worked declaratively. For modern ctest scripts you can just

  set(ENV{PATH} "...")

and the environment setting will affect everything after that.
(0040271)
Gehua Yang   
2016-01-19 15:25   
Thanks for the info. I will try that.

Gary
(0041281)
Kitware Robot   
2016-06-10 14:21   
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