[question][dev2] How to prevent CMakeUserPresets.json/CMakePresets.json from being generated?

[hwhsu1231]

Problem Description

I tried to write my own CMakePresets.json specifying -DCMAKE_PROJECT_TOP_LEVEL_INCLUDES=conan_provider.cmake to simplify the step of configuring the project.

Click to expand CMakePresets.json

{
  "version": 4,
  "cmakeMinimumRequired": {
    "major": 3,
    "minor": 23,
    "patch": 0
  },
  "configurePresets": [
    {
      "name": "win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug",
      "displayName": "Windows MSVC16 x64 (Ninja) Debug",
      "description": "Using MSVC16 x64 compilers with \"Ninja\" generator on Windows - Debug",
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "toolset": {
        "value": "v142,host=x64",
        "strategy": "external"
      },
      "architecture": {
        "value": "x64",
        "strategy": "external"
      },
      "binaryDir": "${sourceDir}/build/${presetName}",
      "cacheVariables": {
        "CMAKE_C_COMPILER": "cl.exe",
        "CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER": "cl.exe",
        "CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE": "Debug",
        "CMAKE_PROJECT_TOP_LEVEL_INCLUDES": "${sourceDir}/conan_provider.cmake"
      }
    }
  ],
  "buildPresets": [
    {
      "name": "win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug",
      "displayName": "Build - Debug",
      "configurePreset": "win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug"
    }
  ]
}

However, I found that there will be a CMakeUserPresets.json in the root directory and a CMakePresets.json inside the build directory generated by conan install command.

Since the original design of Conan 2.0 is to first run conan and then cmake, it seems that Conan 2.0 will generate CMakePresets.json/CMakeUserPresets.json for us to configure our CMake project. However, I think that I won't need these generated files when using cmake-conan because the starting point is cmake now. Therefore, I wondered:

How to prevent CMakeUserPresets.json/CMakePresets.json from being generated?

when consuming the packages.

Version and Environment

• Conan version: 2.0.2
• CMake version: 3.25.1

Steps to reproduce

1. Extract the following archived file.

   cmake-conan-provider.zip

2. Call vcvarsall.bat x64 to initialize the MSVC env:

   vcvarsall.bat x64
   

3. Run the following cmake command to configure the porject:

   cmake --preset win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug
   

Logs

Click to expand logs

D:\Test\cmake-conan-provider>vcvarsall.bat x64
**********************************************************************
** Visual Studio 2019 Developer Command Prompt v16.11.23
** Copyright (c) 2021 Microsoft Corporation
**********************************************************************
[vcvarsall.bat] Environment initialized for: 'x64'

D:\Test\cmake-conan-provider>cmake --preset win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug
Preset CMake variables:

  CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Debug"
  CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="cl.exe"
  CMAKE_C_COMPILER="cl.exe"
  CMAKE_PROJECT_TOP_LEVEL_INCLUDES="D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider/conan_provider.cmake"

-- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.29.30147.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.29.30147.0
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.29.30133/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe - skipped     
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.29.30133/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe - skipped   
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
========== cmake-conan-provider ==========
-- CMake-conan: first find_package() found. Installing dependencies with Conan
-- Conan-cmake: Checking if a default profile exists
D:\.conan2\home\profiles\default
-- Conan-cmake: cmake_system_name=Windows
-- Conan-cmake: CMake compiler=MSVC
-- Conan-cmake: CMake cmpiler version=19.29.30147.0
-- Conan-cmake: [settings] compiler=msvc
-- Conan-cmake: [settings] compiler.version=192
-- Conan-cmake: Creating profile D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider/build/win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug/conan_host_profile
-- Conan-cmake: Profile:
include(default)
[settings]
os=Windows
compiler=msvc
compiler.version=192
build_type=Debug
[conf]
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=Ninja

-- CMake-conan: Installing single configuration Debug
-- CMake-conan: conan install D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider -of=D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider/build/win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug/conan -pr;D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider/build/win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug/conan_host_profile;--build=missing;-g;CMakeDeps

======== Input profiles ========
Profile host:
[settings]
arch=x86_64
build_type=Debug
compiler=msvc
compiler.cppstd=14
compiler.runtime=dynamic
compiler.runtime_type=Debug
compiler.version=192
os=Windows
[conf]
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=Ninja

Profile build:
[settings]
arch=x86_64
build_type=Release
compiler=msvc
compiler.cppstd=14
compiler.runtime=dynamic
compiler.runtime_type=Release
compiler.version=193
os=Windows


======== Computing dependency graph ========
Graph root
    conanfile.py: D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider\conanfile.py
Requirements
    fmt/8.1.1#e63eae266b23cf3d7f3e0dfe33d1f7e9 - Cache

======== Computing necessary packages ========
Requirements
    fmt/8.1.1#e63eae266b23cf3d7f3e0dfe33d1f7e9:a6b1a9b5962f3f69ca4f26a80d8d82e9ba1fabe7#f1762e8333d32db4225378e23e3b4070 - Cache

======== Installing packages ========
fmt/8.1.1: Already installed! (1 of 1)
WARN: Usage of deprecated Conan 1.X features that will be removed in Conan 2.X:
WARN:     'cpp_info.names' used in: fmt/8.1.1

======== Finalizing install (deploy, generators) ========
conanfile.py: Writing generators to D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider/build/win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug/conan
conanfile.py: Generator 'CMakeToolchain' calling 'generate()'
conanfile.py: CMakeToolchain generated: conan_toolchain.cmake
conanfile.py: Preset 'conan-debug' added to CMakePresets.json. Invoke it manually using 'cmake --preset conan-debug'
conanfile.py: If your CMake version is not compatible with CMakePresets (<3.19) call cmake like: 'cmake <path> -G Ninja -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=D:\Test\cmake-conan-provider\build\win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug\conan\conan_toolchain.cmake -DCMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0091=NEW -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug'
conanfile.py: CMakeToolchain generated: CMakePresets.json
conanfile.py: CMakeToolchain generated: ..\..\..\CMakeUserPresets.json
conanfile.py: Generator 'CMakeDeps' calling 'generate()'
conanfile.py: Generating aggregated env files
conanfile.py: Generated aggregated env files: ['conanbuild.bat', 'conanrun.bat']
Install finished succesfully
-- CMake-conan: CONAN_GENERATORS_FOLDER=D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider/build/win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug/conan
-- Conan: Component target declared 'fmt::fmt'
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: D:/Test/cmake-conan-provider/build/win32-msvc16-x64-ninja-debug

[hwhsu1231]

According to the Conan2 Docs of CMakeToolchian and cmake_layout,

• CMakePresets.json will be generated by default
• CMakeUserPresets.json will be generated if cmake_layout is declared in recipe

when using CMakeToolchain generator.

The cause seems to be that conan install command searches the recipe in ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}, which contains our CMakeLists.txt. Therefore, CMakeUserPresets.json will be generated in the source root directory:

https://github.com/conan-io/cmake-conan/blob/c389ff91274d2cc3805c61b4be1dc763d017528d/conan_support.cmake#L140-L145

Since CMakePresets.json is generated inside the CMake's build directory, I think it's fine. However, CMakeUserPresets.json is generated in the CMake's source root directory, which might interfere the cmake-presets detection supported by some IDEs.

How about:

1. Copy the recipe from ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR} into ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}.
2. And then conan install command searches the copy of recipe in the ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}.

So that CMakeUserPresets.json won't be generated?

[dovydas-girdvainis]

@hwhsu1231 I was wondering the same thing (in our case it IS messing with cmake configurations when we do not want to), do you have a workaround to disable the CMakeUserPresets.json configuration? (Apart from creating an empty CMakeUserPresets.json?)

[memsharded]

@hwhsu1231 I was wondering the same thing (in our case it IS messing with cmake configurations when we do not want to), do you have a workaround to disable the CMakeUserPresets.json configuration? (Apart from creating an empty CMakeUserPresets.json?)

I'd like to know a bit more, what kind of messing is causing. Is it an IDE-integration thing?

There is a way to disable it in the recipe:

def generate(self):
      tc = CMakeToolchain(self)
      tc.user_presets_path = False
      tc.generate()

[hwhsu1231]

After researching for a while, I think the generation of CMakeUserPresets.json would not make the Git repository messy.

According to the CMake Documentation:

For example, if a project is using Git, CMakePresets.json may be tracked, and CMakeUserPresets.json should be added to the .gitignore.

In other words, unless we forgot to add CMakeUserPresets.json to .gitignore, the CMakeUserPresets.json generated in the root directory by Conan would not be pushed to the Git repository.

@memsharded - However, I want to confirm whether there is a way for Conan to disable the generation of CMakeUserPresets.json through CLI parameters, rather than modifying the recipe?

There is a way to disable it in the recipe:

def generate(self):
      tc = CMakeToolchain(self)
      tc.user_presets_path = False
      tc.generate()