Changing cmake path to an invalid location force user to restart VS Code to proceed

[vinodappu]

Brief Issue Summary

I've changed cmake.path to a non existing location & saved the changes. I can see Bad cmake executable error coming, which is obvious.

Now I changed the cmake executable to existing one, still it's not working, giving bad cmake executable error, I had to restart VS Code to get rid of this issue.

CMake Tools Diagnostics

{
  "os": "win32",
  "vscodeVersion": "1.86.0",
  "cmtVersion": "1.16.32",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "folder": "c:\\Users\\test",
      "cmakeVersion": "unknown",
      "configured": false,
      "generator": "unknown",
      "usesPresets": false,
      "compilers": {}
    }
  ],
  "cpptoolsIntegration": {
    "isReady": true,
    "hasCodeModel": true,
    "activeBuildType": "Debug",
    "buildTypesSeen": [
      "Debug"
    ],
    "requests": [],
    "responses": [],
    "partialMatches": [],
    "targetCount": 3,
    "executablesCount": 1,
    "librariesCount": 1,
    "targets": [
      {
        "name": "test.elf",
        "type": "EXECUTABLE"
      },
      {
        "name": "create-objdump",
        "type": "UTILITY"
      },
      {
        "name": "test",
        "type": "STATIC_LIBRARY"
      }
    ]
  },
  "settings": [
    {
      "communicationMode": "automatic",
      "useCMakePresets": "auto",
      "configureOnOpen": null
    }
  ]
}

Debug Log

No response

Additional Information

No response

[gcampbell-msft]

@vinodappu Thanks for letting us know. We'll mark this as a bug and place it on our backlog of bugs to fix.

[oursland]

Related is when CMake is installed after launching VS Code. An example that I frequently encounter is when using a conda-based project in which the conda package manager is responsible for installing cmake.

Prior to installation of the conda-managed packages, VS Code tests for the cmake executable and fails. After this failure it never tests the executable again, even though the package may have been installed.

A preferable behavior would be to always attempt to run the cmake executable and reporting the error if it cannot be run, instead of testing once at startup.

[Yingzi1234]

@vinodappu @gcampbell-msft We can reproduce this issue on latest version, you can get the details below.

ENV: VSCode: 1.89.0 CMake tools: v1.17.17 C/C++: v1.20.5

Repro steps:

1. Open a folder
2. Open settings UI and set the Cmake: Cmake Path to a non existing location, e.g., 'cmake1'
3. Click F1 to run 'CMake: configure'
4. Reset the Cmake: Cmake Path to original location, e.g., 'cmake'
5. Click F1 to run “CMake: configure” and check if the configuration is successful

Expected result: It should be configured successfully

Actual result: The configuration did not succeed. And displays the error: “Bad CMake executable ‘cmake1’.

[oursland]

@gcampbell-msft is there a PR that closed this issue?

[gcampbell-msft]

This commit: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-cmake-tools/commit/6eb0121930d4b2222bb0538d94580e8e40861f69

[oursland]

This addresses the situation in which changing a cmake path occurs, but does not address the situation in which a previously invalid path is made valid. I'll file a new issue for this.