Search code examples
cmakeclion

Clion CMakeLists.txt not found when switching PC

I'm having issues with Clion (1.0.1) and CMakeLists.txt.

I use GitHub for my projects, and I commit them from directly within the IDE. If I then checkout the project on a different computer, the IDE looks for CMakeLists.txt in the original PC's directory.

The specific error message reported by Clion is this:

Error: CmakeLists.txt not found in C:\Users\Chris\ClionProjects\SDLTestClion

However, this is a Linux machine, so there's obviously no C drive.

Here's what I've tried:

  • File > Invalidate Caches/Restart
  • Change Project Root (from the CMake Window; the obvious solution)
  • File > Settings > Build, Execution, Deployment > CMake
    • There are no settings or variables here that indicate the directory above.

I can't find anything else, so either I'm missing something or this is bugged in version 1.0.1 and I need to sift through project files to change the path that Clion looks for the CMakeLists.txt file.

Solution

  • Update: Wrote this answer 8 years ago and didn't know what I was doing. I see it occasionally getting upvotes, so I'm updating this.

    Most likely you're a new git or version control user, or just a new developer in general. The proper solution is to not commit CLion's project files in the first place, but since you're here, you've probably already done so. Here's how you should remedy this problem and stop it from happening in the future:

    1. Close CLion. Place an empty text file named .gitignore in the project's root directory if you haven't already.

    2. Add .idea as a line in the file to ignore it. Most likely this is all you need to do, though I recommend taking the time to make sure you're not committing other files you shouldn't as well (*.iml, *.iws, *.o, etc). See sample .gitignore files here, here, and here.

    3. If this is a shared project, it's worth making sure no other IDE project files are committed as well (Eclipse, Visual Studio, etc). Visual Studio is an edge case, as sometimes you actually want to commit those files depending on the project. See here for another sample ignore file. However, for a student project this is unlikely.

    4. Run git add .gitignore and git commit -m 'Updated .gitignore to exclude .idea directory

    5. Remove the already committed .idea directory with git rm --cached -r ./.idea. If you have multiple things to remove from version control, run git rm --cached -r .

    6. Run git add . and git commit -m 'Removed items added to .gitignore'. Push your changes to your remote git repository with git push

    7. Navigate to your project's directory in your file browser and delete the .idea directory.

    8. Re-import the project in CLion and the .idea directory will be rebuilt.

    9. Remember you can re-use this .gitignore file in any future projects. You can often just copy/paste it if it's the same language and IDE.

    Old Answer:

    Well, I found the issue. As far as I can tell, in version 1.0.1 there is no way to remedy the problem through the IDE.

    Solution:

    • Go to projectDir/.idea
    • Open misc.xml
    • Edit the field PROJECT_DIR to point to the directory with the project's CMakeLists.txt.

    I think this is a bug and this field should probably be updated when choosing a new project root. A temporary solution may be to add misc.xml to .gitignore but I haven't tested this and don't know if this will cause other problems or if the IDE will automatically regenerate the file.