After updating ninja to 1.8.0 in the depot_tools repository, cmake 2.8 on Linux will fail building even the simplest project using ninja.

Software versions involved:
Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS
cmake version 2.8.12.2
depot_tools master branch
  commit 7139a4e23cb97d3848dcc185c443f092ab60cfc2
  Author: Aaron Gable <agable@chromium.org>
  Date:   Tue Sep 5 17:53:09 2017 -0700



What steps will reproduce the problem?
(1) Create a new folder with a very simple CMakeLists.txt project. E.g. take step 1 from here: https://cmake.org/cmake-tutorial/

The CMakeLists.txt file looks like this:
-----
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 2.6)
project (Tutorial)
add_executable(Tutorial tutorial.cxx)
-----

The source code for tutorial.cxx will compute the square root of a number and the first version of it is very simple, as follows:
-----
// A simple program that computes the square root of a number
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
  if (argc < 2)
    {
    fprintf(stdout,"Usage: %s number\n",argv[0]);
    return 1;
    }
  double inputValue = atof(argv[1]);
  double outputValue = sqrt(inputValue);
  fprintf(stdout,"The square root of %g is %g\n",
          inputValue, outputValue);
  return 0;
}
-----
See the sources attached as cmake.tst.tar.gz

(2) Try to build this cmake project using ninja
-----
$ export PATH=$PATH:/path_to/depot_tools
$ cd cmake.tst/
$ mkdir build && cd build
$ cmake -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release  ..
----


What is the expected result?

The expected result is that cmake checks the existence and functionality of the C compiler and everything works fine. E.g.:
-----
$ cmake -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release  ..
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 4.8.4
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 4.8.4
-- Check for working C compiler using: Ninja
-- Check for working C compiler using: Ninja -- works
-----

What happens instead?

Cmake is not able to check the existence and functionality of the C compiler. E.g.:
-----
$ cmake -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release  ..
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 4.8.4
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 4.8.4
-- Check for working C compiler using: Ninja
-- Check for working C compiler using: Ninja -- broken
CMake Error at /usr/share/cmake-2.8/Modules/CMakeTestCCompiler.cmake:61 (message):
  The C compiler "/usr/bin/cc" is not able to compile a simple test program.

  It fails with the following output:

   Change Dir: /home/jenkins/code/tmp/cmake.tst/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeTmp

  

  Run Build Command:/home/jenkins/code/depot_tools/ninja
  cmTryCompileExec3374478763

  ninja: error: dependency cycle: testCCompiler.c -> testCCompiler.c
-----


Please provide any additional information below. Attach a screenshot if
possible.

This problem occurs only after this commit in the depot_tools repository:
-----
commit 372e0fdbfaaf78df357e4d425bf7baa8613dbc9c
Author: Takuto Ikuta <tikuta@google.com>
Date:   Mon Sep 4 17:30:57 2017 +0900

    Update ninja to v1.8.0.
    
    New binaries for Mac, Linux32, Linux64, Windows.  Also update shell script.
    See the bug for how these were built.
    The main "new" thing is performance improvement when building chrome with goma.
    
    After confirming the the behavior of ninja 1.8.0 on buildbot, I will roll ninja 1.8.1 includes fix for non-deterministic test.
    
    TBR=dpranke@chromium.org
    Bug:  761691 ,  738186 
    Change-Id: I108996dccfdf5d95d8815d6cece5eba46f3e8178
    Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/648372
    Commit-Queue: Takuto Ikuta <tikuta@google.com>
    Reviewed-by: Nico Weber <thakis@chromium.org>
-----

Reverting the depot_tools to any commit before the one listed above will allow us to build any cmake project using ninja.
 

Deleted: cmake.tst.tar.gz 9.3 KB

cmake.tst.tar.gz 9.3 KB Download