Cmake on msys2 for someone who's unfamiliar with the environment

Question

I'm trying to get cmake working on msys2. I try to compile some code that I've been given for another project and:

CMake Error: Could not create named generator MSYS Makefiles

I've found this thread and this thread and tried to follow the instructions...only to realize that the wiki that the threads eventually link back to never states where msys stores toolchains. Googling around didn't really help.

Even more oddly, the program that I'm trying to use somehow runs and produces valid data despite throwing an error due to the missing cmake. I don't get it.

I've never used msys before; as someone who's brand new to msys2/cygwin and can't even understand the lingo, how do I get cmake installed and working?

Answer 1

Sounds like you are specifying a -G "MSYS Makefiles" as the CMake generator, but CMake doesn't recognize that generator. When I use CMake on msys2 I just use the default Unix Makefiles generator and everything works just fine. Also, on my current msys2 install, CMake doesn't seem to have a MSYS Makefile generator that I can see (running cmake --help will list the available generators). Try running cmake without the -G option. Also, make sure make is installed first via pacman -Sy make.