CMake cmakeArgs does not evaluate environment variables

[Lectem]

Question, Bug, or Feature?
Type: Bug

Enter Task Name:

CMake

Environment

• Server - Azure Pipelines

• Agent - Private:

Agent name: 'Hosted Agent'
Agent machine name: 'fv-az598'
Current agent version: '2.166.4'
Current image version: '20200430.2'
Agent running as: 'vsts'
Prepare build directory.
Set build variables.
Download all required tasks.
Downloading task: CmdLine (2.164.0)
Downloading task: CMake (1.166.0)

OS: ubuntu

Issue Description

When using environment variables in the cmakeArgs parameter, the environment variables are not evaluated anymore.

For example, with the EMSCRIPTEN environment variable set in the image:

  steps:
  - script: cmake -B build-script -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$EMSCRIPTEN/cmake/Modules/Platform/Emscripten.cmake
  - task: CMake@1
    inputs:
      workingDirectory: build-task
      cmakeArgs: -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$EMSCRIPTEN/cmake/Modules/Platform/Emscripten.cmake ..

The first script works fine, but the one with the task will give the error

/usr/local/bin/cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCF_USE_ISPC=OFF -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$EMSCRIPTEN/cmake/Modules/Platform/Emscripten.cmake ..
CMake Error at /opt/cmake/share/cmake-3.14/Modules/CMakeDetermineSystem.cmake:99 (message):
Could not find toolchain file:
$EMSCRIPTEN/cmake/Modules/Platform/Emscripten.cmake
Call Stack (most recent call first):
CMakeLists.txt:19 (project)

We can see that CMake receives the string with $EMSCRIPTEN instead of its value.

Multiple possibilities:

• The task cleans the environment variables (I doubt so)
• The task escapes the cmakeArgs
• The task does not go through the shell to start cmake, hence not evaluating env vars

[egor-bryzgalov]

Hello, @Lectem!

Thanks for your report! Could you please try to use macro syntax to reference EMSCRIPTEN variable in 'cmakeArgs' by wrapping the variable in parentheses like this?

'...-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$(EMSCRIPTEN)/cmake/Modules/...'

Please, let us know if it helps. You may also find more information about variables here:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/process/variables?view=azure-devops&tabs=yaml%2Cbatch#understand-variable-syntax

[Lectem]

Could you please try to use macro syntax to reference EMSCRIPTEN variable in 'cmakeArgs' by wrapping the variable in parentheses like this?

'...-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$(EMSCRIPTEN)/cmake/Modules/...'

Yes I tried this too and it gave me the following:

/usr/local/bin/cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCF_USE_ISPC=OFF -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$(EMSCRIPTEN)/cmake/Modules/Platform/Emscripten.cmake ..
CMake Error at /opt/cmake/share/cmake-3.14/Modules/CMakeDetermineSystem.cmake:99 (message):
  Could not find toolchain file:
  $(EMSCRIPTEN)/cmake/Modules/Platform/Emscripten.cmake
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  CMakeLists.txt:19 (project)

I think it can probably be easily reproduced with any CMake variable and a small CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
message(STATUS "Value of TEST_CMAKE_TASK is: ${TEST_CMAKE_TASK}")

and something using an env var such as

steps:
  - script: cmake -B build-script -DTEST_CMAKE_TASK=$USER
  - task: CMake@1
    inputs:
      workingDirectory: build-task
      cmakeArgs: -DTEST_CMAKE_TASK=$USER ..

(I do not have time to test this right now, but it should help reproduce the issue)

[egor-bryzgalov]

Closing the issue since changes should be deployed now. Please feel free to reopen.

[KrisThielemans]

I'm not sure if this is the same issue, but I'm trying to set a package location from a previous stage in UCL/PETPVC#84. Actual code is like this

steps:
  - script: |
      #brew tap bathomas/homebrew-bat
      #brew install ninja insighttoolkit
      brew install ninja itk
      Qt5_DIR=$(brew --prefix qt5)/lib/cmake/Qt5
      echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=Qt5_DIR;isOutput=true]$Qt5_DIR"
    displayName: Brew install dependencies
  - script: |
      mkdir build.debug
      mkdir build.release
    displayName: Make Build Directories
  - task: CMake@1
    inputs:
      workingDirectory: 'build.debug'
      cmakeArgs: '-G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DQt5_DIR=$(Qt5_DIR) ..'

I checked that Qt5_DIR is set to /usr/local/opt/qt@5/lib/cmake/Qt5 and the cmake files are there, but CMake still doesn't find Qt5, implying that the variable didn't make it.

Any ideas?

Edit:

• using runInsideShell: true didn't help
• I've confirmed that the problem is the setting of the variable by hard-wiring the location, as in

cmakeArgs: '-G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DQt5_DIR=/usr/local/opt/qt@5/lib/cmake/Qt5 ..'

If this should work, it'd be great to see an example. Thanks for your help!