"'MinGW/bin/gcc.exe' is not able to compile a simple test program." - c++

Question

I am currently learning CMake. Right now I am trying to configure CMake to build an example program to learn the basics, but I can't get past what seems like something that should be really easy. It seems that CMake does not agree with my gcc and g++ compilers. I have installed them through CodeBlocks, and they work fine there. However, when I go to configure a project in the CMake GUI I get the following:
The C compiler identification is unknown
The CXX compiler identification is unknown
Check for working C compiler: C:/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/gcc.exe
Check for working C compiler: C:/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/gcc.exe -- broken
CMake Error at C:/Program Files/CMake/share/cmake-3.15/Modules/CMakeTestCCompiler.cmake:60 (message):
The C compiler
"C:/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/gcc.exe"
is not able to compile a simple test program.
It fails with the following output:
Change Dir: C:/Users/Bank/Desktop/Introductions-to-Libraries-with-CMake/Build/CMakeFiles/CMakeTmp
Run Build Command(s):C:/MinGW/bin/mingw32-make.exe cmTC_52744/fast && C:/MinGW/bin/mingw32-make.exe -f CMakeFiles\cmTC_52744.dir\build.make CMakeFiles/cmTC_52744.dir/build
mingw32-make.exe[1]: Entering directory 'C:/Users/Bank/Desktop/Introductions-to-Libraries-with-CMake/Build/CMakeFiles/CMakeTmp'
Building C object CMakeFiles/cmTC_52744.dir/testCCompiler.c.obj
C:\CodeBlocks\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe -o CMakeFiles\cmTC_52744.dir\testCCompiler.c.obj -c C:\Users\Bank\Desktop\Introductions-to-Libraries-with-CMake\Build\CMakeFiles\CMakeTmp\testCCompiler.c
CMakeFiles\cmTC_52744.dir\build.make:64: recipe for target 'CMakeFiles/cmTC_52744.dir/testCCompiler.c.obj' failed
mingw32-make.exe[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/cmTC_52744.dir/testCCompiler.c.obj] Error 1
mingw32-make.exe[1]: Leaving directory 'C:/Users/Bank/Desktop/Introductions-to-Libraries-with-CMake/Build/CMakeFiles/CMakeTmp'
Makefile:120: recipe for target 'cmTC_52744/fast' failed
mingw32-make.exe: *** [cmTC_52744/fast] Error 2
CMake will not be able to correctly generate this project.
Call Stack (most recent call first):
CMakeLists.txt:6 (project)
Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "C:/Users/Bank/Desktop/Introductions-to-Libraries-with-CMake/Build/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
See also "C:/Users/Bank/Desktop/Introductions-to-Libraries-with-CMake/Build/CMakeFiles/CMakeError.log".
Here is my CMakeLists file:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0.0)
set(CMAKE_C_COMPILER "C:/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/gcc.exe")
set(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER "C:/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/g++.exe")
project("Foo")
add_subdirectory("foo")
And if it helps, here is what the Path variable in my Environment Variables looks like:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath;c:\windows\system32;c:\windows;c:\windows\system32\wbem;c:\windows\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Program Files\Git;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Users\Bank\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools;C:\Users\Bank\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools;C:\Users\Bank\Desktop\sfAnd\android-ndk-r20;C:\Program Files\CMake\bin;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_231;C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_231\jre;C:\Gradle\gradle-6.0-all\gradle-6.0\bin;C:\Gradle\gradle-6.0-all\gradle-6.0;C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32\bin;I:\Storage\Programs\apache-ant-1.9.14-bin\apache-ant-1.9.14\bin;C:\Python27;C:\ninja-win;C:\Program Files\dotnet\;C:\CodeBlocks\MinGW
What could the problem be?

Answer 1

C:\CodeBlocks\MinGW probably doesn't contain the DLL's to gcc or g++. You should add C:\CodeBlocks\MinGW\bin and/or C:\CodeBlocks\MinGW\lib to your path instead, depending on how MinGW was installed. I use MSys2 and use the provided environment for 32bit and 64bit tools. I try to get rid of the pre-packaged versions of MinGW to avoid confusion on my own computers (I noticed msys 1.0 in your path).

Answer 2

I figured it out, finally, thanks to this post:
Cmake build error for c++
I read some posts that said "[your_path]\MinGW" needed to be in your PATH variable, but it's actually "[your_path]\MinGW\bin." I am still not sure why adding the following in CMakeLists did not work:
set(CMAKE_C_COMPILER "C:/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/gcc.exe")
set(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER "C:/CodeBlocks/MinGW/bin/g++.exe")
but that's for another time. Thank you for your help.