# CMakePresets.json Error Messages - How can I decipher what the actual issue is.

**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmakepresets-json-error-messages-how-can-i-decipher-what-the-actual-issue-is/10888
**Category:** Usage
**Created:** [May 22, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmakepresets-json-error-messages-how-can-i-decipher-what-the-actual-issue-is/10888 "2024-05-22T22:29:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![imikejackson](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/imikejackson/32/301_2.png) [@imikejackson](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/imikejackson)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmakepresets-json-error-messages-how-can-i-decipher-what-the-actual-issue-is/10888/1 "2024-05-22T22:29:19Z")

</div>

I tend to get this a lot:

```auto
CMake Error: Could not read presets from /Users/mjackson/EMsoft-Dev/EMsoft: Invalid "configurePreset" field

```

I literally copied and pasted the contents from another project, and that project works just fine.

```auto
{
    "version": 3,
    "cmakeMinimumRequired": {
      "major": 3,
      "minor": 24,
      "patch": 0
    },
    "configurePresets": [
       {
        "name": "ci",
        "displayName": "CI build",
        "description": "Build configuration for GitHub Actions CI",
        "generator": "NMake Makefiles",
        "binaryDir": "${sourceDir}/build",
        "cacheVariables": {
            "CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE": {
                "type": "STRING",
                "value": "Release"
            },
            "bcls_DIR": {
                "type": "PATH",
                "value": "C:/Unknown"
            },
            "CLFORTRAN_DIR": {
                "type": "PATH",
                "value": "C:/Unknown"
            },
            "EIGEN_INSTALL": {
                "type": "PATH",
                "value": "C:/Unknown"
            },
            "FFTW3_INSTALL": {
                "type": "PATH",
                "value": "C:/Unknown"
            },
            "HDF5_DIR": {
                "type": "PATH",
                "value": "C:/Unknown"
            },
            "JSONFORTRAN_DIR": {
                "type": "PATH",
                "value": "C:/Unknown"
            }            
          }
       } 
    ],
    "buildPresets": [
        {
            "name": "ci-windows-v142",
            "displayName": "ci-windows-v142 Release build",
            "description": "Build configuration for GitHub actions CI",
            "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v142",
            "configuration": "Release"
        },
        {
            "name": "ci-windows-v143",
            "displayName": "ci-windows-v143 CI build",
            "description": "Build configuration for GitHub actions CI",
            "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v143",
            "configuration": "Release"
        }
    ],
    "testPresets": [
    ]
}

```

That is my json file. Now, there is most likely something very subtle incorrect in there. I’m using CMake 3.26.something. Would it be possible to actually print out an error message that is helpful. Line number maybe? What is the invalid field? There was clearly a check done on something that came up invalid, could I get that information somehow?

Is it space versus tabs? Is it 2 spaces versus 4 spaces for indentation?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ClausKlein](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/clausklein/32/352_2.png) [@ClausKlein](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ClausKlein)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2024, 11:39am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmakepresets-json-error-messages-how-can-i-decipher-what-the-actual-issue-is/10888/2 "2024-05-23T11:39:10Z")

</div>

**Invalid “configurePreset”: “ci-windows-v142”**

You should only reference existing `configurePreset`!

i.e.

```json
{
            "name": "ci-windows-v143",
            "displayName": "ci-windows-v143 CI build",
            "description": "Build configuration for GitHub actions CI",
            "configurePreset": "ci",
            "configuration": "Release"
        }

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![imikejackson](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/imikejackson/32/301_2.png) [@imikejackson](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/imikejackson)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2024, 6:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmakepresets-json-error-messages-how-can-i-decipher-what-the-actual-issue-is/10888/3 "2024-05-24T18:50:37Z")

</div>

In my haste to paste in an example I pasted the wrong file.

```auto
{
  "version": 3,
  "cmakeMinimumRequired": {
    "major": 3,
    "minor": 24,
    "patch": 0
  },
  "configurePresets": [
    {
      "name": "ci",
      "displayName": "CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for GitLab.BlueQuartz.Net",
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "cacheVariables": {
        "VCPKG_MANIFEST_DIR": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "${sourceDir}/"
        },
        "VCPKG_MANIFEST_FEATURES": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "tests;parallel;itk;ebsd"
        },
        "VCPKG_OVERLAY_TRIPLETS": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "${sourceDir}/cmake/triplets"
        },
        "VCPKG_INSTALLED_DIR": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "${sourceDir}/../vcpkg-installed-simpl"
        },
        "CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE": {
          "type": "FILEPATH",
          "value": "$env{VCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOT}/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake"
        },
        "CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "Release"
        },
        "BUILD_SHARED_LIBS": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "DREAM3D_DATA_DIR": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "${sourceDir}/../DREAM3D_Data"
        },
        "DREAM3D_EXTRA_PLUGINS":{
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "ITKImageProcessing;SimulationIO;DREAM3DReview;UCSBUtilities"
        },
        "SIMPL_WRAP_PYTHON": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "OFF"
        },
        "SIMPL_ENABLE_ANACONDA_PACKAGE": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "OFF"
        },
        "ANACONDA_ENVIRONMENT_NAME": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "dream3d"
        },
        "SIMPL_ENABLE_ANACONDA_LOCAL_INSTALL": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "ANACONDA_DIR": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "/opt/local/anaconda3"
        },
        "PYTHON_EXECUTABLE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "/opt/local/anaconda3/envs/dream3d/bin/python"
        },
        "MKDOCS_PYTHON_EXECUTABLE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "/opt/local/anaconda3/envs/dream3d/bin/python"
        },
        "MKDOCS_EXECUTABLE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "/opt/local/anaconda3/envs/dream3d/bin/mkdocs"
        },
        "MYPY_STUBGEN_EXE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "/opt/local/anaconda3/envs/dream3d/bin/stubgen"
        },
        "SIMPL_USE_QtWebEngine": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "OFF"
        },
        "SIMPL_BUILD_CLI_TOOLS": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "SIMPL_BUILD_TESTING": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "SIMPL_RELATIVE_PATH_CHECK": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "SIMPL_USE_MKDOCS": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "SIMPLView_USE_STYLESHEETEDITOR": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "OFF"
        },
        "SIMPLView_BUILD_DevHelper": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "OFF"
        },
        "SIMPLView_BUILD_CLI_TOOLS": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "SIMPLView_BUILD_DOCUMENTATION": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "DREAM3D_BUILD_VERSION_FILE": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "DREAM3D_BUILD_TEST_FILTERS": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "ON"
        },
        "ITKImageProcessing_ENABLE_SCIFIO": {
          "type": "BOOL",
          "value": "OFF"
        },
        "BrandedSIMPLView_DIR": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "${sourceDir}/../BrandedDREAM3D"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-windows-v142",
      "displayName": "ci-windows-v142",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "generator": "Ninja",
      "inherits": "ci",
      "cacheVariables": {
        "VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "x64-windows-v142"
        },
        "VCPKG_HOST_TRIPLET": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "x64-windows-v142"
        },
        "Python3_EXECUTABLE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "C:/Applications/Anaconda3/envs/dream3d/python.exe"
        },
        "MKDOCS_EXECUTABLE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "C:/Applications/Anaconda3/envs/dream3d/Scripts/mkdocs.exe"
        },
        "VTK_DIR": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "E:/NX_SDK_VS/VTK-9.2.6/lib/cmake/vtk-9.2"
        },
        "Qt6_DIR": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "E:/NX_SDK/Qt/6.5.0/msvc2019_64/lib/cmake/Qt6"
        }
      },
      "environment": {
        "VCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOT": "E:/AzureDevOps/vcpkg",
        "VCPKG_BINARY_SOURCES": "files,E:/AzureDevOps/AppData,readwrite",
        "APPDATA": "E:/AzureDevOps/AppData"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-windows-v143",
      "displayName": "ci-windows-v143",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "generator": "Visual Studio 17 2022",
      "inherits": "ci",
      "cacheVariables": {
        "VCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "x64-windows-v143"
        },
        "VCPKG_HOST_TRIPLET": {
          "type": "STRING",
          "value": "x64-windows-v143"
        },
        "Python3_EXECUTABLE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "C:/Applications/Anaconda3/envs/dream3d/python.exe"
        },
        "MKDOCS_EXECUTABLE": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "C:/Applications/Anaconda3/envs/dream3d/Scripts/mkdocs.exe"
        },
        "VTK_DIR": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "E:/NX_SDK_VS/VTK-9.2.6/lib/cmake/vtk-9.2"
        },
        "Qt6_DIR": {
          "type": "PATH",
          "value": "E:/NX_SDK/Qt/6.5.0/msvc2019_64/lib/cmake/Qt6"
        }
      },
      "environment": {
        "VCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOT": "E:/AzureDevOps/vcpkg",
        "VCPKG_BINARY_SOURCES": "files,E:/AzureDevOps/AppData,readwrite",
        "APPDATA": "E:/AzureDevOps/AppData"
      }
    }
  ],
  "buildPresets": [
    {
      "name": "ci-windows-v142",
      "displayName": "ci-windows-v142 Release build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v142",
      "configuration": "Release"
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-windows-v143",
      "displayName": "ci-windows-v143 CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v143",
      "configuration": "Release"
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-macos-x64",
      "displayName": "ci-macos-x64 CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-macos-x64",
      "configuration": "Release"
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-linux-x64",
      "displayName": "ci-linux-x64 CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-linux-x64",
      "configuration": "Release"
    }
  ],
  "testPresets": [
    {
      "name": "ci-windows-v142",
      "displayName": "ci-windows-v142 CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v142",
      "configuration": "Release",
      "output": {
        "outputOnFailure": true
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-windows-v143",
      "displayName": "ci-windows-v143 CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v143",
      "configuration": "Release",
      "output": {
        "outputOnFailure": true
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-macos-x64",
      "displayName": "ci-macos-x64 CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-macos-x64",
      "configuration": "Release",
      "output": {
        "outputOnFailure": true
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "ci-linux-x64",
      "displayName": "ci-linux-x64 CI build",
      "description": "Build configuration for Azure DREAM3D NX CI",
      "configurePreset": "ci-linux-x64",
      "configuration": "Release",
      "output": {
        "outputOnFailure": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

```

And I get:

```auto
1006:[mjackson@octane:DREAM3D]% cmake --preset ci-windows-v142
CMake Error: Could not read presets from /Users/mjackson/DREAM3D-Dev/DREAM3D: Invalid "configurePreset" field

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ClausKlein](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/clausklein/32/352_2.png) [@ClausKlein](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ClausKlein)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmakepresets-json-error-messages-how-can-i-decipher-what-the-actual-issue-is/10888/4 "2024-05-24T19:11:00Z")

</div>

### you reference non existing configuration presets!

```auto
bash-5.2$ egrep -wn '(configurePreset|name)' *.json
10: "name": "ci",
142: "name": "ci-windows-v142",
180: "name": "ci-windows-v143",
220: "name": "ci-windows-v142",
223: "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v142",
227: "name": "ci-windows-v143",
230: "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v143",
234: "name": "ci-macos-x64",
237: "configurePreset": "ci-macos-x64", <<<
241: "name": "ci-linux-x64",
244: "configurePreset": "ci-linux-x64", <<<
250: "name": "ci-windows-v142",
253: "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v142",
260: "name": "ci-windows-v143",
263: "configurePreset": "ci-windows-v143",
270: "name": "ci-macos-x64",
273: "configurePreset": "ci-macos-x64", <<<
280: "name": "ci-linux-x64",
283: "configurePreset": "ci-linux-x64", <<<
bash-5.2$ 

bash-5.2$ cmake --preset .
CMake Error: Could not read presets from /Users/clausklein/Workspace/cmake/WindowsToolchain:
Invalid "configurePreset": "ci-linux-x64"
bash-5.2$ cmake --version
cmake version 3.29.3

CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).
bash-5.2$ 

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![imikejackson](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/imikejackson/32/301_2.png) [@imikejackson](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/imikejackson)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/cmakepresets-json-error-messages-how-can-i-decipher-what-the-actual-issue-is/10888/5 "2024-05-24T21:01:58Z")

</div>

The error message points me to the “Configure Presets” area of the file. That is where I am looking for errors. But what you are saying is that I need to somehow understand that CMake didn’t really like something down in the “Build Presets” because it referenced something up in the Configure Presets area that did not exist.

I mean, at least your version of CMake starts to give you a hint as to what is going wrong.

The error should be:

```auto
CMake Error: Build preset "ci-linux-x64" references a configure preset "ci-linux-x64" that does not exist.
Missing "configurePreset": "ci-linux-x64"

```

Now I, as the user, have direct, actionable information to go fix my file.