Problem with building SDK samples: Cannot specify link libraries for target "VST3Inspector"

Hello!

I have a rather annoying build issue, that I’d like to ask for support.
Prologue: I can’t set up Visual Studio Community edition on my Windows 10 laptop, as it is a company asset, and corporate licensing terms prohibits it.
Thus as an alternative solution I naively set up cmake and mingw64 for the toolchain.
I downloaded the VST3 SDK zip, extracted, and as per this instruction https steinbergmedia github io/vst3_dev_portal/pages/Tutorials/Building+the+examplesBuilding+the+examples+included+in+the+SDK+Windows.html#building-using-cmake-gui ( sorry, can’t paste links due to editor limitations) - and I try to configure and build the SDK.

During build I get stuck at this point always, though I performed the steps as per the instructions.

[cmake] CMake Error at vstgui4/vstgui/standalone/cmake/modules/vstgui_add_executable.cmake:46 (target_link_libraries):
[cmake]   Cannot specify link libraries for target "VST3Inspector" which is not built
[cmake]   by this project.
[cmake] Call Stack (most recent call first):
[cmake]   public.sdk/samples/vst-hosting/inspectorapp/CMakeLists.txt:49 (vstgui_add_executable)

SDK version is: vst-sdk_3.7.8_build-34_2023-05-15
cmake version is: 3.27.0-rc3

Can one please advise what I may have been missing?

Thank you!

Full log:

[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\gcc.exe -v
[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-13.0.1.exe -v
[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe -v
[proc] Executing command: chcp
[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\mingw32-make.exe -v
[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc.exe -v
[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\mingw32-make.exe -v
[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\mingw32-make.exe -v
[kit] Found Kit (trusted): GCC 13.0.1 x86_64-w64-mingw32
[kit] Found Kit (trusted): GCC 13.0.1 x86_64-w64-mingw32
[kit] Found Kit (trusted): GCC 13.0.1 x86_64-w64-mingw32
[kit] Found Kit (trusted): Visual Studio Build Tools 2017 Release - x86
[kit] Found Kit (trusted): Visual Studio Build Tools 2017 Release - x86_amd64
[kit] Found Kit (trusted): Visual Studio Build Tools 2017 Release - amd64_x86
[kit] Found Kit (trusted): Visual Studio Build Tools 2017 Release - amd64
[kit] Successfully loaded 5 kits from C:\Users\Janos_Szili\AppData\Local\CMakeTools\cmake-tools-kits.json
[proc] Executing command: "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.EXE" --version
[proc] Executing command: c:\mingw64\bin\gcc.exe -v
[main] Configuring project: vst3sdk 
[proc] Executing command: "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.EXE" --no-warn-unused-cli -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS:BOOL=TRUE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER:FILEPATH=c:\mingw64\bin\gcc.exe -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:FILEPATH=c:\mingw64\bin\g++.exe -SC:/Users/Janos_Szili/Desktop/zene/vst-sdk_3.7.8_build-34_2023-05-15/VST_SDK/vst3sdk -Bc:/Users/Janos_Szili/Desktop/zene/vst-sdk_3.7.8_build-34_2023-05-15/VST_SDK/vst3sdk/build -G "MinGW Makefiles"
[cmake] Not searching for unused variables given on the command line.
[cmake] -- The C compiler identification is GNU 13.0.1
[cmake] -- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 13.0.1
[cmake] -- Detecting C compiler ABI info
[cmake] -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
[cmake] -- Check for working C compiler: c:/mingw64/bin/gcc.exe - skipped
[cmake] -- Detecting C compile features
[cmake] -- Detecting C compile features - done
[cmake] -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
[cmake] -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
[cmake] -- Check for working CXX compiler: c:/mingw64/bin/g++.exe - skipped
[cmake] -- Detecting CXX compile features
[cmake] -- Detecting CXX compile features - done
[cmake] -- [SMTG] SMTG_VSTGUI_SOURCE_DIR is set to: C:/Users/Janos_Szili/Desktop/zene/vst-sdk_3.7.8_build-34_2023-05-15/VST_SDK/vst3sdk/vstgui4
[cmake] -- Could NOT find EXPAT (missing: EXPAT_LIBRARY EXPAT_INCLUDE_DIR) 
[cmake] -- VSTGUI will use the embedded Expat package!
[cmake] -- [SMTG] SMTG_AAX_SDK_PATH is not set. If you need it, please download the AAX SDK!
[cmake] -- [SMTG] SMTG_JACK_SDK_PATH is not set. If you need it, please download the JACK SDK!
[cmake] -- Could NOT find LIBJACK (missing: LIBJACK_LIBRARY LIBJACK_INCLUDE_DIR) 
[cmake] -- [SMTG] LIBJACK_FOUND is not set. If you need it, please install Jack Audio from http://www.jackaudio.org!
[cmake] -- Performing Test SMTG_USE_STDATOMIC_H
[cmake] -- Performing Test SMTG_USE_STDATOMIC_H - Failed
[cmake] CMake Deprecation Warning at base/CMakeLists.txt:2 (cmake_minimum_required):
[cmake]   Compatibility with CMake < 3.5 will be removed from a future version of
[cmake]   CMake.
[cmake] 
[cmake]   Update the VERSION argument <min> value or use a ...<max> suffix to tell
[cmake]   CMake that the project does not need compatibility with older versions.
[cmake] 
[cmake] 
[cmake] CMake Deprecation Warning at public.sdk/CMakeLists.txt:2 (cmake_minimum_required):
[cmake]   Compatibility with CMake < 3.5 will be removed from a future version of
[cmake]   CMake.
[cmake] 
[cmake]   Update the VERSION argument <min> value or use a ...<max> suffix to tell
[cmake]   CMake that the project does not need compatibility with older versions.
[cmake] 
[cmake] 
[cmake] CMake Error at vstgui4/vstgui/standalone/cmake/modules/vstgui_add_executable.cmake:46 (target_link_libraries):
[cmake]   Cannot specify link libraries for target "VST3Inspector" which is not built
[cmake]   by this project.
[cmake] Call Stack (most recent call first):
[cmake]   public.sdk/samples/vst-hosting/inspectorapp/CMakeLists.txt:49 (vstgui_add_executable)
[cmake] 
[cmake] 
[cmake] -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
[proc] The command: "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.EXE" --no-warn-unused-cli -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS:BOOL=TRUE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER:FILEPATH=c:\mingw64\bin\gcc.exe -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER:FILEPATH=c:\mingw64\bin\g++.exe -SC:/Users/Janos_Szili/Desktop/zene/vst-sdk_3.7.8_build-34_2023-05-15/VST_SDK/vst3sdk -Bc:/Users/Janos_Szili/Desktop/zene/vst-sdk_3.7.8_build-34_2023-05-15/VST_SDK/vst3sdk/build -G "MinGW Makefiles" exited with code: 1

In the meantime, I also tried cloning the project, and per the article, but it still yields the same error result.

I have the same situation, also under Windows also building with cmake 3.27.0 but under vscode. Maybe something in the VST3SDK is not longer supported by cmake 3.27.0?

Although it’s probably something, we did wrong^^ I installed the minimum specified cmake version of cmake 3.19 and get the same error.

Im no totally sure but according to the system requirements on this page the mingw64 is not a supported toolchain.

What is the VST 3 SDK? - VST 3 Developer Portal (steinbergmedia.github.io)

You can use the Visual studio build tools instead of the entire Visual studio stuff. For that you sould hav eno license problem:
Download Visual Studio Tools - Install Free for Windows, Mac, Linux (microsoft.com)

1 Like

I had the same issue with mingw. I downloaded Visual Studio build tools instead and generated a project with the VS 2022 configuration. It’s now working.

So try using VS