Setting only the VS toolset name in CMakePresets.json does not select the correct toolset for Ninja generators

[Djoulihen]

When specifying a toolset name in CMakePresets.json, the correct toolset version is selected when using Visual Studio generators but not Ninja Generators.

I have both VS 2017 and VS 2019 installed on my computer. I'm using the following preset:

{
    "name": "Ninja",
    "generator": "Ninja Multi-Config",
    "architecture": {
        "strategy": "external",
        "value": "x64"
    },
    "toolset": {
        "strategy": "external",
        "value": "v141,host=x64"
    },
    "cacheVariables": {
        "CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER": "cl"
    }
},

When running the cmake configuration, I get:

[preset] Configure preset Ninja: No toolset version specified for cl.exe, using latest by default
[preset] Using developer environment from Visual Studio (instance 59fddfac, version 16.11.31729.503, installed at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional")

And the toolset with version 14.29.30133 is used. This corresponds to v142, not v141. Using the same configuration with a Visual Studio Generator selects the correct toolset version (14.16.XXX for v141).

Pull request #2366 allows us to specify the toolset version directly as part of the toolset string, which can be used to select the correct version. If I use "toolset": { "value": "v141,version=14.16.27023,host=x64", "strategy": "external" } then the 14.16.27023 toolset is correctly selected. However, only specifying the toolset name should also be supported.

See #1965 for more context about this issue.

[bobbrow]

Thanks for opening an issue to track this. The current workaround is to specify the version in the string as well (a two-part version number is sufficient).

[jakoch]

Just using a two-part version, like 14.32, didn't work for me. Only passing the full version number worked.
So i ended up with:

"toolset": {
    "value": "v143,host=x64,version=14.32.31326",
    "strategy": "external"
},

For those running into the same issue:
You can find the version number by opening the Developer Command Prompt for the desired MSVC version
and running echo %VCToolsVersion%.

[bobbrow]

@jakoch we'll need to look into that. It should be working with the two-part version 😕

[bobbrow]

The fix for this will be available in tomorrow's pre-release version.