cannot build CMake-3.18.4.eb on top of EESSI 2023.06

[pescobar]

I am trying to build Salmon-1.10.3-GCC-12.3.0.eb on top of EESSI 2023.06 which requires CMake-3.18.4.eb as a dependency but the the cmake sanity check step fails because ccmake binary is not built.

I can reproduce the error like this:

$> module load EESSI-extend
$> eb --version
This is EasyBuild 5.1.1 (framework: 5.1.1, easyblocks: 5.1.1) on host login-node.
$> eb CMake-3.18.4.eb -r

and I get this error:

== installing...
  >> running shell command:
        make install
        [started at: 2025-09-03 23:02:58]
        [working dir: /tmp/ubuntu/easybuild/build/CMake/3.18.4/system-system/cmake-3.18.4]
        [output and state saved to /tmp/eb-ru29w5y2/run-shell-cmd-output/make-v7trmp8k]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in 00h00m04s
== ... (took 4 secs)
== taking care of extensions...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== restore after iterating...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== postprocessing...
== Running post-postproc hook...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== sanity checking...
  >> file 'bin/ccmake' found: FAILED
  >> file 'bin/cmake' found: OK
  >> file 'bin/cpack' found: OK
  >> file 'bin/ctest' found: OK
  >> loading modules: CMake/3.18.4...
  >> running command 'cmake --help' ...
  >> result for command 'cmake --help': OK
  >> running command 'ccmake --help' ...
  >> result for command 'ccmake --help': FAILED
== ... (took 2 secs)
== FAILED: Installation ended unsuccessfully: Sanity check failed: no file found at 'bin/ccmake' in
/home/ubuntu/eessi/versions/2023.06/software/linux/x86_64/intel/skylake_avx512/software/CMake/3.18.4
sanity check command ccmake --help failed with exit code 127 (output: /cvmfs/software.eessi.io/versions/2023.06/compat/linux/x86_64/bin/bash: line 1: ccmake: command not
found
) (took 11 mins 22 secs)
== Results of the build can be found in the log file(s) /tmp/eb-ru29w5y2/easybuild-CMake-3.18.4-20250903.225142.BWWaF.log
== Running post-easyblock hook...
== Summary:
   * [FAILED]  CMake/3.18.4

ERROR: Installation of CMake-3.18.4.eb failed: "Sanity check failed: no file found at 'bin/ccmake' in /home/ubuntu/eessi/versions/2023.06/software/linux/x86_64/intel/skylake_avx512/software/CMake/3.18.4\nsanity check command ccmake --help failed with exit code 127 (output: /cvmfs/software.eessi.io/versions/2023.06/compat/linux/x86_64/bin/bash: line 1: ccmake: command not found\n)"

I tried to review the logs and execute the build in a interactive shell in folder /tmp/eb-ru29w5y2/run-shell-cmd-output/make-v7trmp8k but I could not identify why ccmake is not built.

I tried to build the same easyconfig CMake-3.18.4.eb in our regular cluster and it works fine.

Any idea why I am hitting this issue? Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

[pescobar]

@bedroge pointed out in slack that ncurses dependency is filtered out in EESSI builds

EASYBUILD_FILTER_DEPS=binutils,bzip2,DBus,flex,gettext,gperf,help2man,intltool,libreadline,makeinfo,ncurses,ParMETIS,util-linux,XZ,zlib,Autoconf,Automake,Autotools,libtool,M4

and the compatbility layer in EESSI doesn't provide the static ncurses library libcurses.a so the problem is with these lines in the easyconfig

configopts = "-- "
configopts += "-DCURSES_CURSES_LIBRARY=$EBROOTNCURSES/lib/libcurses.a "
configopts += "-DCURSES_FORM_LIBRARY=$EBROOTNCURSES/lib/libform.a "
configopts += "-DCURSES_NCURSES_LIBRARY=$EBROOTNCURSES/lib/libncurses.a "

removing those configopts from the easyconfig workarounds the issue and the tool is linked agains the dynamic ncurses library provided by the EESSI compatibility layer

Now that the issue is identified I guess the proper fix would be to add a custom hook in EESSI so configopts are reset to defaults for this easyconfig. Does it make sense? or do you suggest a different solution?

[boegel]

Small clarification: the requirement for CMake with system toolchain comes from the Cereal build dependency of Salmon. That's a header-only library (so installed with system toolchain) which requires cmake to install.

Now that the issue is identified I guess the proper fix would be to add a custom hook in EESSI so configopts are reset to defaults for this easyconfig. Does it make sense? or do you suggest a different solution?

Yes, tweaking the configopts via a hook so it doesn't require a statically ncurses library seems like a sensible approach here. But it should be done carefully: only for CMake built with system toolchain, and only filtering the stuff in configopts that's actually causing trouble.

[boegel]

fixed with EESSI/software-layer-scripts#81