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CTool: Execute failed to CreateProcess

		            
		

			

									
					    DonMilne
					
							


			
				
									
											
			
			
				
    
			
			
			    	
			                    
                
				                on Aug 9, 2011 
				
			
			
		
    
		
     
				
		
    
		    		    
		    
		    	
			
    Here is a "gotcha" in the v5 (update 9.1) IDE that I discovered today, so I thought I would document the solution.
    
 
    All of a sudden I started getting the error message "CTool: Execute failed to CreateProcess (the system cannot find the file specified)" every time I ran a compile or assemble [ perhaps other things as well, but I already had enough to panic about by then! ].  Btw, this error message is not very informative about what path or file it can't find.
    
 
    The only mention of this error I could find on these forums had to do with linking, when there was additional post build steps in the project: I was compiling, and anyway I didn't have any post-build steps defined.
    
 
    At first I thought that my VDSP installation had been corrupted, so I restored my drive from an Acronis image (taking VDSP back to 4.5) then I reinstalled v5, then update 9.1 (which I had to download again - 900MB download!).  And the end result?   Error still there!
    
 
    Eventually I twigged...  I had been down to a colleagues work site recently, and I had copied my Blackfin project folder to use on his PC - he has his own VDSP license, so I'm only talking about copying my own project folder.  When I finished there I copied the project folder off his PC again and eventually restored it back onto mine.
    
 
    I couldn't find any absolute paths embedded in the <project>.dpj file.  Eventually I discovered that if I deleted the <project>.pcf file that the IDE creates, then that got rid of the error message. Does anybody know what the latter file is for?   In any case, perhaps it should not store absolute paths, if indeed that's what its doing.
    
 
    
									
			        
		
    

				
						
        

		
    
			
						
									
												
			
			
                        
                                    
                        
                        
                        
            
			            
						
						
			
			
			
			
		
    

        
        

					
    
			
    


    
















    
	
    
	
    
					



			


				
	









	
      
	

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      •  Analog Employees  
      
            
						
                            
            
            				
            
                on Aug 9, 2011 10:56 AM
            
                                    
					
      
	
      

		
		
      
					
      Hi Don,
      
 
      thanks for taking the time to document the issue you encountered. The CTool: ... error can be caused by an invalid path anywhere in the build process, be it in the Project Options, post build, etc.
      
 
      In this case, you tracked it to the PCF file. This file is generated by the IDDE to cache dependencies, so that building the project (F7) after only minor changes is a little quicker - a Rebuild Project, by comparison, will update dependencies then perform a full rebuild of all sources.
      
 
      As you saw, the PCF dependencies file will store absolute paths for the dependencies, which I presume were no longer valid on your PC. Deleting the dependencies, as you did, will cause the IDDE to regenerate them when you next build. Alternatively, you could perform a 'Project: Update Dependencies'.
      
 
      Again, thanks for documenting this experience, I'm sure it will be of use to other users in the future.
      
 
      Regards,
      
 
      Craig.
      
			
      

		
			
	      

		
		
	
      
	
      
		
      
			
		
      
	
      
	
      
		
						
						
						
						
				
				
		
		
      
			
		
      
	
      

      

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