Add Criterion to CMake-based project via ExternalProject_Add

[dstrebkov]

Hello,
I'm trying to add Criterion from the latest tag v2.4.1 to my sample CMake based project. Probably I'm doing something similar to what is described in that closed Criterion issue, but I just switched from FetchContent to ExternalProject after looking at the related discussion on CMake discourse from the same person junglie85.

My call to ExternalProject_Add() looks like that:

ExternalProject_Add(
    Criterion
    GIT_REPOSITORY             https://github.com/Snaipe/Criterion.git
    GIT_TAG                    v2.4.1
    SOURCE_DIR                 ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/Criterion-src
    BUILD_IN_SOURCE            TRUE
    CONFIGURE_COMMAND          ""
    BUILD_COMMAND              meson build
    COMMAND                    ninja -C build
)

Unfortunately, I get the following stacktrace on making my project:

...
[ 75%] Performing update step for 'Criterion'
[ 75%] No patch step for 'Criterion'
[ 76%] No configure step for 'Criterion'
[ 76%] Performing build step for 'Criterion'
The Meson build system
Version: 0.53.2
Source dir: /home/dstrebkov/cpp_projects/cpp-unit-testing-frameworks-demo/cmake-build/Criterion-src
Build dir: /home/dstrebkov/cpp_projects/cpp-unit-testing-frameworks-demo/cmake-build/Criterion-src/build
Build type: native build
Project name: criterion
Project version: 2.4.1
C compiler for the host machine: cc (gcc 9.4.0 "cc (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.1) 9.4.0")
C linker for the host machine: cc ld.bfd 2.34
Host machine cpu family: x86_64
Host machine cpu: x86_64
Program python3 found: YES (/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/python3)
Program git found: YES (/usr/bin/git)
C++ compiler for the host machine: c++ (gcc 9.4.0 "c++ (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.1) 9.4.0")
C++ linker for the host machine: c++ ld.bfd 2.34
Compiler for C supports arguments -Wno-unused-parameter -Wunused-parameter: YES 
Compiler for C supports arguments -Wno-unused-value -Wunused-value: YES 
Compiler for C supports arguments -fvisibility=hidden: YES 
Compiler for C supports arguments -fexceptions: YES 
Compiler for C supports arguments /SAFESEH:NO: NO 
Compiler for C supports arguments /source-charset:utf-8: NO 
Checking for function "clock_gettime" : YES 
Checking for function "fopencookie" : YES 
Checking for function "funopen" : NO 
Checking for function "getcwd" : YES 
Checking for function "isatty" : YES 
Checking for function "nl_langinfo" : YES 
Checking for function "open_memstream" : YES 
Checking for function "strtok_r" : YES 
Checking for function "strtok_s" : NO 
Header <time.h> has symbol "CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW" : YES 
Checking for function "GetCurrentDirectory" : NO 
Checking for function "PathIsRelative" : NO 
Has header "synchapi.h" : NO 
Program gettext found: YES (/usr/bin/gettext)
Run-time dependency threads found: YES
Found pkg-config: /usr/bin/pkg-config (0.29.1)
Found CMake: /home/dstrebkov/Installations/cmake-3.24.3-linux-x86_64/bin/cmake (3.24.3)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/mesonmain.py", line 129, in run
    return options.run_func(options)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/msetup.py", line 245, in run
    app.generate()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/msetup.py", line 159, in generate
    self._generate(env)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/msetup.py", line 192, in _generate
    intr.run()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreter.py", line 4167, in run
    super().run()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 412, in run
    self.evaluate_codeblock(self.ast, start=1)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 436, in evaluate_codeblock
    raise e
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 430, in evaluate_codeblock
    self.evaluate_statement(cur)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 443, in evaluate_statement
    return self.assignment(cur)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 1064, in assignment
    value = self.evaluate_statement(node.value)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 441, in evaluate_statement
    return self.function_call(cur)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 788, in function_call
    return func(node, posargs, kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 285, in wrapped
    return f(*wrapped_args, **wrapped_kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 285, in wrapped
    return f(*wrapped_args, **wrapped_kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 285, in wrapped
    return f(*wrapped_args, **wrapped_kwargs)
  [Previous line repeated 2 more times]
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 155, in wrapped
    ret = f(*wrapped_args, **wrapped_kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreterbase.py", line 174, in wrapped
    return f(*wrapped_args, **wrapped_kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreter.py", line 3236, in func_dependency
    d = self.dependency_impl(name, display_name, kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/interpreter.py", line 3283, in dependency_impl
    dep = dependencies.find_external_dependency(name, self.environment, kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py", line 2234, in find_external_dependency
    d = c()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py", line 1104, in __init__
    CMakeDependency.class_cmakeinfo[self.for_machine] = self._get_cmake_info()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py", line 1198, in _get_cmake_info
    'cmake_root': temp_parser.get_cmake_var('MESON_CMAKE_ROOT')[0],
IndexError: list index out of range
make[2]: *** [factorial_criterion/test/CMakeFiles/Criterion.dir/build.make:89: factorial_criterion/test/Criterion-prefix/src/Criterion-stamp/Criterion-build] Error 2
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:1319: factorial_criterion/test/CMakeFiles/Criterion.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:146: all] Error 2

At the same time, if I just cd to the checked out folder Criterion-src in terminal and execute meson build from there, that issue does not appear and the build process proceeds.

Also tried to manually set MESON_CMAKE_ROOT in BUILD_COMMAND to look like that:

MESON_CMAKE_ROOT=/home/dstrebkov/Installations/cmake-3.24.3-linux-x86_64/share/cmake-3.24 && meson build

... but with no luck - the stacktrace looks the same.

Could you please let me know if I could get it working somehow? Or it would be better for me to switch to some history tag of Criterion that was created before framework's migration to Meson build system?
Thanks a lot!