All cpps with "#include <vtkAxis.h>" will report compilation error: expected identifier before numeric constant

Support
1

Hi ,I have a large cmake-based project which keeps report this compilation error:

<command-line>: error: expected identifier before numeric constant
compilation terminated due to -Wfatal-errors.
make[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/shonEM.dir/build.make:1986: CMakeFiles/shonEM.dir/lib/scene/common/vtk_ext/SCScalarBarActor.cpp.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
<command-line>: error: expected identifier before numeric constant
compilation terminated due to -Wfatal-errors.
make[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/shonEM.dir/build.make:2448: CMakeFiles/shonEM.dir/lib/scene/ui/VtkScene/SCVtkChartView.cpp.o] Error 1

,after a long time narrowing, I found that the

#include <vtkAxis.h>

caused this error,due to ,within this project ,adding “#include <vtkAxis.h>” to any file,and that file will throw this error. Removing all other content, only keep the “#include <vtkAxis.h>” ,corresponed cpp will throw this error also.

but

Same project with exact identical content will compiled successfully in other colleague’s machine.

and

And in my machine without any change ,if creating a brand new project with a single main.cpp which includes <vtkAxis.h> ,it will compile successfully and work fine.

And I doubt that some variable overwritings exist ,but since very limited error got thrown out

,how to debug this error?

2

I suspect that this error occurs when “make” is scanning the header files to figure out the dependencies for the build. Try building in verbose mode to see if you can get more information about the error. You can do this by setting the VERBOSE environment variable when you run “make”:

VERBOSE=1 make

You can also try using ninja instead of make, by deleting the contents of your build directory and re-generating with “cmake -G Ninja”.

3

As for the cause of the error itself, my best guess is that your own code includes a header somewhere that has this:

#define LEFT

That will conflict with the definition of LEFT in vtkAxis.h. If you grep for “define LEFT” you might be able to find the responsible file.

4

@dgobbi
Thanks,I found that a compilation option “-DPARALLEL” will be added automatically whether using single or multiple threads to compile.
And adding a
#undef PARALLEL
before each
#include <vtkAxis.h>
will solve this problem temporarily,but just a temporary way.

5

There might be a cmake file somewhere that is adding the “-DPARALLEL”. Unless it is added by Visual Studio itself, which is doubtful.