CMake could not find the VTKConfig.cmake

Question

I'm trying to compile a program in CMake but I'm getting this error.

By not providing "FindVTK.cmake" in CMAKE_MODULE_PATH this project has
asked CMake to find a package configuration file provided by "VTK", but
CMake did not find one.

Could not find a package configuration file provided by "VTK" (requested
version 6.1) with any of the following names:

VTKConfig.cmake
vtk-config.cmake

I can't find the relevant files (VTKConfig.cmake or vtk-config.cmake) on the machine but do have VTKConfig.cmake.in (which also doesn't work). Does anyone know where I can download the file form, or what I might be doing wrong.

Answer 1

It seems like you just have the VTK source code but haven't built it yet. VTKConfig.cmake.in is a template used by CMake to generate the VTKConfig.cmake file in the build and install directory. Look at http://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK/Building to see how to build VTK.

Answer 2

When you have successfully built VTK you can give CMake a hint where to look for VTK with the VTK_DIR-parameter:

cmake -DVTK_DIR=/path/to/vtk/build-directory /path/to/your/source-directory

Answer 3

If you have successfully built VTK, you would end up with a VTK-Release-build folder containing all the build files, one of which is VTKConfig.cmake. Your program is not able to find this file. You just need to set an environment variable named VTK_DIR before running your program. You can do so by running:

export VTK_DIR=/path/to/VTK-Release-build/