warning MSB8012 : make sure that $(OutDir), $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt) property values match the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile)

Question

I am getting the following error when building my code.

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\Microsoft.CppBuild.targets(990,5): warning MSB8012: TargetPath(E:\Study\FWIF\demola\ext-libs\libcommoncpp2-1.6.0\w32\Debug\ccgnu2.dll) does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value g\CapeCommon14.dll). This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(OutDir), $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt) property values match the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).

I hope that some one will know what to do.

Answer 1

Did you upgrade a project to Visual Studio 2010 from a previous version? If so, this is a well-known issue.

Visual Studio 2010 C++ Project Upgrade Guide http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2010/03/02/visual-studio-2010-c-project-upgrade-guide.aspx

Warnings during upgrade

Here are some of the common warnings that you may run into during conversion:

1) Linker output directory

One of the warnings you may see when upgrading you applications is MSB8012: $(TargetPath) and Linker’s OutputFile property value does not match:

• MSB8012: $(TargetExt) ('.dll') does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value 'C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx' ('.ocx') in project configuration 'Debug|Win32'. This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(TargetExt) property value matches the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).

• MSB8012: $(TargetPath) ('C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.dll') does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value 'C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx' ('C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx') in project configuration 'Debug|Win32'. This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(TargetPath) property value matches the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).
  
  Link.OutputFile is the value defined at Linker -> General -> Output File on the property page. By default, its value is $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt), which is the same as the value of $(TargetPath). When we convert an application from a previous version, however, there is not an easy way for conversion to parse Link.OutputFile to figure out what exactly the values are for $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt), as different customers may have formatted them in different ways. To work around that, we decided to preserve the value of Linker.OutputFile during conversion. After conversion, $(TargetName) will default to $(ProjectName). $(TargetExt) will default to the default extension for the application type: .dll for Dynamic Library, .lib for Static Library and .exe for Application. Link.OutputFile value will be preserved. Warning MSB8012 will be issued in the conversion log if Link.OutputFile and $(TargetPath) are not the same. You will get the same warnings when building the application.
  
  $(OutDir), $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt) are exposed on the "General" property page, as "Output Directory", "Target Name", "Target Extension", respectively. You can manually change the values of these properties so that you no longer get the warning.

• If your project produces Import Library (Linker -> Advanced -> Import Library), you may need to change the Output folder of the Import Library as well after conversion if the Linker output directory is not the default output directory. Otherwise, the generated import lib maybe in a different directory than the linker output.

• Debugging.Command is set to default $(TargetPath) after conversion. You may need to make changes so that the right executable will be launched upon F5 (Debugging) or Ctrl + F5 (Start without debugging).

Answer 2

See also here Stackoverflow MSB8012. What worked for me when converting a VS2008 C++ project to VS2012: right click the project in solution explorer, select properties, in the pop-up: configuration properties, linker, general. Select Output file on the right, this gives a drop-down, select inherent from parent or project defaults. Click apply. This gives the default linker setting: $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt). Re-build the project and the warning should no longer appear.