Can't call Ninja outside CMake

[josesimoes]

Description

Can't call Ninja exe

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

Image: windows-2022
Version: 20250406.1.0

Is it regression?

Was using a local install of Ninja before, so I can't say...

Expected behavior

Considering that Ninja is installed on the runner image, should be able to use it.

Actual behavior

Can't call ninja

Repro steps

A simple script to test ninja version fails with:
'ninja' is not recognized as an internal or external command

https://dev.azure.com/nanoframework/nf-interpreter/_build/results?buildId=55404&view=logs&j=71381b5f-e32c-5829-af59-91a8e4b35b1f&t=1551473c-b74d-5f56-a947-fe5f30146f12&l=14

This is the output of:

  - script: |
      ninja --version
    displayName: Ninja Version Check

Interestingly on another PR, running the same runner image, it seems OK to use Ninja as part of CMake which runs without any issues.
Please take a look at:
https://dev.azure.com/nanoframework/nf-interpreter/_build/results?buildId=55402&view=logs&j=b88751ed-5315-5282-2d7b-02125fff8a2d&t=49b8e092-d356-52c0-c8b2-a7629c16f2e4

and subsequent CMake run:
https://dev.azure.com/nanoframework/nf-interpreter/_build/results?buildId=55402&view=logs&j=b88751ed-5315-5282-2d7b-02125fff8a2d&t=ce539ab2-5dc7-51a2-bb8b-c2d8a4845e2d

Maybe what is missing is just to add Ninja exe to the path?

This is something we found out that was needed when using our current approach of installing Ninja.
Take a look here:
https://github.com/nanoframework/nf-interpreter/blob/ffa9cb6f52e7cc84dc6065aa60566f446460bb87/azure-pipelines-templates/download-install-ninja.yml#L33

[RaviAkshintala]

Hi @josesimoes Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue and will update you after investigating.


[josesimoes]

Hello! Any progress on this?