# \[Superbuild\] paraviewpluginsexternal project usage
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [November 5, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850 "2018-11-05T16:52:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/1 "2018-11-05T16:52:59Z")
Using ParaView-superbuild master, I’m struggling to use paraviewpluginsexternal project.
I’ve configured it this way :
cmake -DENABLE\_paraviewpluginsexternal=ON -Dparaview\_PLUGINS\_EXTERNAL=MyPlugin -Dparaview\_PLUGIN\_MyPlugin\_PATH=/path/to/my/plugin
However the plugin is not built.
I’ve taken a look into paraview itself, a few cmake variables have been set without any effect. I tried doing the same in ParaView directly without much more success.
**So, how to use this superbuild project ? How to build external plugin with ParaView automatically ?**
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/2 "2018-11-05T21:47:23Z")
The ParaView-side of the equation is `PARAVIEW_EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DIRS`. What is the value of it in ParaView’s build tree?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 10:34am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/3 "2018-11-06T10:34:10Z")
On the ParaView side, i see the following :
```
PARAVIEW_BUILD_PLUGIN_MyPlugin:BOOL=ON
PARAVIEW_EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DIRS:STRING=/path/to/My/Plugin
PARAVIEW_EXTRA_EXTERNAL_PLUGINS:STRING=
```
No `MyPlugin` shows up in the plugin part of the cmake configuration and it has not been built.
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/4 "2018-11-06T15:11:02Z")
You should see this:
```auto
message(STATUS "Processing external plugins under '${extra_dir}'")
```
This then looks for `plugin.cmake` files under the indicated directory.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/5 "2018-11-06T15:54:35Z")
I do see the
`-- Processing external plugins under '/path/to/my/plugin/'`
But then paraview\_build does not contain an ExternalPlugins directory.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/6 "2018-11-06T16:02:28Z")
Looks like I was missing a plugin.cmake in the indicated directory.
Imho, this should work without a plugin.cmake file.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/7 "2018-11-06T16:22:48Z")
It is not able to build the Filter example plugin of ParaView, even with a plugin.cmake file added.
```auto
[glow@snowman ~/work/paraview/paraview_build]$ ninja
[2/52] Building CXX object ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilterClientServer.cxx.o
FAILED: ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilterClientServer.cxx.o
/usr/bin/c++ -DH5_BUILT_AS_DYNAMIC_LIB -DSMMyElevation_EXPORTS -I. -I/home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter -IExternalPlugins/Filter -IVTK/Utilities/KWSys -IVTK/ThirdParty/jsoncpp/vtkjsoncpp/json -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -Wall -Wextra -Wshadow -Woverloaded-virtual -Wno-deprecated -Wno-strict-overflow -Wno-array-bounds -Wunreachable-code -g -fPIC -std=gnu++11 -MD -MT ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilterClientServer.cxx.o -MF ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilterClientServer.cxx.o.d -o ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilterClientServer.cxx.o -c ExternalPlugins/Filter/vtkMyElevationFilterClientServer.cxx
In file included from ExternalPlugins/Filter/vtkMyElevationFilterClientServer.cxx:5:
/home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter/vtkMyElevationFilter.h:26:10: fatal error: vtkElevationFilter.h: No such file or directory
#include "vtkElevationFilter.h"
^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
[3/52] Building CXX object ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevation_Plugin.cxx.o
FAILED: ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevation_Plugin.cxx.o
/usr/bin/c++ -DH5_BUILT_AS_DYNAMIC_LIB -DSMMyElevation_EXPORTS -I. -I/home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter -IExternalPlugins/Filter -IVTK/Utilities/KWSys -IVTK/ThirdParty/jsoncpp/vtkjsoncpp/json -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -Wall -Wextra -Wshadow -Woverloaded-virtual -Wno-deprecated -Wno-strict-overflow -Wno-array-bounds -Wunreachable-code -g -fPIC -std=gnu++11 -MD -MT ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevation_Plugin.cxx.o -MF ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevation_Plugin.cxx.o.d -o ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevation_Plugin.cxx.o -c ExternalPlugins/Filter/SMMyElevation_Plugin.cxx
In file included from ExternalPlugins/Filter/SMMyElevation_Plugin.cxx:32:
ExternalPlugins/Filter/SMMyElevation_Plugin.h:43:10: fatal error: vtkConfigure.h: No such file or directory
#include "vtkConfigure.h"
^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
[4/52] Building CXX object ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevationInit.cxx.o
FAILED: ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevationInit.cxx.o
/usr/bin/c++ -DH5_BUILT_AS_DYNAMIC_LIB -DSMMyElevation_EXPORTS -I. -I/home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter -IExternalPlugins/Filter -IVTK/Utilities/KWSys -IVTK/ThirdParty/jsoncpp/vtkjsoncpp/json -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -Wall -Wextra -Wshadow -Woverloaded-virtual -Wno-deprecated -Wno-strict-overflow -Wno-array-bounds -Wunreachable-code -g -fPIC -std=gnu++11 -MD -MT ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevationInit.cxx.o -MF ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevationInit.cxx.o.d -o ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/SMMyElevationInit.cxx.o -c ExternalPlugins/Filter/SMMyElevationInit.cxx
ExternalPlugins/Filter/SMMyElevationInit.cxx:11:10: fatal error: vtkClientServerInterpreter.h: No such file or directory
#include "vtkClientServerInterpreter.h"
^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
[5/52] Building CXX object ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilter.cxx.o
FAILED: ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilter.cxx.o
/usr/bin/c++ -DH5_BUILT_AS_DYNAMIC_LIB -DSMMyElevation_EXPORTS -I. -I/home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter -IExternalPlugins/Filter -IVTK/Utilities/KWSys -IVTK/ThirdParty/jsoncpp/vtkjsoncpp/json -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/exodusII/vtkexodusII/include -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/src -IVTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -I/home/glow/work/paraview/paraview/VTK/ThirdParty/hdf5/vtkhdf5/hl/src -Wall -Wextra -Wshadow -Woverloaded-virtual -Wno-deprecated -Wno-strict-overflow -Wno-array-bounds -Wunreachable-code -g -fPIC -std=gnu++11 -MD -MT ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilter.cxx.o -MF ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilter.cxx.o.d -o ExternalPlugins/Filter/CMakeFiles/SMMyElevation.dir/vtkMyElevationFilter.cxx.o -c /home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter/vtkMyElevationFilter.cxx
In file included from /home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter/vtkMyElevationFilter.cxx:15:
/home/glow/work/vtkSandBox/Filter/vtkMyElevationFilter.h:26:10: fatal error: vtkElevationFilter.h: No such file or directory
#include "vtkElevationFilter.h"
^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
```
It would be nice if you could provide a compatible plugin.
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/8 "2018-11-07T21:26:40Z")
It’s probably out-of-date. I’ll make sure to look at it during the update to the new module system. Where does that filter live? Inside ParaView?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2018, 8:31am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/9 "2018-11-08T08:31:41Z")
Example/Plugins in the paraview sources contain many example plugins which builds perfectly on their own. I was not able to build any of them using `PARAVIEW_EXTERNAL_PLUGIN_DIRS`, even XML only plugins.
I’m just trying to find a working plugin here.
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/10 "2018-11-08T14:57:21Z")
That sounds OK to me. Building a plugin as part of ParaView just requires a `plugin.cmake` so ParaView’s build can offer an option to build it or not as part of the CMake code. A standalone plugin doesn’t need such things because it’s always going to build the plugin. Documentation could be improved (though it’ll happen due to the new module system anyways).
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/11 "2018-11-08T15:16:03Z")
@ben.boeckel: I’m not talking about the plugin.cmake file here, i have other errors when building with external plugin feature. Can you do the following :
- copy a plugin containing a plugin.cmake somewhere
- compile paraview with PARAVIEW\_EXTERNAL\_PLUGIN\_DIRS pointing to this plugin
If that works for you, please share the working plugin.
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/12 "2018-11-08T19:21:34Z")
The superbuild does it for `vortexfinder2` which is part of the binaries.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2018, 9:40am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/13 "2018-11-09T09:40:53Z")
Still not working. I have opened an issue.
[https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview/issues/18608](https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview/issues/18608)
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/14 "2018-11-27T16:17:50Z")
not an issue, the CMakeLists.txt must contain something like
```auto
IF (ParaView_SOURCE_DIR)
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${VTK_INCLUDE_DIRS} )
ELSE (ParaView_SOURCE_DIR)
FIND_PACKAGE(ParaView REQUIRED)
INCLUDE(${PARAVIEW_USE_FILE})
ENDIF (ParaView_SOURCE_DIR)
```
---
### Author:  [@npillai2](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/npillai2)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2020, 9:13am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/15 "2020-07-15T09:13:57Z")
Hi @mwestphal, I’m experiencing the same issue. My configuration is
```
cmake -make \
-DENABLE_paraviewpluginsexternal=ON \
-Dparaview_PLUGINS_AUTOLOAD=PhastaSyncIOReader \
-Dparaview_PLUGINS_EXTERNAL=PhastaSyncIOReader \
-Dparaview_PLUGIN_PhastaSyncIOReader_PATH=/home/npillai2/ParaViewSyncIOReaderPlugin \
-DSUPERBUILD_PROJECT_PARALLELISM=2 \
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/usrapps/iabolotn/install/paraview_5.8.0 \
../paraview-superbuild
```
when adding the following
```
IF (ParaView_SOURCE_DIR)
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${VTK_INCLUDE_DIRS} )
ELSE (ParaView_SOURCE_DIR)
FIND_PACKAGE(ParaView REQUIRED)
INCLUDE(${PARAVIEW_USE_FILE})
ENDIF (ParaView_SOURCE_DIR)
```
to the end of my CMakeLists.txt (lines 375-380) [which, by the way, is not located in the “build” directory, only the parent “paraview-superbuild”] , I get this error if I go through ccmake
```
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:378 (FIND_PACKAGE):
By not providing "FindParaView.cmake" in CMAKE_MODULE_PATH this project has
asked CMake to find a package configuration file provided by "ParaView",
but CMake did not find one.
Could not find a package configuration file provided by "ParaView" with any
of the following names:
ParaViewConfig.cmake
paraview-config.cmake
Add the installation prefix of "ParaView" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set
"ParaView_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above files. If
"ParaView" provides a separate development package or SDK, be sure it has
been installed.
```
This is a little confusing to me as usually the parent directory with whatever I get from github has those files (i.e. if it’s not the superbuild, e.g. via “git clone [https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview.git](https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview.git)”) but the superbuild works so many layers of magic, I have no idea where those files are.
Am I putting the commands in the right place? And if not, how should I go about resolving this issue?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2020, 9:29am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/16 "2020-07-15T09:29:14Z")
please open your own thread.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2020, 9:29am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/superbuild-paraviewpluginsexternal-project-usage/850/17 "2020-07-15T09:29:17Z")