FAQ¶

Troubleshooting¶

ERROR: Missing prebuilt package¶

When installing packages (with conan install or conan create) it is possible that you get an error like the following one:

ERROR: Missing binary: zlib/1.2.11:b1d267f77ddd5d10d06d2ecf5a6bc433fbb7eeed

zlib/1.2.11: WARN: Can't find a 'zlib/1.2.11' package binary 'b1d267f77ddd5d10d06d2ecf5a6bc433fbb7eeed' for the configuration:
[settings]
arch=x86_64
build_type=Release
compiler=apple-clang
compiler.cppstd=gnu11
compiler.libcxx=libc++
compiler.version=14
os=Macos
[options]
fPIC=True
shared=False

ERROR: Missing prebuilt package for 'zlib/1.2.11'
Check the available packages using 'conan list zlib/1.2.11:* -r=remote'
or try to build locally from sources using the '--build=zlib/1.2.11' argument

More Info at 'https://docs.conan.io/en/2/knowledge/faq.html#error-missing-prebuilt-package'

This means that the package recipe zlib/1.2.11 exists, but for some reason there is no precompiled package for your current settings or options. Maybe the package creator didn’t build and shared pre-built packages at all and only uploaded the package recipe, or they are only providing packages for some platforms or compilers. E.g. the package creator built packages from the recipe for apple-clang 11, but you are using apple-clang 14. Also you may want to check your package ID mode as it may have an influence on the packages available for it.

By default, Conan doesn’t build packages from sources. There are several possibilities to overcome this error:

You can try to build the package for your settings from sources, indicating some build policy as argument, like --build zlib* or --build missing. If the package recipe and the source code work for your settings you will have your binaries built locally and ready for use.
If building from sources fails, and you are using the conancenter remote, you can open an issue in the Conan Center Index repository

ERROR: Invalid setting¶

It might happen sometimes, when you specify a setting not present in the defaults that you receive a message like this:

$ conan install . -s compiler.version=4.19 ...

ERROR: Invalid setting '4.19' is not a valid 'settings.compiler.version' value.
Possible values are ['4.4', '4.5', '4.6', '4.7', '4.8', '4.9', '5.1', '5.2', '5.3', '5.4', '6.1', '6.2']

This doesn’t mean that such compiler version is not supported by Conan, it is just that it is not present in the actual defaults settings. You can find in your user home folder ~/.conan2/settings.yml a settings file that you can modify, edit, add any setting or any value, with any nesting if necessary. See settings.yml to learn how you can customize your settings to model your binaries at your will.

As long as your team or users have the same settings (settings.yml and settings_user.yml an be easily shared with the conan config install command), everything will work. The settings.yml file is just a mechanism so users agree on a common spelling for typical settings. Also, if you think that some settings would be useful for many other conan users, please submit it as an issue or a pull request, so it is included in future releases.

It is possible that some built-in helper or integrations, like CMake or CMakeToolchain will not understand the new added settings, don’t use them or even fail if you added some new unexpected value to existing settings. Such helpers as CMake are simple utilities to translate from conan settings to the respective build system syntax and command line arguments, so they can be extended or replaced with your own one that would handle your own private settings.