Thanks for your reply. I played around in the CMake section of the VisualGDB Project Properties but I still can figure it out. Can you please provide some specific values to use (and where to place them) so I can increase my chances of overriding the build environment correctly?

This is happening on a brand new “blink” sample project with absolutely no changes from default. Screenshots and build details are below.

<hr />

Running CMake: C:\Users\mhilden\AppData\Local\VisualGDB\CMake\bin\cmake.exe ../../.. -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=DEBUG -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=c:/SysGCC/esp32/tools/ninja/1.10.2/ninja.exe -DESP_PLATFORM=1 -DCCACHE_ENABLE=0 -DIDF_TARGET=esp32
-- Found Git: C:/Program Files/Git/cmd/git.exe (found version "2.43.0.windows.1") 
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 8.4.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 8.4.0
-- The ASM compiler identification is GNU
-- Found assembler: C:/sysgcc/esp32/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch1/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc.exe
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/sysgcc/esp32/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch1/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc.exe - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/sysgcc/esp32/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch1/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-g++.exe - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
-- Building ESP-IDF components for target esp32
-- Checking Python dependencies...
Python requirements from C:\sysgcc\esp32\esp-idf\v4.4\requirements.txt are satisfied.
C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/tools/check_python_dependencies.py:12: DeprecationWarning: pkg_resources is deprecated as an API. See https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/pkg_resources.html
import pkg_resources
-- Project sdkconfig file C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/sdkconfig
Loading defaults file C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/sdkconfig.defaults...
CMake Deprecation Warning at C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/mbedtls/mbedtls/CMakeLists.txt:1 (cmake_minimum_required):
Compatibility with CMake < 3.5 will be removed from a future version of
CMake.

Update the VERSION argument <min> value or use a ...<max> suffix to tell
CMake that the project does not need compatibility with older versions.


CMake Warning (dev) at C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/mbedtls/mbedtls/CMakeLists.txt:49 (find_package):
Policy CMP0148 is not set: The FindPythonInterp and FindPythonLibs modules
are removed. Run "cmake --help-policy CMP0148" for policy details. Use
the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.

This warning is for project developers. Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

-- Found PythonInterp: C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/python-env/Scripts/python.exe (found version "3.8.10") 
-- Found Perl: C:/Strawberry/perl/bin/perl.exe (found version "5.38.0") 
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
LC_ALL = (unset),
(possibly more locale environment variables)
LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the system default locale ("English_United States.1252").
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
LC_ALL = (unset),
(possibly more locale environment variables)
LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
are supported and installed on your system.
-- App "blink" version: flow-tester-circuithub-00133590
-- Adding linker script C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/build/VisualGDB/Debug/esp-idf/esp_system/ld/memory.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_system/ld/esp32/sections.ld.in
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.api.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.libgcc.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.newlib-data.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.syscalls.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.newlib-funcs.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.newlib-time.ld
-- Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/soc/esp32/ld/esp32.peripherals.ld
-- Components: app_trace app_update asio bootloader bootloader_support bt cbor cmock coap console cxx driver efuse esp-tls esp32 esp_adc_cal esp_common esp_eth esp_event esp_gdbstub esp_hid esp_http_client esp_http_server esp_https_ota esp_https_server esp_hw_support esp_ipc esp_lcd esp_local_ctrl esp_netif esp_phy esp_pm esp_ringbuf esp_rom esp_serial_slave_link esp_system esp_timer esp_websocket_client esp_wifi espcoredump esptool_py expat fatfs freemodbus freertos hal heap idf_test ieee802154 jsmn json led_strip libsodium log lwip main mbedtls mdns mqtt newlib nghttp nvs_flash openssl openthread partition_table perfmon protobuf-c protocomm pthread sdmmc soc spi_flash spiffs tcp_transport tcpip_adapter tinyusb ulp unity usb vfs wear_levelling wifi_provisioning wpa_supplicant xtensa
-- Component paths: C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/app_trace C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/app_update C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/asio C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/bootloader C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/bootloader_support C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/bt C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/cbor C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/cmock C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/coap C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/console C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/cxx C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/driver C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/efuse C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp-tls C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp32 C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_adc_cal C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_common C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_eth C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_event C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_gdbstub C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_hid C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_http_client C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_http_server C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_https_ota C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_https_server C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_hw_support C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_ipc C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_lcd C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_local_ctrl C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_netif C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_phy C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_pm C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_ringbuf C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_serial_slave_link C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_system C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_timer C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_websocket_client C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_wifi C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/espcoredump C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esptool_py C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/expat C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/fatfs C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/freemodbus C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/freertos C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/hal C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/heap C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/idf_test C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/ieee802154 C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/jsmn C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/json C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/examples/common_components/led_strip C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/libsodium C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/log C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/lwip C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/main C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/mbedtls C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/mdns C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/mqtt C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/newlib C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/nghttp C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/nvs_flash C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/openssl C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/openthread C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/partition_table C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/perfmon C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/protobuf-c C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/protocomm C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/pthread C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/sdmmc C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/soc C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/spi_flash C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/spiffs C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/tcp_transport C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/tcpip_adapter C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/tinyusb C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/ulp C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/unity C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/usb C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/vfs C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/wear_levelling C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/wifi_provisioning C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/wpa_supplicant C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/xtensa
-- Configuring done (13.2s)
-- Generating done (1.3s)
-- Build files have been written to: C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/build/VisualGDB/Debug
perl: warning: Falling back to the system default locale ("English_United States.1252").

========== Project Configuration Summary ==========
EmbeddedProject1 configured in 00:17
========== Configuration: 1 Succeeded, 0 Failed, 0 Skipped ==========

Thanks for your suggestion – I implemented the changes as you suggested and here is the new output. Is this what you were expecting?

Removing C:\Users\mhilden\Documents\mhs\ltot-ph2\fw\EmbeddedProject1/build/VisualGDB/Debug…
Reconfiguring project due to missing Makefile…
Running CMake: C:\Users\mhilden\AppData\Local\VisualGDB\CMake\bin\cmake.exe ../../.. -G “Ninja” -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=DEBUG -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=c:/SysGCC/esp32/tools/ninja/1.10.2/ninja.exe -DESP_PLATFORM=1 -DCCACHE_ENABLE=0 -DIDF_TARGET=esp32
— Found Git: C:/Program Files/Git/cmd/git.exe (found version “2.43.0.windows.1”)
— The C compiler identification is GNU 8.4.0
— The CXX compiler identification is GNU 8.4.0
— The ASM compiler identification is GNU
— Found assembler: C:/sysgcc/esp32/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch1/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc.exe
— Detecting C compiler ABI info
— Detecting C compiler ABI info – done
— Check for working C compiler: C:/sysgcc/esp32/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch1/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc.exe – skipped
— Detecting C compile features
— Detecting C compile features – done
— Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
— Detecting CXX compiler ABI info – done
— Check for working CXX compiler: C:/sysgcc/esp32/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch1/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-g++.exe – skipped
— Detecting CXX compile features
— Detecting CXX compile features – done
— Building ESP-IDF components for target esp32
— Checking Python dependencies…
Python requirements from C:\sysgcc\esp32\esp-idf\v4.4\requirements.txt are satisfied.
C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/tools/check_python_dependencies.py:12: DeprecationWarning: pkg_resources is deprecated as an API. See https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/pkg_resources.html
import pkg_resources
— Project sdkconfig file C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/sdkconfig
Loading defaults file C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/sdkconfig.defaults…
CMake Deprecation Warning at C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/mbedtls/mbedtls/CMakeLists.txt:1 (cmake_minimum_required):
Compatibility with CMake < 3.5 will be removed from a future version of
CMake.

Update the VERSION argument <min> value or use a …<max> suffix to tell
CMake that the project does not need compatibility with older versions.

CMake Warning (dev) at C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/mbedtls/mbedtls/CMakeLists.txt:49 (find_package):
Policy CMP0148 is not set: The FindPythonInterp and FindPythonLibs modules
are removed. Run “cmake –help-policy CMP0148” for policy details. Use
the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.

This warning is for project developers. Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

— Found PythonInterp: C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/python-env/Scripts/python.exe (found version “3.8.10”)
— Found Perl: C:/Strawberry/perl/bin/perl.exe (found version “5.38.0”)
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
LC_ALL = (unset),
(possibly more locale environment variables)
LANG = “test”
are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the system default locale (“English_United States.1252”).
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
LC_ALL = (unset),
(possibly more locale environment variables)
LANG = “test”
are supported and installed on your system.
— App “blink” version: flow-tester-circuithub-00133590
— Adding linker script C:/Users/mhilden/Documents/mhs/ltot-ph2/fw/EmbeddedProject1/build/VisualGDB/Debug/esp-idf/esp_system/ld/memory.ld
— Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_system/ld/esp32/sections.ld.in
— Adding linker script C:/sysgcc/esp32/esp-idf/v4.4/components/esp_rom/esp32/ld/esp32.rom.ld

Thanks for your help. The clue I needed was that it might be Strawberry Perl that’s to blame. I don’t use this anymore (it was for an old project) so I uninstalled it, rebooted my Windows machine, and then re-built the Python portion of the VisualGDB project via the VisualGDB project settings dialog. The locale error is gone now.