Bad CMake Executable and Missing Board from project setup.

[wljr]

Trying to get the STM32CubeIDE for VSCode working on MacOS. I am on the latest version I think it is 3.6.4.
I installed the extension according to instructions and I made a project for my NUCLEO-446RE with CubeMx.

When I open the folder in VSCode it throws a Bad CMake Executable Error when I open the Setup STM32Cube project(s) section. In the search box in this section it also seems the NUCLEO-446RE is missing as well.

I am not sure what is going on I tried uninstalling everything and reinstalling. I do have it in its own profile the only extensions in there are copilot and the STM32 Bundle in its entirety.

Another note: I do not have a local cmake installed so there should be no conflict there.

Any help would be appreciated.

[wljr]

There are also errors being thrown while trying to sync the packs. When I ran core pack sync in the integrated terminal the more descriptive error is Error during metadata sync: Error: Unexpected close tag. 

This maybe why the Nucleo board does not show up.

[vincent_grenet]

@wljr, I can confirm that if there is a pack sync issue, none of the STM32 portfolio devices can be promoted to you.

Are you experiencing this kind of issue? Please see this link for reference:
https://community.st.com/t5/stm32cubeide-for-visual-studio/cube-pack-sync-error-via-vscode-proxy/td-p/847146

Please try executing the following command in the VSCode integrated terminal:

cube pack sync

Let's share back please the result (log trace & notification details)

[vincent_grenet]

@wljr, regarding the CMake issue, if you do not have CMake installed locally, it is fully supported and expected to face an error. Let me explain what happens behind the scenes.

The STM32CubeIDE for Visual Studio Code extension pack relies on the widely used Microsoft CMake Tools extension. This extension attempts to perform a CMake configure step on any CMakeLists.txt file added to the VSCode workspace. If CMake is not available on your host, it will fail. This is outside of STMicroelectronics’ control since the extension is not ours.

Our responsibility is to notify you when a CMake project is detected, asking if you want to apply STM32Cube’s extra features. If you confirm, STM32Cube will set up the proper tools, including CMake. After setup completes, STM32Cube will trigger a CMake configure process, which should succeed.

Just in case the notification is missing, let's manually invoke the process by using the following setup action:

[wljr]

@vincent_grenet 

CMake issue is resolved by installing a copy locally like you suggested. Now the only issue is the pack list.

As far as I am aware I am not running any proxy's but this is the result of my cube pack sync and the error in the notification area when it tries to synch the pack list.

[vincent_grenet]

@wlj, I have not suggested installing a local copy of CMake. I explained how the process works under the hood, and installing CMake locally is not a requirement. While a local install may superficially "solve" the error you’re seeing, completing the project setup (which includes the STM32Cube-promoted CMake installation) is essential.

The STM32Cube project setup not only adds CMake but also Ninja, toolchains, and other necessary tools you will need. That said, having a local CMake installation is fully supported. If this approach suits you best, feel free to proceed.

The result of cube pack sync suggests that you have corrupted local data, complaining about an invalid XML structure in a pidx file. Could you please remove your local pack repository and restart VSCode? Your local path is:
/Users/wljr/Library/Application Support/stm32cube/packs

Please let me know if this helps. In parallel, I will share this error with the development team for confirmation.

[lconlcong]

This appears to be a server-side issue: the ST pack endpoint returns an HTML error/503 instead of a valid .pidx XML.

Repro:

$ cube pack sync
Checking pidx https://developer.st.com/st-pack-server/api/v1/pidx/STMicroelectronics.pidx... (1/1)
Error during metadata sync: Error: Unexpected close tag
Line: 4
Column: 122
Char: >

Proxy fetch shows 503:

$ wget https://developer.st.com/st-pack-server/api/v1/pidx/STMicroelectronics.pidx
HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable

Direct fetch returns an HTML error page (not XML):

$ curl https://developer.st.com/st-pack-server/api/v1/pidx/STMicroelectronics.pidx
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Error</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>
An error occurred while processing your request.
Reference# 30.15b82917.1760947276.5d732b9
https://errors.edgesuite.net/30.15b82917.1760947276.5d732b9
</BODY></HTML>

I have tried deleting the files and re-syncing; the issue persists. In my project’s open-source community, dozens of users over the past few days (from different regions on Windows/Linux/macOS) reported the same problem. This looks like a server-side error — recent sync attempts consistently return errors.

[wljr]

@vincent_grenet Clearing the data and trying to sync again results in the same error as previously it seems there is something wrong on the server side with the pack service as suggested by IconIcong. There also seems to be another post here now with a bunch of people having the same issue as well as the people IconIcong mentioned.

[Pavel A.]

[removed]

[Julien D · Accepted solution]

Hello,

As stated on another post (https://community.st.com/t5/stm32cubeide-for-visual-studio/quot-an-error-occurred-while-synchronizing-metadata-quot-on-vs/m-p/848848#M1268) the issue had been analyzed, and a fix is about to be deployed.