AshlingRISCFree IDE Build system: 'source directory does not appear to contain CMakeLists.txt"

Hello Altera Gurus,

I am now having much trouble building my projects with the AshlingRISCFree IDE using a NIOSV/m processor on a MAX10 FPGA targeted at a MAX10 Development kit. I am using Quartus Standard edition 25.1 on a Windows 10 PC.

The process i am following is this:

1. I created an FPGA top level System Verilog file for a new MAX10 Project.
2. created a Qsys Platform which has a NIOSV/m processor connected to a onchip RAM for program storage and a onchip RAM for the DMA data.
3. Added one mSGDMA engine for transmit data operations
4. Added a second mSGDMA engine for receivedata operations
5. Added two RAM onchip memories for the DMA decsriptors and wired up everything
6. created the address map and interrupt mapping
7. saved and generated the Qsys platform
8. In the top level SV file is loopback the Tx -> RX for the two mSGDMAs
9. Used the niosv-bsp-editor in a niosv console to created a BSP using the Qsys sopcinfo file
10. Generated the BSP, created a simple C main application to configure the mSGDMAs and NIOSV/ m processor etc.
11. Imported both the HAL_BSP and HAL_APP folders using: 'Import NIOS-V CMake Project...
12. In the AshlingRSICFree IDE i can successfully run a 'Build all' and compile the HAL_BSP.
13. BUT When i select the hal_app folder and try to build the Project i get these error messages:
    

     

    17:37:20 Buildscript generation: hal_app::Default in D:\VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval\software\hal_app\build\Default

    cmake -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS:BOOL=ON -G "Unix Makefiles" "D:\\VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval\\software\\hal_app"

    CMake Warning:

    Ignoring extra path from command line:

    "D:\VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval\software\hal_app"

    CMake Error: The source directory "D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_app" does not appear to contain CMakeLists.txt.

    Specify --help for usage, or press the help button on the CMake GUI.
    Problems :

    Description Resource Path Location Type

    CMake Error: The source directory "D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_app" does not appear to contain CMakeLists.txt. hal_app de.marw.cdt.cmake.core.internal.CMakeErrorParser CMake Problem

    cmake exited with status 1. See CDT global build console for details. hal_app de.marw.cdt.cmake.core.internal.BuildscriptGenerator Buildscript Generation Problem

14. Looking at the hal_bsl folder i can see the CMakeLists.txt is present, it is not present (automatically anyway) in the hal_app folder. I assume it would be if it was part of the BSP generate flow, but it ins't there so i assumed it shouldn't be there (in the hal_app folder i mean). Even if i add it manually then try to do a project build again i then see an error message saying the CmakeCache.txt file has not been created. 
15. This seems like a big tools flow mess to me. The Project is automatically setup to use a CMake Compile and CMake Build flow. But its not working.
16. I am trying to use the AshlingRISC IDE GDB Debugger to load my ELF file to the NIOSV processor to allow me to debug my project, but of course because i can't even build it this is impossible. 
17. I have tried using niosv cli commands to build my ELF file ...and they seem to work, which means the AshlingRISC IDE is the culprit in the failed IDE build process:
    Here are my NIOSV cli commands :
    
    

    mSGDMA Test:

    $ niosv-app --bsp-dir=D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_bsp --app-dir=D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_app --srcs=D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_app/msgdma_loopback.c

    $ cmake -S D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_app -B D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_app/build -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug

    $ make -j4 -C D:/VAREX_mSGDMA_Eval/software/hal_app/build

After i try and fail to do a project build i can also no loner clean this project, it gets stuck in red with the same error. The only way i can get it back to the start state is : File -> Restart ...this is not great !!

1. Does anybody know why i get these errors and how to fix them please ? :

Here i have also linked to an older post here in the knowledge base Claiming that "This problem is fixed starting with the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Software version 21.4. and later". This appears to be NOT the case though :)

Why does CMake Error: The source directory "<project_directory>/intel_niosv_m_0_EXAMPLE_DESIGN" does not contain CMakeLists.txt. when compiling the Nios® V processor application in Command Line Interface? | Altera Community - 338917

NOTE: I have attached 3 screenshots, 2 show the output from the NIOSV CLI when i run the 3 compile commands. The third one shows what happens when i try to load the ELF file which was created after the 3 Compilation steps run to completion. It looks like the GDB debugger detects the NIOSV/m processor (the 1 hard message) and then promptly crashed during part of the boot process. Does anybody have any ideas about why that might be and what is going on please ?

Thanks for any help,

Dr Barry H