I finally got it boiled down to a relatively simple test case - see http://brlcad.org/~starseeker/Ninja-Problem-CMakeLists.txt
This is what I'm seeing here with that test: user@machine:~/brlcad/build$ rm -rf * && cmake .. -G Ninja -- The C compiler identification is GNU 4.7.3 -- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 4.7.3 -- Check for working C compiler using: Ninja -- Check for working C compiler using: Ninja -- works -- Detecting C compiler ABI info -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done -- Check for working CXX compiler using: Ninja -- Check for working CXX compiler using: Ninja -- works -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done -- Looking for sys/types.h -- Looking for sys/types.h - found -- Looking for stdint.h -- Looking for stdint.h - found -- Looking for stddef.h -- Looking for stddef.h - found -- Check size of socklen_t -- Check size of socklen_t - failed -- Configuring done -- Generating done -- Build files have been written to: /home/user/brlcad/build user@machine:~/brlcad/build$ ninja [1/1] Re-running CMake... -- Configuring done -- Generating done -- Build files have been written to: /home/user/brlcad/build ninja: no work to do. user@machine:~/brlcad/build$ -- Powered by www.kitware.com Please keep messages on-topic and check the CMake FAQ at: http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ Kitware offers various services to support the CMake community. For more information on each offering, please visit: CMake Support: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/support.html CMake Consulting: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/consulting.html CMake Training Courses: http://cmake.org/cmake/help/training.html Visit other Kitware open-source projects at http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe: http://www.cmake.org/mailman/listinfo/cmake