title: How to force absolute paths for build errors output in Visual Studio
body: <p>When building in most Visual Studio (2008, but I doubt it matters) projects, if there is error, it lists the absolute path of the file with the error. Like this (ignore the specific errors--I added them intentionally):</p>
  
  <pre><code>1&gt;dope_external.cpp
  1&gt;c:\users\me\dope_external.cpp(4) : error C2144: syntax error : 'void' should be preceded by ';'
  1&gt;c:\users\me\dope_external.cpp(4) : error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int
  1&gt;Generating Code...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, the solutions/projects I'm currently working with list relative path names:</p>
  
  <pre><code>1&gt;FileBasedEffect.cpp
  1&gt;..\..\..\..\..\..\..\..\tools\blah\code\src\important_file.cpp(10) : error C2653: 'FusionEffectKeys' : is not a class or namespace name
  1&gt;..\..\..\..\..\..\..\..\tools\blah\code\src\important_file.cpp(10) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'const'
  1&gt;..\..\..\..\..\..\..\..\tools\blah\code\src\important_file.cpp(10) : error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This happens in Visual Studio and also if I build from the command-line or in another environment using vcbuild. I'd like to use a different environment to build, at least as an experiment. But the relative paths are horking me a little.</p>
  
  <p>I don't spot any differences in the project properties that are obvious like "UseRelativePathsInBuildErrors", but I don't know the build system that well. Any ideas? Thanks.</p>