2 files changed, 11 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/Help/manual/cmake-server.7.rst b/Help/manual/cmake-server.7.rst
index f6d3032..6c0e6aa 100644
--- a/Help/manual/cmake-server.7.rst
+++ b/Help/manual/cmake-server.7.rst
@@ -277,7 +277,9 @@ Giving the "major" version of the requested protocol version will make the serve
 use the latest minor version of that protocol. Use this if you do not explicitly
 need to depend on a specific minor version.
 
-Each protocol version may request additional attributes to be present.
+If the build directory already contains a CMake cache, it is sufficient to set
+the "buildDirectory" attribute. To create a fresh build directory, additional
+attributes are required depending on the protocol version.
 
 Protocol version 1.0 requires the following attributes to be set:
 
diff --git a/Source/cmServerProtocol.cxx b/Source/cmServerProtocol.cxx
index 7a841a8..606535f 100644
--- a/Source/cmServerProtocol.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmServerProtocol.cxx
@@ -269,6 +269,10 @@ static bool testHomeDirectory(cmState* state, std::string& value,
 {
   const std::string cachedValue =
     std::string(state->GetCacheEntryValue("CMAKE_HOME_DIRECTORY"));
+  if (value.empty()) {
+    value = cachedValue;
+    return true;
+  }
   const std::string suffix = "/CMakeLists.txt";
   const std::string cachedValueCML = cachedValue + suffix;
   const std::string valueCML = value + suffix;
@@ -279,9 +283,6 @@ static bool testHomeDirectory(cmState* state, std::string& value,
                                 "source directory value."));
     return false;
   }
-  if (value.empty()) {
-    value = cachedValue;
-  }
   return true;
 }
 
@@ -292,15 +293,15 @@ static bool testValue(cmState* state, const std::string& key,
   const char* entry = state->GetCacheEntryValue(key);
   const std::string cachedValue =
     entry == nullptr ? std::string() : std::string(entry);
-  if (!cachedValue.empty() && !value.empty() && cachedValue != value) {
+  if (value.empty()) {
+    value = cachedValue;
+  }
+  if (!cachedValue.empty() && cachedValue != value) {
     setErrorMessage(errorMessage, std::string("\"") + key +
                       "\" is set but incompatible with configured " +
                       keyDescription + " value.");
     return false;
   }
-  if (value.empty()) {
-    value = cachedValue;
-  }
   return true;
 }