diff --git a/rapids-cmake/test/detail/generate_installed_CTestTestfile.cmake b/rapids-cmake/test/detail/generate_installed_CTestTestfile.cmake
index 54a9a522..e3a2b39a 100644
--- a/rapids-cmake/test/detail/generate_installed_CTestTestfile.cmake
+++ b/rapids-cmake/test/detail/generate_installed_CTestTestfile.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #=============================================================================
-# Copyright (c) 2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2023-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ set(test_file_content
 set(CTEST_SCRIPT_DIRECTORY \".\")
 set(CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX \"./${_RAPIDS_INSTALL_PREFIX}\")
 set(CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE \"./${rapids_test_json_file_name}\")
-execute_process(COMMAND ./${rapids_test_generate_exe_name} OUTPUT_FILE \"\${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}\")
+execute_process(COMMAND ./${rapids_test_generate_exe_name} OUTPUT_FILE \"\${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}\" COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL ANY)
 \n\n
 ")
 
diff --git a/rapids-cmake/test/generate_resource_spec.cmake b/rapids-cmake/test/generate_resource_spec.cmake
index e610fd4b..02609412 100644
--- a/rapids-cmake/test/generate_resource_spec.cmake
+++ b/rapids-cmake/test/generate_resource_spec.cmake
@@ -71,7 +71,9 @@ function(rapids_test_generate_resource_spec DESTINATION filepath)
     file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/rapids-cmake/")
 
     if(CUDAToolkit_FOUND)
-      set(compile_options "-I${CUDAToolkit_INCLUDE_DIRS}" "-DHAVE_CUDA")
+      set(cuda_include_options ${CUDAToolkit_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+      list(TRANSFORM cuda_include_options PREPEND "-I")
+      set(compile_options ${cuda_include_options} "-DHAVE_CUDA")
     endif()
     set(link_options ${CUDA_cudart_LIBRARY} -lpthread -lrt -ldl)
     set(compiler "${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}")
@@ -81,17 +83,14 @@ function(rapids_test_generate_resource_spec DESTINATION filepath)
 
     execute_process(COMMAND "${compiler}" "${eval_file}" ${compile_options} ${link_options} -o
                             "${eval_exe}" OUTPUT_VARIABLE compile_output
-                    ERROR_VARIABLE compile_output)
-  endif()
+                    ERROR_VARIABLE compile_output RESULT_VARIABLE result)
 
-  if(NOT EXISTS "${eval_exe}")
-    message(STATUS "rapids_test_generate_resource_spec failed to build detection executable, presuming no GPUs."
-    )
-    message(STATUS "rapids_test_generate_resource_spec compile[${compiler} ${compile_options} ${link_options}] failure details are ${compile_output}"
-    )
-    file(WRITE "${filepath}" "${gpu_json_contents}")
-  else()
-    execute_process(COMMAND ${eval_exe} OUTPUT_FILE "${filepath}")
+    if(NOT result EQUAL 0)
+      string(REPLACE "\n" "\n  " compile_output "${compile_output}")
+      message(FATAL_ERROR "rapids_test_generate_resource_spec failed to build detection executable.\nrapids_test_generate_resource_spec compile[${compiler} ${compile_options} ${link_options}] failure details are:\n  ${compile_output}"
+      )
+    endif()
   endif()
+  execute_process(COMMAND ${eval_exe} OUTPUT_FILE "${filepath}" COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL ANY)
 
 endfunction()
diff --git a/testing/test/install_relocatable-complex/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/testing/test/install_relocatable-complex/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 8ed76f13..8611d559 100644
--- a/testing/test/install_relocatable-complex/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/testing/test/install_relocatable-complex/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #=============================================================================
-# Copyright (c) 2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2023-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ file(APPEND "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/verify_installed_CTestTestfile.cmake"
 [==[
 
 file(READ "${installed_test_file}" contents)
-set(execute_process_match_string [===[execute_process(COMMAND ./generate_ctest_json OUTPUT_FILE "${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}")]===])
+set(execute_process_match_string [===[execute_process(COMMAND ./generate_ctest_json OUTPUT_FILE "${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}" COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL ANY)]===])
 string(FIND "${contents}" ${execute_process_match_string} is_found)
 if(is_found EQUAL -1)
   message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to generate a `execute_process` with escaped CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE")
diff --git a/testing/test/install_relocatable-include-in-all.cmake b/testing/test/install_relocatable-include-in-all.cmake
index 06227a5e..7a696a66 100644
--- a/testing/test/install_relocatable-include-in-all.cmake
+++ b/testing/test/install_relocatable-include-in-all.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #=============================================================================
-# Copyright (c) 2022-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2022-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ file(APPEND "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/verify_installed_CTestTestfile.cmake"
 [=[
 
 file(READ "${installed_test_file}" contents)
-set(execute_process_match_string [===[execute_process(COMMAND ./generate_ctest_json OUTPUT_FILE "${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}")]===])
+set(execute_process_match_string [===[execute_process(COMMAND ./generate_ctest_json OUTPUT_FILE "${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}" COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL ANY)]===])
 string(FIND "${contents}" ${execute_process_match_string} is_found)
 if(is_found EQUAL -1)
   message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to generate a `execute_process` with escaped CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE")
diff --git a/testing/test/install_relocatable-simple.cmake b/testing/test/install_relocatable-simple.cmake
index 387ee13d..9330eadc 100644
--- a/testing/test/install_relocatable-simple.cmake
+++ b/testing/test/install_relocatable-simple.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #=============================================================================
-# Copyright (c) 2022-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2022-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ file(APPEND "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/verify_installed_CTestTestfile.cmake"
 [==[
 
 file(READ "${installed_test_file}" contents)
-set(execute_process_match_string [===[execute_process(COMMAND ./generate_ctest_json OUTPUT_FILE "${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}")]===])
+set(execute_process_match_string [===[execute_process(COMMAND ./generate_ctest_json OUTPUT_FILE "${CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE}" COMMAND_ERROR_IS_FATAL ANY)]===])
 string(FIND "${contents}" ${execute_process_match_string} is_found)
 if(is_found EQUAL -1)
   message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to generate a `execute_process` with escaped CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE")