Are Project|Properties|Build and Build|Set Build Commands really different as the manual says?

Question

In Geany, when I navigate to either

• Project|Properties|Build or
• Build|Set Build Commands I get the same dialog, even with the same dialog title, and if I modify one or the other they both change.

According to the manual,

one for editing user preference settings, activated by the “Set Build Commands” menu item, and
one for editing project preferences settings, it is the build tab in the Project→Properties dialog and is only available when a project is open.

Or is there maybe some option that links both?

Answer 1

When no Project is open, the dialog accessed via the Build menu will contain default settings applicable to whatever files are open at the time. If, however, a Project is open, that dialog will reflect whatever is defined in the Project's settings, as indicated in the manual (see https://www.geany.org/manual/current/index.html#project-management).

So, the dialog accessed by the two methods you noted will be identical as long as the dialog is accessible via the Projects menu, which is only possible when a Project is open.