In this question we see how to solve the problem when running catkin_make on a Catkin Workspace: The specified base path /home/user/catkin_ws contains a CMakeLists.txt but catkin_make must be invoked in the root of workspace

Q: https://answers.ros.org/question/277210/3rd-time-getting-stuck-at-building-a-ros-package/

A: The problem is because the user had a CMakeLists.txt on the root folder of the Workspace (~/catkin_ws/CMakeLists.txt). The file must be on the src folder: ~/catkin_ws/src/CMakeLists.txt