Search code examples
c++idebuildcross-platformbuild-process

Cross platform build system with IDE?

I've been searching since around a year for a combination of C++ build system and IDE which brings the following features:

  1. Cross plattform build system that builds atleast on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
  2. Some sort of inteligent code completion (IntelliSense of Visual Studio, that thing fromEclipse).
  3. Debugger integrated inside the IDE (starting debugging, setting breakpoints in the code, ...).
  4. No need to restart programms all over to build, or edit code.

It doesn't matter for me on which operating system the IDE runs, only important aspect is that there is a way to build on other plattforms (possibly without requiring that IDE). The closest I got to these was a combination of CMake + VisualStudio. Problem with that is, that every time you want to adjust your build process (add or delete a file) you have to restart VisualStudio and reconfigure all settings, CMake won't set for you.

Solution

  • Here is what I ended up doing:

    • I stuck to CMake over qmake, since it simply seems more powerful, and is easy to install seperatly. Also both only generate Makefiles so they pretty much do the same for me.
    • Since the Eclipse/VisualStudio project files created by CMake are only there for building I couldn't use them (running/debugging inside of IDE is not possible). Now I'm creating standard Makefiles and then build these with a hand mantainend Eclipse Project.
    • I added a filesystem link to my source directory and code completion and debugging are working.