Open Source Development

Question

I am a Fedora12(GNOME) user. I recently started development in Linux. Most of the Linux system applications/utilities are written in c/c++. The problem i am facing is that how to integrate a downloaded source code with some IDE(e.g, Anjuta etc).

In simple words i want to know that, what is the best way to start development on some existing source code using an IDE.

Lets take the example of GRUB2(v1.97.1). I downloaded the source code and now i want to study/customize/enhance/add new things to this code, so i want all the source files should be visible in a structural/hierarchical way for the ease of development?

Answer 1

so i want all the source files should be visible in a structural/hierarchical way for the ease of development?

Create a project and import all the files. Bind a keyboard shortcut to build using the makefile. Using the makefile for compilation is probably the best because there is a lot of logic that goes into the build process for nontrivial applications like grub that most likely will not map 1:1 with any IDE.

Answer 2

It depends on what IDE you are using. I think the simplest one to configure is Eclipse (the newest version has a pretty decent C++ plugin), despite many of its problems. Just create a new project. You should create a C++ Makefile project, because it uses an existing Makefile, while the in standard C++ project, Eclipse will manage its own Makefile. Set the project base directory to the base directory of your program, and tell it not to create any new files.

Another option is KDevelop. I don't know much about it, but it natively supports Automake and CMake, and many other tools that are used in development under Linux. It also has a lot of bugs.

If you are a hard enough geek, and have the patience to configure it, gvim can be made a usable IDE, too. I think there are several plugins for this purpose, though I only used it for basic text editing.

Answer 3

I guess you should look for autotools and a text editor. Looking for an IDE is wasting your time.