cross platform building/compiling solutions

Question

Hi All,

For C++/Objective-C Mac, Windows, Linux

Most robust compiler/build system?

There is GCC and MakeFiles.

Intel makes Compilers, but they don't do Objective-C right? I have read that Intel built apps are 30% faster in the math and graphics arenas.

MinGW is Windows only?

LLVM/Clang doesn't seem prime-time ready.

I dont know if Borland makes anything.

I am not looking for an IDE as I prefer command-line building and a text editor.

I guess I am looking for the best set of tools that I can use on all platforms. So I am not using Tool A on Platform A and Tool B on Platform B, etc.

Answer 1

Qt is a good system for cross platform development in C++ (with bindings in many other languages). I've developed several pretty intense applications using Qt for everything from unicode strings, STL replacements, and, of course, GUIs and making it work on mac, linux, and windows has never been an issue. Generally, I use GCC for Mac and Linux and VC++ for Windows. For simple cases, the basic qmake Makefile utility works fine, but for more complex situations, cmake is a good solution. I understand that changing compilers for platforms is generally something that should be avoided, but with Qt the switch is barely noticeable.

MinGW is just GCC for windows with UNIXy stuff built in (as I recall), but it has always given me trouble. Windows and *nix are different enough that using the native compiler is generally easier in my experience.

Answer 2

If you want to try Objective-C and stay cross-platform, you might look at Cocotron. gcc has been able to compile Objective-C for quite some time, and as for Cocotron:

The purpose of the project is to provide an easy to use cross-platform solution for Objective-C development. In particular, source code level compatibility with recent versions of Apple's frameworks (OS X 10.4 and 10.5).

Answer 3

My personal favorite is SCons with Google's swtoolkit for cross platform compilation