JetBrains CLion/Visual Studio Code free IDE build and debug

[mcarans]

JetBrains IDE CLion is cross platform and supports Objective-C. It looks rather nice to load the project up and view it all in an IDE.


It shows all the Git submodules:


I have got Oolite to build on the command line following the instructions. One library is missing from the Ubuntu instructions: libpng-dev.

It would be great to get it to build and debug in the IDE. I can only get it to build if I source the GNUStep.sh file before launching CLion otherwise I get errors while building like:
*** No rule to make target '/common.make'. Stop.

It's decades since I did any C++ but I remember that makefiles could get complicated. I could not figure out how to get the makefile to source the GNUStep.sh file or to get CLion to execute GNUStep.sh before launching one of the many make targets it autodetected like "all".


Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? If not, I can make a script to launch the IDE after sourcing.

I was wondering if moving to a more modern system like CMake would make it easier to understand the build process and get it working in CLion and other IDEs.

[hiran]

It is good to have a platform agnostic professional IDE.
If that work it should get a mention in the developer's corner in the wiki.

For the build tool: I guess the makefile complexity is already there. Both a Makefile and a Gnumakefile are in effect, and they may spawn more such files IIRC.
If someone can cleanup here that would be an important step.

[mcarans]

It is good to have a platform agnostic professional IDE.
If that work it should get a mention in the developer's corner in the wiki.

For the build tool: I guess the makefile complexity is already there. Both a Makefile and a Gnumakefile are in effect, and they may spawn more such files IIRC.
If someone can cleanup here that would be an important step.

I feel like this links with the library update work going on and in particular, the removal of custom builds of libraries like espeak. These steps would significantly reduce technical debt and increase maintainability. I just hope that there's a way to use more current build tools. This thread suggests it is possible but not straightforward: https://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/discu ... 00008.html

[MrFlibble]

It is good to have a platform agnostic professional IDE.
If that work it should get a mention in the developer's corner in the wiki.

For the build tool: I guess the makefile complexity is already there. Both a Makefile and a Gnumakefile are in effect, and they may spawn more such files IIRC.
If someone can cleanup here that would be an important step.

I feel like this links with the library update work going on and in particular, the removal of custom builds of libraries like espeak. These steps would significantly reduce technical debt and increase maintainability. I just hope that there's a way to use more current build tools. This thread suggests it is possible but not straightforward: https://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/discu ... 00008.html

I stopped and uninstalled at the user agreement (cringe!), where payment was hinted at, as I didn't have time to fully read it today. If scanned correctly, Clion could lock some features behind a paywall down the line.

I don't currently use an IDE apart from occasionally Arduino. Is there a decent FLOSS one which might serve our needs? Such a thing might be less likely to twist and turn at the whim of a company director.

[hiran]

Can't blame JetBrains from earning money for providing professional IDEs. Typically their policy is to have a free community edition that may be used noncommercially. Well, there is no money behind Oolite so there is no need to worry. But I cannot blame anyone to be careful.

There is some Objective C support in Visual Studio Code: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/it ... bjc-syntax
Although I have no clue how usable that is in practice.

[mcarans]

I stopped and uninstalled at the user agreement (cringe!), where payment was hinted at, as I didn't have time to fully read it today. If scanned correctly, Clion could lock some features behind a paywall down the line.

I don't currently use an IDE apart from occasionally Arduino. Is there a decent FLOSS one which might serve our needs? Such a thing might be less likely to twist and turn at the whim of a company director.

CLion is free for non commercial use according to
https://www.jetbrains.com/clion/. Since Oolite is non commercial, you can use the IDE for free to develop it. JetBrains have had this setup of free for non commercial, pay for commercial use for ages. In my experience from many years using their Python IDE (PyCharm), the things behind paywall are not critical and are nice to haves - for example the code profiler (which you an in any case you can achieve with other tools outside the IDE).

JetBrains have for several years donated full versions of their software to the humanitarian organisation where I work since everything we do is non-commercial and open source. This suggests that even if features went behind a paywall in the future (which would in any case just be for nice to have rather than critical features), Oolite developers could request a donation of full licences. Would this assuage your concerns?

[mcarans]

There is some Objective C support in Visual Studio Code: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/it ... bjc-syntax
Although I have no clue how usable that is in practice.

This is Visual Studio Code:


I found a plugin for running makefile targets:


With both CLion and Visual Studio Code, you get syntax highlighting and the ability to run makefiles. I've not been able to get the debugger to work fully in either. With CLion it ran, but there are no debug symbols so it won't stop at breakpoints and you see assembly language if you pause. With the latter, I can't find an option to debug when using makefiles. With both, it seems they fully support CMake and if using that, debugging will work.

[hiran]

With both CLion and Visual Studio Code, you get syntax highlighting and the ability to run makefiles. I've not been able to get the debugger to work fully in either. With CLion it ran, but there are no debug symbols so it won't stop at breakpoints and you see assembly language if you pause. With the latter, I can't find an option to debug when using makefiles. With both, it seems they fully support CMake and if using that, debugging will work.

I think this is already worth to be documented at https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Developer%27s_Corner
Mind the three subpages for Setting up a development environment

[mcarans]

With both CLion and Visual Studio Code, you get syntax highlighting and the ability to run makefiles. I've not been able to get the debugger to work fully in either. With CLion it ran, but there are no debug symbols so it won't stop at breakpoints and you see assembly language if you pause. With the latter, I can't find an option to debug when using makefiles. With both, it seems they fully support CMake and if using that, debugging will work.

I think this is already worth to be documented at https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Developer%27s_Corner
Mind the three subpages for Setting up a development environment

I have asked Cholmondely for wiki access via PM but oddly my message remains stuck in the outbox. I'm not sure what I need to do to get it to send.