Wishlist - better project management

[Tamas Nagy]

I agree that a powerful project management is vital in a successful
developer environment. Recently, I had to build a large number of C
files under Linux, and I'd like to share my experiences with you. I hope
this helps to develop a better IDE!

- CodeWarrior (Commercial): it is not convienient to add files to
projects, and it is not possible (?) for generating multiple libraries
and executables from different subsets of the same code base...
- KDevelop: multiple projects and targets are not supported (?), and it
was strange to generate multiple project files... It required to copy
the files in the project directory, which stops me to use for this
purpose. Reason: some of the files are necessary to include in multiple
libraries and executable... Another disadvantage was the large number
files necessary for a project... It is convenient in general GNU
applications, but not for this purpose....
- RHIDE (not supported, free): it is strange, but this IDE was the best
for my purpose. Its easy project management, and simple handling (single
GPR-file) is definitely what I wanted... Unfortunately, multiple
projects and targets are not allowed, but for single targets it is
superb...
- Makefile (generated by hand): final solution;)

Best regards,
Tamas

-----Original Message-----
From: Mailing list agent [mailto:mdom at barney.cs.uni-potsdam.de] On
Behalf Of Dan Johnston
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 6:53 AM
To: kdevelop at barney.cs.uni-potsdam.de
Subject: Wishlist - better project management

I am not a member of this list, so please send any replies directly to
me.

I have generally been disappointed with every unix IDE I've ever used.
As a 
VC++ (I know, boo boo, hiss hiss) developer, nothing in the Unix realm
has 
come as close to feeling natural to use as kdevelop has (great job
guys).  I 
do have one request, however.  One of the things that VC++ does
exponentially 
better than KDevelop does is project management.

One of the best things about visual studio is the fact that you never
have to 
edit a Makefile.  Allmost all compiler options are set via the project 
settings dialog.  It supports differentiation between projects (a single

compile target like a library or application) and a workspace (a
collection 
of projects).  It supports the ability to specify different compiler and

linker options based on what type of build you are doing (debug,
release, 
profile, custom, etc.).  Since probably >99% of all users of KDevelop
use GNU 
compilers, something like this should at least be an option, at least
for 
common settings.   In fact, I don't see why the entire project framework
that 
Microsoft uses couldn't be used whole-turkey after being retargeted for
GNU 
compilers and decent scripting languages (for Post or Custom build
steps).  
You could even make the translation between common dialog settings and
actual 
compiler options be a component that could be implemented for different 
compilers.

This doesn't preclude using the current form of project management, just
be 
added as an option.  Anyway, that is my pie in the sky request.  My more

immediate request, should be a simple one.  Why, oh why, for the LOVE OF
GOD, 
do you require that new custom projects be created in a new directory
and 
that importing existing files into the project causes them to be copied
into 
this new directory.  The whole reason for using a custom project is that
you 
want to use KDevelop to edit an EXISTING project with already configured

Makefiles, source control, etc.  Requiring that these files be moved to
a new 
directory is ludicrous.  I've gotton around this by doing the file
import, 
deleting the copied files, and then hacking the project file to refer to
the 
origingal file set.  To be honest, the only reason to really import the
files 
is to make the class browser work, but it would be nice if this would
just 
work without having to go over major 50meter high hurdles.

All in all, I like KDevelop, it's still a relatively young product and
I'm 
sure it will get better with age.  However, if you want to attract more 
commercial interest development on unix (maybe you don't ?), the tools
should 
be as easy to use (if not more so) than what Microsoft is selling.  And 
maybe, just maybe, not every wizard should be targeted towards a source 
distribution.

Opposing viewpoints welcome :)

-dan
goblue at ve3d.com

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