compiling windows apps on linux

now that we successfully used cmake to compile a linux app (in the last article), we will now try and compile it for windows.

I am doing this on Gentoo linux, so your mileage may vary if you used a different distribution.

I am starting with http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_MinGW as a rough guide.

• # emerge -va sys-devel/crossdev
• # echo ‘PORTDIR_OVERLAY=”/usr/i686-mingw32/usr/portage /usr/local/portage $PORTDIR_OVERLAY”‘ >> /etc/make.conf
• create the directory /usr/i686-mingw32/usr/portage
• install the toolchain: # crossdev i686-mingw32

With Ubuntu/Debian you can simply install it using apt: “apt-get install mingw32”. This will install the toolchain as i586-mingw32msvc-gcc to /usr/bin/ .emerge the packages you want to have as cross compiled programs or libraries.

Once you have installed ming32, it is easy to compile for linux:

#  i686-mingw32-gcc helloworld.cpp -o wintest.exe

Now the next step in the puxxle is to get cmake to compile for both OSes  each time make is run.

Cross platform development with the Eclipse CDT

So, you want to create an application that can un under both Linux and Windows?

This is my experiment trying to do just that… Lets see if the Eclipse CDT is robust to do cross platform development!

Step 1: Install the Eclipse 3.3 SDK if you have not already done so. Make sure to get the CDT components. If you download the java sdk, you can add the CDT packages by adding the following plugin update site: http://download.eclipse.org/tools/cdt/releases/europa

Step 2: Install the cross platform make system, cmake. it’s eclipse download site is:
http://cmakeed.sourceforge.net/updates/

Step 3: Create a C++ project in eclipse.

• Go to “New->C++ Project” Menu (or Go to “New->Hello World C++ Project” Menu if you are making an empty project and want to see some c++ code used by default)
• Select the MakeFile Project type, choose Other Toolchain and click Next
• Select the Advanced Settings Button
• Uncheck the Use Default Build Command
• Insert the following in the Build Command Text Field: make -C ${project_loc}/Build VERBOSE=1
• Under the “C/C++ Build” options, select “Settings”.
• In the Right Side pane select the binary format for your system (Elf for linux).
• Click on the OK Button.
• Create a file in the project root named: CMakeLists.txt [todo: what are the contents of this file???]
• Open a terminal window
• cd to your project directory
• Create a build directory: mkdir Build
• Change directory to the Build dir: cd Build
• Run the command: ccmake ../
• Follow the ccmake instructions. when done, your project is ready.
• Refresh the eclipse project to show the new build directory.

Step 4: Create an eclipse run menu for cmake:

• Select the “Run->External Tools->Show External Tools Dialog…” menu.
• Create a new “Program” and call it Cmake.
• In the “Location” text field, type the absolute path to cmake (i.e /usr/local/bin/cmake or whatever path your system uses).
• In the “Working Directory” test field insert the following: “${project_loc}/Build” and in the Arguments section insert the following: “../”.
• In the “Refresh” tab select The project containing the selected resources.
• In the “Common” tab check the “External Tools” selection.
• This will put a shortcut in the “Run” menu for you.
• Click the Apply Button and then run.
• CMake will now run on your project directory.

Step 5. Build the project using the command “Run -> External Tools -> cmake”

Next Up: Getting the project to generate both a windows exe and a linux executable.

see also: http://paraview.org/Wiki/CMake:Eclipse

Installing eclipse 3.3 on Gentoo

Today was the day to get eclipse going on Gentoo. I downloaded the latest version (3.3) and dropped it into /opt/eclipse.

I fired it up and got:

# ./eclipse
* run-java-tool is not available for sun-jdk-1.6 on i686
* IMPORTANT: some Java tools are not available on some VMs on some architectures

so, clearly it did not like my java.

I know my java is good:

# java-config -L
The following VMs are available for generation-2:
1) Blackdown JDK 1.4.2.03 [blackdown-jdk-1.4.2]
2) Sun JDK 1.4.2.13 [sun-jdk-1.4]
3) Sun JDK 1.5.0.10 [sun-jdk-1.5]
*) Sun JDK 1.6.0 [sun-jdk-1.6]


Looking around, I found the following:

Java on Gentoo uses /usr/bin/run-java-tool instead of /usr/bin/java (which links to run-java-tool)

the trick is to edit /usr/bin/run-java-tool

after:

tool=$(basename $0)

add

[[ $tool = “run-java-tool” ]] && tool=”java”

then eclipse started perfectly.

Getting ready for eclipse on Gentoo

Getting ready for eclipse 3.3 on Gentoo, I first need to get my system configured to use a more recent version of Java instead of the default 1.4.

Here is a site dedicated to gentoo java: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/java/

the first thing to do is emerge java


get rid of old versions
# emerge -C java-config
add the newest
# emerge -uND java-config

to see what versions are installed, do:

# java-config --list-available-vms
The following VMs are available for generation-2:
1) Blackdown JDK 1.4.2.03 [blackdown-jdk-1.4.2]
2) Blackdown JRE 1.4.2.03 [blackdown-jre-1.4.2]
3) Blackdown 32bit JRE 1.4.2.03 [emul-linux-x86-java-1.4.2]
4) Sun 32bit JRE 1.5.0.08 [emul-linux-x86-java-1.5]
5) Kaffe 1.1.7 [kaffe]
*) Sun JDK 1.5.0.08 [sun-jdk-1.5]

to change the jvm, do:

(By handle (preferred))
# java-config --set-system-vm blackdown-jdk-1.4
Now using blackdown-jdk-1.4 as your generation-2 system JVM
(By number)
# java-config --set-system-vm 6
Now using sun-jdk-1.5 as your generation-2 system JVM

Eclipse mylyn mantis integration

I set up mantis connect today on our server…

it was very easy: just drop the “mc” directory from the archive (and it’s subdirectory) to the Mantis root directory.

do not use the distribution from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mantisconnect as it does not work.

To test if MantisConnect works, you should be able to issue this command in a browser. It will pull up a list of all the SOAP commands supported:

http://domain.com/path_to_mantis/mc/mantisconnect.php

Instead, use the downloads on: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=189858

a wiki is available at:

http://mylyn-mantis.wiki.sourceforge.net/

Then to get the client plugin working, use the eclipse update site: http://www.digital-d.at/eclipse/update

Note: You must have mylyn working first.

first thoughts about eclipse 3.3

After my first full week of using Eclipse (having moved away from JBuilder) I thought I would list some of my thoughts:

• The visual editor sucks.  Jbuilder 2005/6 and Netbeans have eclipse beat here.  I hope this area improves soon.
• The spell checker finds spelling mistakes, but right clicking the error does not give an “add to dictionary” option.
• Eclipse feels much faster than Jbuilder 2005, and eclipse 3.2.
• It is great to be able to do C++ (CDT) and java in the same IDE.
• Mylyn (formerly Mylar) rocks.  I am able to interact with tasks while developing, a big time saver.  For example, if there is an error in the ide log, you can right click it and add n eclipse bugzilla defect on the fly.

I still need to get Mantis defect tracking set up with Mylyn.

abandoning jbuilder, going to eclipse

With a heavy heart, I am now offficially abandoning JBuilder, and moving to Eclipse.

I will spend the next month playing with Eclipse 3.3 while it is in the final stages prior to release.  I am currently using 3.3m3

The basic problem I had is that the base functionality I need did not work out of the box, and Borland support was not able to help me.  I’m sure that if I paid for a support contract they could have spend the time resolving my issues, but I am not willing to take the gamble and pony up > 1000$ for a product when I am not sure it will meet my needs.

If and when JBuilder quality improves again, I may give it a try again but for the moment, I am sticking with Eclipse.

what is going on here

after reporting my issues connecting to xplanner from jbuilder (adding a task repository) I got an email from codegear support.

The support tech (Chee Wee Chua) told me:

From the main menu, access Window, Preferences, Team, CVS, Proxy Settings.
Set the proxy connection, username and passsword there.

Let me know if this resolves the issue.

Thank you.

hmmm… interesting.
why is Jbuilder using the proxy info from CVS when Eclipse has the proxy configuration in a different area itself?

I sent him back a note:

I do not have CVS enabled, as we use SVN here instead.

Is the mylar code really using this proxy setting instead of the normal proxy settings?:

for normal eclipse it is set under:
window/preferences/internet/proxy settings

Thoughts?

I suspect he does not know what CVS or SVN is 🙂

He responded back with:

Hi Andy,

Normal Eclipse proxy settings doesn’t allow you to enter proxy user and authentication password.
Please let me know if the following resolves your issue.

Thanks.

so I responded:

The normal eclipse proxy screen has the following info:

proxy host
proxy port
non-proxy-hostnames
use socks y/n
enable proxy authentication y/n
proxy username
proxy password

See the attached screenshot for reference

Also, note that our proxy here does not use a username or password.

His response the next day was:

Hi Andy,

I have asked R&D for guidance.

In the meantime, it looks to me like your issue goes beyond simple installation and registration support.
I realize you’re currently using JBuilder 2007 Ent Trial and I would like to note that your issue is not covered under installation and registration support.

Best Regards,

Chua, Chee Wee

I never heard back from him.

so, I gave up on XPlanner.

ProjectAssist Installation Errors (part 4)

Because of install issues with ProjectAssist (it would not successfully install Bugzilla or Xplanner) I manually installed all the components, including:

1. Tomcat 5.5.23
2. Apache 2.2.4
3. Mysql 5.0.37
4. Perl 5.8.8.817 (ActiveState)
5. Liferay 4.2.1
6. Continuum 1.0.3
7. Xplanner 0.7b
8. Bugzilla 3.0
9. Subversion 1.4.3

All of the separate components are working beautifully under Windows 2000.

I have installed all the stack components, so it should not have any installing to do, just connect to the pre-existing components and configure users and projects etc.

When I try and run the ProjectAssist wizard though it detects Bugzilla, Continuum & Xplanner, but does not detect Liferay or subversion.

It then complains that does not like the fact that I have already installed Apache.

Why does it need it’s own Apache?

I assume it is because it did not find Liferay and/or subversion? Liferay runs under tomcat, so it would need Apache, I assume that is the cause. As to why ProjectAssist did not find my installation of Liferay, I can not determine that answer, since the install log does not gave any errors about Liferay. When I installed it, I did so according to the Liferay docs, following their defaults. I can only assume that the way CodeGear configured their version is different and they are expecting it to be installed in a non-default location.

Subversion was also installed in the default location, so it should have been found.

So all my stack components are working after a manual installation, but ProjectAssist itself is still not working.

ProjectAssist Installation Errors (part 3)

Moving along, I decided to try the ProjectAssist install on a different machine, which we will be using for a development server, instead of doing it on my standalone XP workstation. Maybe the installer will work better on this environment.

I did a fresh install of Windows 2000 SP4, and then installed Project Assist, using all the defaults except

1. install dir was c:\dev
2. data dir was c:\dev\data
3. added the smtp url & port.
4. I added a settings.xmp file to .m2 dir to handle the maven proxy access.
5. I added perl’s environment variable to handle the perl proxy access.

When the installer finished, it displayed a list of all errors (shown below). There were lots of them.

Here are the reported errors: