I've been busy working on the CDT integration with the Windows SDK and, at the moment the Windows debug engine, to support C++ development using this SDK as a choice over cygwin/mingw for Windows development. As I've mentioned previously, I'm keen on getting Eclipse and the CDT in a state where it can be useful for Windows developers and open up a whole new community to this great thing we've got going with Eclipse.
Taking a break from debugging the debugger yesterday, I tripped over a Slashdot article that said there was going to be a press conference webcast at 5 p.m. EST announcing a partnership between Microsoft and Novell on Linux. After checking the calendar to mare sure it wasn't April 1, I tuned in. Watching the proceedings, I got that feeling I was watching history, like when Wayne Gretzky announced his retirement. Time will tell whether Microsoft entering the Linux/open source world will change anything, but today, it looks pretty significant.
What was clear was that it is more like Microsoft grudgingly admitting Linux is important with its customers, than Microsoft throwing in the towel. But I think that is an important admission that will change how the open source world views Microsoft and, more importantly, how the Microsoft world views open source and Linux in particular.
Which brings me back to my Windows SDK integration. One of the visions we had for the CDT in the early days, was for the CDT to be the cross platform development environment that eases the transition for Windows developers who want to start working on Linux apps. It was great in theory, but the demand didn't really materialize (and neither did the community). Time will tell whether this announcement changes that. But in the meantime, it has given me a little extra energy to try and make sure the Windows SDK integration happens for both C++ and C# (Mono may have been given a boost with this also) to at least make the path easier to follow.
Interestingly enough I need to do the C++ integration first so that I can build the debug integration for the CLR which need to be written in C++. I do have an individual contributor who is working on the build integration but only in his spare time.
ReplyDeleteWhat is meant with MSVC tool chain support? Is someone really working on debugging MSVC compiled executables with Eclipse?
ReplyDeleteYes. The debugging APIs are part of the Windows SDK and I am working on integrating them with the CDT Debug engine.
ReplyDeleteWell, that sounds great - and seen the problems many people have with Visual Studio 2005 this might help to migrate. By the way, how is the current state of this Windows debugger project? Is there already need for beta testers?
ReplyDeleteNice to read that CDT will support also other C++ compiler than GNU/cygwin. Sometime it is necessary to use an other one like MSVC - the old problem of incompatbile object code generated by C++ compilers. But I have a question. Why has a project a project type as "Executable (Gnu)" but not "Executable" allone? The platform dependencies should be the second step. So I can not open an CDT project on another platform as I would like to have teh chance. Do you know SNiFF+ (Erich Gamma was one of the fathers in the 90th)? SNiFF is dead but the ideas were very nice in my eyes. There were well defined terms as workspace, platform, working environment (the combination of platform an workspace), and the platform dependencies were to be described in one short makefile fragment. I think that some of these ideas should be interesting for CDT.
ReplyDeleteIn CDT 4.0, there will be a common category for Executable with toolchain as the second choice.
ReplyDeleteWhere do I sign up for the beta tester program? I'd like to get my hands as soon as possible. I'm tired of having to use Visual Studio .NET, and I'd like to get back eclipse as soon as I can.
ReplyDelete