How to build LLVM source code on Eclipse?

Question

I am trying to add a new pass to the llvm compiler infrastructure. I have been able to build LLVM-2.9 using make.But I wants to build using Eclipse so that I can trace the code. I imported llvm source files to c++ project with LinuxGcc tool chain and CDT internal builder(Eclipse with CDT-7.0).But it gives some errors. Is this is a right way to build llvm using eclipse?. Please suggest me steps involved to build llvm source using Eclipse. Note: Platform ubuntu.

Answer 1

1. Tools/versions used by me:

   • eclipse 4.3 Kepler, CDT 8.2.1
   • Oracle Java SDK 1.7.0_45
   • cmake 2.8.11.2
   • LLVM 3.5svn

2. Create a folder for CDT project files in your workspace. I.e. workspace/llvm.

3. Generate CDT project files with cmake (being in workspace/llvm):

   cmake -G "Eclipse CDT4 - Unix Makefiles" -D_ECLIPSE_VERSION=4.3 ../../src/llvm
   

   If eclipse version is not set the generator will assume 3.7 and inform you that it can be changed by CMAKE_ECLIPSE_VERSION option, what turns out to be the wrong name for that option.

4. Increase eclipse heap allocation size. The default setting is too small and C++ Indexer would hang the whole IDE. Replace default settings with

   -Xms512m
   -Xmx1024m
   

   in eclipse.ini file.

5. Import the project into your workspace. File → Import... → General → Existing Projects into Workspace.

6. The project llvm can be built as one (option Build Project). There are also separated targets created for every lib and executable, placed in [Targets] folder. Individual target can be built with option Make Targets → Build...

Answer 2

You can use cmake -G"Eclipse CDT4 - Unix Makefiles" to produce the native Eclipse set of projects. It might require tweaking your CMakeLists.txt to remove the check for in-source builds (since Eclipse can only support project files and sources in the same directory, but for some reason the current CMakeLists allows it for MSVS only) - just follow the error messages.