Code::Blocks and Makefiles

WARNING: this article is outdated

CB does not, by default, use makefiles it has its own .cbp files which do the same thing automatically. There are a few reasons that you might want to use a makefile. You maybe migrating a project that has a makefile into CB. Another possibility is wanting to take a project out of CB.

Needing to use a pre-processor is not a valid reason to use a makefile as CB has a pre/post build option. From the menu project->build options there appears a tab with pre/post build steps that can be used for this purpose.

This document deals with makefiles using mingw32-make 3.81, CB 8.02 and Wxwidgets 2.8 on Windows Vista, although I’m sure most of it will apply to other configurations.

If you decide that you want to use your own makefile, you need to enter the screen from project->Properties and you will see a tick box for 'this is a custom makefile'. Tick this box, make sure the name just above it is the one you want for your makefile.

You should also look at project->build options. There is a tab called 'Make commands' (you have to scroll the tabs horizontally to get to it). In the field 'build project/target' you should see the line $make -f $makefile $target. Assuming you're in debug mode $target will probably be called 'debug' which is probably not what you want. You should change $target to your output file's name (with the .exe extension and without the leading $).

One other useful addition is in Project->Project Tree->Edit File types and categories. If you add makefiles with the mask *.mak (CB seems to prefer .mak to .mk) you will be able to add your makefile with the extension .mak to the project and it will appear in the project management pane on the left.

Assuming you are going to edit the makefile within CB you should make sure that the editor uses tabs (as opposed to spaces). This is a generic problem with make as it needs to start command lines with a tab character and many editors replace tabs with spaces. To set this in CB, open the settings->editor window and check the tickbox for use tab character.

The real problems start now however. CB’s automatic makefile adds all the headers for Wxwidgets, but if you use a makefile, all this is turned off and you have to do this yourself.

Fortunately CB has another feature that can come to your rescue. If you go to menu Settings->Compiler and Debugger, scroll the tabs horizontally to the right end and you will find the tab ‘other settings’. In there click on the tick box for ‘Save build to HTML …’. This will cause CB to create, at build time, an HTML file that records all the build commands.

If you compile (without using a makefile – so if you’ve already reset everything –sorry) the default Wxwidgets minimum program, you can see the compiler and linker commands that produce this file.

Assuming that you are going to use this as the basis for your project, you can use the content of the HTML file produced as the basis of your makefile.

You can’t just copy it from the HTML viewer in CB (there’s no such facility in CB) but you can load the file into a browser or editor and copy it from there. It can be found in your project directory with <the_same_name_as_your_project>_build_log.HTML. Sadly it will require a little tweaking as shown below.

Here’s a copy of a build file for the basic Wxwidgets program as described above.

mingw32-make.exe -f test.mak test.exe

mingw32-g++.exe -pipe -mthreads -D__GNUWIN32__ -D__WXMSW__ -DWXUSINGDLL -DwxUSE_UNICODE -Wall -g -D__WXDEBUG__ -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\contrib\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll\mswud -c C:\Development\test\testApp.cpp -o obj\Debug\testApp.o

mingw32-g++.exe -pipe -mthreads -D__GNUWIN32__ -D__WXMSW__ -DWXUSINGDLL -DwxUSE_UNICODE -Wall -g -D__WXDEBUG__ -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\contrib\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll\mswud -c C:\Development\test\testMain.cpp -o obj\Debug\testMain.o

windres -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\contrib\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll\mswud -iC:\Development\test\resource.rc -o obj\Debug\resource.coff

mingw32-g++.exe -LC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll -o bin\Debug\test.exe obj\Debug\testApp.o obj\Debug\testMain.o obj\Debug\resource.coff -lwxmsw28ud -mwindows

Process terminated with status 0 (0 minutes, 12 seconds)
0 errors, 0 warnings

The above can be converted to the makefile below. I have deliberately left it fairly close to the HTML file output.

# test program makefile

Incpath1 = C:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\include
Incpath2 = C:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\contrib\include
Incpath3 = C:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll\mswud

Libpath = C:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll

flags = -pipe -mthreads -D__GNUWIN32__ -D__WXMSW__ -DWXUSINGDLL -DwxUSE_UNICODE -Wall -g -D__WXDEBUG__

CXX = mingw32-g++.exe

test.exe : obj\Debug\testApp.o obj\Debug\testMain.o obj\Debug\resource.coff
    $(CXX) -L$(Libpath) -o bin\Debug\test.exe obj\Debug\testApp.o obj\Debug\testMain.o obj\Debug\resource.coff -lwxmsw28ud -mwindows

obj\Debug\testMain.o : C:\Development\test\testMain.cpp
    $(CXX) $(flags) -I$(Incpath1) -I$(Incpath2) -I$(Incpath3) -c C:\Development\test\testMain.cpp -o obj\Debug\testMain.o

obj\Debug\testApp.o : C:\Development\test\testApp.cpp
    $(CXX) $(flags) -I$(Incpath1) -I$(Incpath2) -I$(Incpath3) -c C:\Development\test\testApp.cpp -o obj\Debug\testApp.o

obj\Debug\resource.coff : C:\Development\test\resource.rc
    windres -I$(Incpath1) -I$(Incpath2) -I$(Incpath3) -iC:\Development\test\resource.rc -oobj\Debug\resource.coff

# original output from codeblocks compilation
# note I've had to add compiling the .res file
#
# mingw32-g++.exe -pipe -mthreads -D__GNUWIN32__ -D__WXMSW__ -DWXUSINGDLL -DwxUSE_UNICODE -Wall -Wall -g -D__WXDEBUG__
# -Wall -g -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\contrib\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll\mswud
# -c C:\Development\test\testApp.cpp -o obj\Debug\testApp.o

# mingw32-g++.exe -pipe -mthreads -D__GNUWIN32__ -D__WXMSW__ -DWXUSINGDLL -DwxUSE_UNICODE -Wall -Wall -g -D__WXDEBUG__
# -Wall -g -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\contrib\include -IC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll\mswud
# -c C:\Development\test\testMain.cpp -o obj\Debug\testMain.o

# mingw32-g++.exe -LC:\PF\wxWidgets2.8\lib\gcc_dll -o bin\Debug\test.exe obj\Debug\testApp.o obj\Debug\testMain.o
# obj\Debug\resource.res -lwxmsw28ud -mwindows

I have written a generic makefile which I have only tested on Windows Vista but that should work with any project started as described above. You have to change the name of the project and set the paths as appropriate (you will probably only need to change Ppath and WXpath).

# Generic program makefile
# -- assumes that you name your directory with same name as the project file
# -- eg project test is in <development path>\test\

# Project name and version
Proj := test
Version := Debug

#paths for Project (Ppath) Object files (Opath) and binary path (Bpath)
Ppath := C:\Development\$(Proj)
Opath := obj\$(Version)
Bpath := bin\$(Version)

#Library & header paths
WXpath := C:\PF\wxWidgets2.8
IncWX := $(WXpath)\include
IncCON := $(WXpath)\contrib\include
IncMSW := $(WXpath)\lib\gcc_dll\mswud
Libpath := $(WXpath)\lib\gcc_dll

flags = -pipe -mthreads -D__GNUWIN32__ -D__WXMSW__ -DWXUSINGDLL -DwxUSE_UNICODE -Wall -g -D__WXDEBUG__

CXX = mingw32-g++.exe

Obj := $(Opath)\$(Proj)App.o $(Opath)\$(Proj)Main.o $(Opath)\resource.coff

$(Proj).exe : $(Obj)
    $(CXX) -L$(Libpath) -o $(Bpath)\$(Proj).exe $(Obj) -lwxmsw28ud -mwindows

$(Opath)\$(Proj)Main.o : $(Ppath)\$(Proj)Main.cpp
    $(CXX) $(flags) -I$(IncWX) -I$(IncCON) -I$(IncMSW) -c $^ -o $@

$(Opath)\$(Proj)App.o : C:\Development\$(Proj)\$(Proj)App.cpp
    $(CXX) $(flags) -I$(IncWX) -I$(IncCON) -I$(IncMSW) -c $^ -o $@

$(Opath)\resource.coff : C:\Development\$(Proj)\resource.rc
    windres -I$(IncWX) -I$(IncCON) -I$(IncMSW) -i$^ -o $@

.PHONEY : clean

clean:
    del $(Bpath)\$(Proj).exe $(Obj) $(Opath)\resource.coff

Note: exporting a makefile of a Code::Blocks project is indirectly possible.

Gavrillo 22:34, 21 May 2010 (UTC)