Question

I have a program which consists of multiple projects in eclipse (working under ubuntu and the projects being in c++), these projects consist of a main executable file, and other shared objects files and static libs.

I want all these projects when built to output their files to one common binary folder, instead of their respective debug folders. This is to make linking easier with the main executable. If there are better solutions please also feel free to share.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, I have found that the C/C++ Build tab does not allow you to set the build location unless you are creating your own makefile.

You’ve likely found that the Builder Settings tab under Project Properties>C/C++ Build is all grayed out in a default C/C++ project. This is because CDT nominates the internal builder by default for new projects. To change this, you can go to Project Properties>C/C++ Build>Tool Chain Editor and change the Current Builder to Gnu Make Builder. Next, go to Project Properties>C/C++ Build and change the Builder Type to External Builder. You can now opt to create your own makefile for the project, if you like; though I’d recommend leaving CDT to build the makefile automatically for now.

I have the same project requirements of outputting to a /project_path/bin (though I still maintain separation between Debug and Release builds). To do this, I perform a copy operation on the output as a post-build step.

To do this, go to Project Properties>C/C++ Build>Settings and select the Build Steps tab. In the Post-build steps under Command:, enter:

cp ${BuildArtifactFilePrefix}${BuildArtifactFileName} "/path/to/bin/directory/";

Obviously replacing the “/path/to/bin/directory/” as required.

I personally prefer to maintain my project files in a workspace/build directory; copying binaries to a workspace/bin directory and libraries to a workspace/lib directory. At first I found this copy workaround to be an inconvenience, but have come to appreciate it because it isolates the interstitial build files from the final binary/library.

For binaries, I would use:

cp ${BuildArtifactFilePrefix}${BuildArtifactFileName} "${WorkspaceDirPath}/bin/";

For libraries, I would use:

cp ${BuildArtifactFilePrefix}${BuildArtifactFileName} "${WorkspaceDirPath}/lib/";

I include the variable “${BuildArtifactFilePrefix}” because CDT includes “lib” as a default prefix for static libraries, which I actually prefer.

You just need to ensure that the target directory exists before building; Eclipse/CDT will not create the directory for you.

Also, just remember that these copies will be left behind in the /bin or /lib directory on clean, but overwritten on any subsequent rebuild.