Q: Want to port to Linux.. Which?

[Van]

We would like to port our code over to the Linux platform. Which Linux version out there is developer friendly and will be the most "portable"?
We use Microsoft VS 2008 + SVN. We have made a conservative effort to use portable libraries and code.
I tried to port once before (a year ago or so) using Red Hat that someone gave me (version 4?). I got frustrated because it doesn't have an IDE similar to MVS.
We would like one that has a nice IDE (or an IDE that we can load up).

What Linux would you recommend?
What IDE, if any, would you recommend?

[jacmoe]

KDevelop or Eclipse.

Other alternatives are Code::Blocks or CodeLite.

Eclipse gets my vote - never cared much for it on Windows, but I like it on Linux.

Of course, there are commercial options as well.

Magic C++ is an option, if you prefer to work in Windows against a Linux server:
http://www.magicunix.com/

CodeForge IDE:
http://www.codeforge.com/features_view.php?t=FEAT_CFI#

Slickedit:
http://www.slickedit.com/content/view/73/60

Take your pick.

[jacmoe]

Found BVRDE which is free.
Again, it connects to a Linux server, which means you can stay comfy on Windows and develop on Linux.
Even though it looks abandoned, I checked the CVS repository for activity: it lives.

<edit>
Al right, I'll stop now..
</edit>

[Van]

Does it matter which linux platform I use?
I'm looking at Ubuntu.

[xavier]

Does it matter which linux platform I use?

No

I'm looking at Ubuntu.

That's probably the easiest from a usability standpoint.

[jacmoe]

Ubuntu is modern and widely used - a good choice for starters.
If you want to test on a RPM based system, try OpenSuse.

[SomeFusion]

I vote for Ubuntu + Qt Creator, you can use the IDE without Qt. At least it has the best code completion around and is much simpler than many other IDEs.

[Bontakun]

I vote for Ubuntu + Qt Creator, you can use the IDE without Qt. At least it has the best code completion around and is much simpler than many other IDEs.

I agree with SomeFusion.

Ubuntu is a great choice for a Linux distro. Other distros can be added after you port to Ubuntu.

Also Qt Creator is a very good IDE (usable under Linux and Windows). I would also recommend the Qt toolkit for your GUI needs, and in fact most cross platform needs as well. (Can compile a Qt program for Linux and Windows.) I've also used Eclipse which is very capable.

[Van]

Thanks for the help. I'm trying QT Creator

Does anyone know of a way to import the Microsoft solution into QT Creator? Our solution is very large and I dread having to do it manually.

[jacmoe]

You are using Visual Studio Professional?
If you are, you can use QTs VS addin, which allows you to manage both build systems:

Qt's Visual Studio integration provides a way to combine both approaches so that you don't have to manually maintain .pro files and .vcproj files in parallel. You start by creating a .vcproj file as usual. The day you want a qmake .pro file, you can click Qt|Create Basic .pro File to generate a .pro file where you can store Unix and/or Mac OS X specific settings.

Looks like we've got a winner?

[Van]

I feel silly.
I saw that add-in but it don't see where it stated what you quoted!

But thanks!

*edit
Ah, there it is... Totally missed that.

[Van]

OK,I'm still lost here. I'm trying to figure out QT.

I downloaded Qt Creator 1.1.1 Binary for Windows (29Mb) but I can't seem to compile anything. It says I need to pick a QT Version. It's set to auto but it also says "NOT FOUND".

I also dowloaded the MVS plugin but when I try to make a PRO file it says it "Can't find any Qt4 projects to export".

And here I thought this was going to be simple. I suspect I am missing something.

[SomeFusion]

I can't help you with the MVS plugin. For your QT Creator problem try using the Qt SDK. It has everything it needs readily configured. You can get the SDK here. http://www.qtsoftware.com/downloads/sdk-windows-cpp
The download size is bigger but you don't have to setup the IDE yourself.

[jacmoe]

Van:
Maybe you can use the Ruby converter script from CMake wiki?
It converts vc project files to CMake scripts.
I tried it, it's not perfect, but it was a great starting point.
If you use CMake, you can do anything.
I used KDevelop with it, telling it that the project was using a custom make script.
(I know it supports CMake based projects, but I couldn't figure it out).

[Bontakun]

Tsk jacmoe, you recommending something you've never used...

The Qt VS integration addon is helpful for creating and working on QT library projects with VS (using a VS project file). It doesn't _automatically_ help swapping projects from VS to QtCreator.

To use QtCreator as your IDE, you need to use QtCreator to assemble a QtCreator project file. Then you could swap the QtCreator project file between your Windows and Linux environments with ease.

QtCreator knows about CMake (which jacmoe suggested). You can get the Windows CMake package and tell QtCreator where CMake is. Using CMake with QtCreator on Linux should be easier.

QtCreator seems to have default build steps using qmake, then make. You may need to manually add a CMake step.

[jacmoe]

Tsk jacmoe, you recommending something you've never used...

I've used the Ruby script for converting vcproj's. It works, but it's not perfect.
I suspect that the QT integration only works with QT projects, which makes it useless in Van's case.
What other options are there?
Maybe this? -> http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cross-pla ... n2mak.aspx
(No, I haven't tried that )

[Van]

Thanks to everyone for their help.

The QT VS Add-In is deceiving. It doesn't appear to do what I would like it to do. The QT IDE appears to missing some things. I haven't spent a lot of time researching it but I can't seem to figure out where to add include paths and library dependencies. Eh, It would appear I have been spoiled by Microsoft to much.

BTW, that previous post from jacmoe on making a Linux makefile shows promise.