Extending the Eclipse CDT Managed Build System

Defining a Tool-chain for MBS

You provide a tool-chain definition by plugging into the MBS tool definition extension point, org.eclipse.cdt.managedbuilder.core.buildDefinitions. The extension point defines an XML schema that lets you describe the tools in your tool-chain. See Figure 1 for the object model used by the schema. If you have access to the CDT source code, see org.eclipse.cdt.managedbuilder.core/schema/buildDefinitions.exsd.

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Figure 1: The MBS Object Model

The schema is used both by the MBS extension point and by the MBS-specific project file that stores the user's modifications to a project's properties. If you have an MBS project, examine the .CDtbuild file (see Listing Two for an example). MBS provides reference tool-chain definitions for GNU C/C++ on many different development platforms. If you have access to the CDT source code, see org.eclipse.cdt.managedbuilder.gnu.ui/plugin.xml.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<?fileVersion 3.0.0?>

<ManagedProjectBuildInfo>
<project
   id="HelloWorld.cdt.managedbuild.target.gnu.cygwin.exe.554942561"
   name="Executable (Gnu on Windows)"
   projectType="cdt.managedbuild.target.gnu.cygwin.exe">
   <configuration
     id="cdt.managedbuild.config.gnu.cygwin.exe.debug.2090460160"
     name="Debug"
     parent="cdt.managedbuild.config.gnu.cygwin.exe.debug"
     artifactName="HelloWorld"
     errorParsers=  "org.eclipse.cdt.core.MakeErrorParser;org.eclipse.cdt.core.GCCErrorParse r;org.eclipse.cdt.core.GLDErrorParser;org.eclipse.cdt.core.GASErrorParse r"
     artifactExtension="exe"
     cleanCommand="rm -rf">
     <toolChain
       superClass="cdt.managedbuild.toolchain.gnu.cygwin.exe.debug"
       id="cdt.managedbuild.toolchain.gnu.cygwin.exe.debug.273781351"
       name="GCC Tool Chain">
       <tool
          superClass="cdt.managedbuild.tool.gnu.c.compiler.cygwin.exe.debug"
         id="cdt.managedbuild.tool.gnu.c.compiler.cygwin.exe.debug. 1350170342"
         name="GCC C Compiler">
         <option
           superClass="gnu.c.compiler.option.preprocessor.def.symbols"
           id="gnu.c.compiler.option.preprocessor.def.symbols. 228974839"
           valueType="definedSymbols">
           <listOptionValue
              value="DEBUG"
              builtIn="false" />
         </option>
       </tool>
       <tool
           superClass="cdt.managedbuild.tool.gnu.c.linker.cygwin.exe.debug"
          id="cdt.managedbuild.tool.gnu.c.linker.cygwin.exe.debug. 686918536"
          name="GCC C Linker" />
       <tool
           superClass="cdt.managedbuild.tool.gnu.assembler.cygwin.exe.debug"
          id="cdt.managedbuild.tool.gnu.assembler.cygwin.exe.debug. 416825853"
          name="GCC Assembler" />
     </toolChain>
   </configuration>
</project>
</ManagedProjectBuildInfo>

You define the majority of your tool-chain integration statically in your XML implementation of the schema. MBS defines a number of attributes in the schema where you can specify a Java class that provides dynamic behavior for your tool-chain. You don't have to implement any of the dynamic behavior, but some may be desirable to your users. For instance, you could implement a Java class that defines the environment variables that must be set up in order to run the tools in your tool-chain. This relieves users from having to set up your tool environment before invoking Eclipse.