Eclipse Project CDT (C/C++) Plugin Tutorial 1, 2
By Brian Lee
Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Last revised: February 20, 2004
Overview:
This tutorial describes the installation of the Eclipse Project CDT (C/C++ Development
Tools) plugin on the Windows platform (running under Linux is mentioned at the end of
this tutorial). It describes the entire installation process in detail and is intended for
developers who are familiar with the Eclipse environment and would like to develop
C/C++ applications in this environment. As a result, it has been assumed that Eclipse has
already been installed and that the developer has a basic understanding of how to use
Eclipse. To learn more about the Eclipse Project, please visit:
http://www.eclipse.org
In addition, this tutorial is especially useful for students who are uncomfortable writing
C/C++ applications in a UNIX or Linux console environment. By using the Eclipse CDT
plugin, students can develop C/C++ applications within the Eclipse IDE which provides
an intuitive GUI for development. As well, applications developed this way require
minimal effort in porting to a UNIX or Linux environment.
Requirements:
This tutorial has been written in a Windows XP Professional environment, satisfying the
following requirements:
Java 2 SDK v1.4.1
Eclipse v2.1
MinGW v3.0.0-1
CDT v1.1.0 GA
1 This work was funded by an IBM Eclipse Innovation Grant.
2 © Brian Lee and David Scuse
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University of Manitoba
Tutorial 7 – Page 1
CDT (C/C++) Plugin
www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~eclipse
For instructions on how to install Eclipse, please refer to the following document:
http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~eclipse/1-Install.pdf
Links to downloading MinGW and the Eclipse CDT plugin will be mentioned later in this
document.
Installing and Setting Up MinGW:
In order to be able to compile C and C++ source code using Eclipse, it is necessary to
install a C/C++ compiler for Windows. There are several C/C++ compilers available for
Windows but MinGW has been selected for this tutorial due to its easy installation and
configuration. MinGW is based on GNU toolsets and provides the header files and
libraries needed for C/C++ development. At the time of writing this tutorial, the latest
version of MinGW that has been tested to work properly with the Eclipse CDT plugin is
version 3.0.0-1. To download MinGW, please visit the following site:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/
Click on the Released: MinGW-3.0.0-1.exe link.
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University of Manitoba
Tutorial 7 – Page 2
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www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~eclipse
Click on the link to download the file to your system.
Once the download is complete, locate the file on your system and double-click on the
file to begin the installation of MinGW.
1.) Click Yes to continue with the installation of MinGW.
Click Next to continue.
2.) Click Yes to accept the License Agreement.
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University of Manitoba
Tutorial 7 – Page 3
CDT (C/C++) Plugin
www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~eclipse
Note: Unlike other ports of GCC to Windows, the runtime libraries are not distributed
using GNU's General Public License (GPL). You, therefore, do not have to distribute
your source code with your programs unless, of course, you use a GPL library in your
programs.3
3.) Click Next to continue.
4.) Install MinGW to the following directory: C:\MinGW\
Note: If you install to another directory, remember the directory you install to as it
will be used later in this tutorial to complete the installation of the plugin.
3 Taken from: http://www.mingw.org/mingwfaq.shtml
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University of Manitoba
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5.) Click Install to continue.
The following screen shows the progress of the installation. MinGW installs a
number of GNU GCC and binutils projects, including GDB which is very useful in
debugging your C/C++ applications.
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University of Manitoba
Tutorial 7 – Page 5
CDT (C/C++) Plugin
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6.) Click Finish to exit the setup of MinGW.
7.) In order for your system to recognize the MinGW executables from any directory
without having to type the full path of the command, the PATH variable needs to be
modified:
a. Click on Start Control Panel.
b. Double-click on System.
c. Click on the Advanced tab and then Environment Variables.
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University of Manitoba
Tutorial 7 – Page 6
CDT (C/C++) Plugin
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d. Select Path under the System Variables section and click on Edit.
e. Assuming that MinGW has been installed to C:\MinGW, add the
following to the end of the Variable value:
;C:\MinGW\bin
Note: The semi-colon is used to separate different directories for the
PATH variable and must precede the pathname C:\MinGW\bin. Also,
please make sure that there are no spaces between the semi-colon and
the path name!
f. Click OK, then OK, and OK again to apply the changes.
8.) To verify that the installation of MinGW is successful and that the PATH variable has
been changed correctly, perform the following steps:
a. Click on Start Run …
b. Type cmd into the dialog box and press OK.
c. Type the following into the command prompt and then press ENTER:
gcc –v
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University of Manitoba
Tutorial 7 – Page 7
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d. If the output of the above command is similar to the screen shown below,
then you have successfully installed MinGW and changed the PATH
variable:
e. If the output of the above command is similar to the screen shown below,
this means that the PATH variable has not been changed successfully.
Follow the instructions carefully on the previous pages to change the
PATH variable:
9.) After verifying that MinGW has been installed and that the PATH variable has been
changed successfully, you are ready to install the Eclipse CDT plugin.
Installing the Eclipse CDT Plugin:
Now that your system is ready to compile C/C++ applications, download the Eclipse
CDT plugin at the following site: http://www.eclipse.org/cdt/
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University of Manitoba
Tutorial 7 – Page 8
CDT (C/C++) Plugin
www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~eclipse