Xcode 13 and Linux Makefile

Question

Created Jan ’22

Replies 1

Boosts 0

Views 3.8k

Participants 2

I'v searched and it seems all the answers are from are from many years ago. I'm working on a network security command line research tool for Linux/Mac that currently uses a Makefile. I wanted to use the Xcode debugger, so I tried to build an Xcode project, but I'm having some final difficulties.

I created a new project of type command line tool with external build target in the project directory. The default was to use /usr/bin/make. It ended up in a subdirectory, and based on several older web resources, I moved the project file up to the folder with the makefile. I added the source files in the folder to the project and right now I can edit and build from Xcode without difficulty.

The issue is that the final executable ends up in a subfolder called bin, and I can't seem to discover how to tell Xcode that that is the final executable. All of the resources I've found talk about adding a custom executable to the target from the project menu, but that menu no longer exists. Searching project help doesn't seem to point to any setting for the executable produced by an external build process. The closest build setting I could find was PROJECT_NAME, but changing that didn't seem to help.

Thanks.

Answered by DTS Engineer in 700519022

Xcode supports this really nicely but setting it up is a bit tricky. I took a run at this today and was quite happy with the results. Here’s what I did:

On macOS 12.1, I started with a Hello directory that contains my source file and a make file:

% find hello 
hello
hello/hello.c
hello/Makefile
% cat hello/hello.c 
#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
    printf("Hello Cruel World!\n");
}
% cat hello/Makefile 
hello: hello.c
        cc -o hello -g hello.c

IMPORTANT The second line in hello/Makefile starts with a tab.

I run Xcode 13.2.1 and chose File > New > Project and selected Other > External Build System. I named it XHello, just to keep things clear.
I closed that project window.
This left me with the following structure on disk:
```
% find XHello 
XHello
XHello/XHello.xcodeproj
… lots of Xcode goo …
```
I used the Finder to move XHello.xcodeproj to my hello directory.
I opened that in Xcode.
I chose Product > Build to check that it actually builds.
I chose Product > Scheme > Edit Scheme to get to the scheme editor.
In Run > Info there’s an Executable popup. I chose Other from the menu and then selected the hello executable that Xcode built in step 5.
I chose Product > Run. Xcode ran the tool and displayed its output.
I chose File > Add Files to “XHello” and added hello.c to the project.
I selected hello.c on the left.
I set a breakpoint on the printf line.
I chose Product > Run. Xcode stopped at the breakpoint (with source code and everything).

Neat-o!

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Boost

Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Jan ’22

Accepted Answer