What is the best way to integrate an external build tool into Eclipse?
eclipse, makefile, waf
Solution
You could try and define a Custom builder, calling Waf with the appropriate options for the python compilation step.
(From eclipsejdt alcatel-lucent manual)
That picture (not related to Waf at all) illustrates the fact a builder can be defined as an external tool (meaning any `.bat` or shell you may want to call)
In that "eclipsejdt" example, the custom builder was configured like so:
To set up the builder, bring up the property dialog for project "`jex1p`" by selecting the project in the Package Explorer and selecting `Project > Properties > Builders`. Then click `New...`, select `Program`, and click `OK`.
Configure the builder Main tab using values:
Name : nmbldr_pre
Location : ${system_path:ksh}
Working Directory: ${build_project}
Arguments : nmbldr -p 2 -t ${build_type} -s jpre
Problem
I've just started using Eclipse for Python development since we can make use of a lovely plugin I've found to enable distributed pair-programming. Anyway, the next step to getting Eclipse to integrate properly with our existing environment, would be finding a way to drive our current build tool (Waf) from within the IDE. So the question is, is there a way I can set up Eclipse to drive Waf in a `Make`-like fashion? I see for `Make` it has some quite advanced functionality, such as being able to work out what targets are available etc. Bonus points for telling me if there is a way I could go as far as this! (I suspect the answer is that this is all built in to the Make plugin for Ecplipse).