Software Development Environment (SDE)

This document contains information about how to install and use the Software Development Environment (SDE), a set of tools for managing a simple environment for C++/C software development. The SDE has proven quite useful for the purposes of teaching programming courses that use C++/C at the University of Victoria.

The SDE includes the following packages:

* Aristotle
* Boost
* Catch2
* CGAL
* Clang
* CMake
* GCC
* Gcovr
* GDB
* GSL
* JasPer
* Lcov
* libcxx
* Ndiff
* SPL
* TeX Live
* Vim
* Vim LSP
* YouCompleteMe (YCM)

In addition, the SDE contains some scripts for managing the SDE itself.

Installing the SDE

In what follows, let $INSTALL_DIR denote a new (nonexistent) directory in which to install the SDE; and let $REPO_DIR denote a new (nonexistent) directory in which to clone the SDE repository.

To install the SDE, perform the following steps (in order):

1. Clone the Git repository for the SDE with the command:

   git clone https://github.com/mdadams/sde.git $REPO_DIR

2. Run the SDE installer with the command:

   $REPO_DIR/installer -d $INSTALL_DIR

This step will download, build, and install all of the software that is part of the SDE.

Using the SDE: Initialization

For the remainder of this document, $SDE_TOP_DIR will be used to denote the top-level directory of the SDE software installation. (This is the directory containing a directory called "packages".) All later occurences of $SDE_TOP_DIR in this document should be read as if they were replaced by the top-level directory of the SDE.

In order for the SDE to be used, it must first be initialized. This can be accomplished via the sde_shell or sde_make_setup commands as described below. Of these two commands, sde_shell is simpler to use.

The sde_shell Command

The sde_shell command will start a new shell that is initialized to use the SDE. In the case of the Bash shell, a modified command prompt is employed by the new shell in order to make clear that the SDE is being used. The above command ensures that various environment variables are set correctly for the compiler, linker, and/or dynamic linker. This initialization must be done correctly or it may not be possible to compile, link, and/or execute programs.

To invoke the sde_shell command, type:

$SDE_TOP_DIR/bin/sde_shell

The sde_make_setup Command

The sde_make_setup command simply prints (to standard output) the commands necessary for a particular shell to initialize the SDE. Currently, this command only supports the bash and tcsh shells. Since the sde_make_setup command only prints the commands required for initialization without causing them to be executed, it is the responsibility of the user to use the printed commands appropriately (i.e., by executing them). How this is done depends on the particular shell being used.

To invoke the sde_make_setup command, causing it to print the sequence of commands required for initialization in the case of the shell $shell, where $shell is either bash or tcsh, type:

$SDE_TOP_DIR/bin/sde_make_setup -s $shell

Of course, simply running the preceding command does not actually do any initialization since it only prints commands without causing them to be executed.

If you use the bash shell, you can run sde_make_setup and cause the commands output by sde_make_setup to be executed by typing:

eval `$SDE_TOP_DIR/bin/sde_make_setup -s bash`

Furthermore, by adding the preceding command to your bash_profile file (i.e., $HOME/.bash_profile), you can initialize the SDE automatically in each new bash shell that you start. (Note that adding the command to your bashrc file may not work, since, on some systems, the login shell does not read the bashrc file.)

If you use the tcsh shell, you can run sde_make_setup and cause the commands output by sde_make_setup to be executed by typing:

eval `$SDE_TOP_DIR/bin/sde_make_setup -s tcsh`

Furthermore, by adding this command to your tcshrc file (i.e., $HOME/.tcshrc) or login file (i.e., $HOME/.login), you can initialize the SDE automatically in each new tcsh shell that you start.

Using the SDE: After Initialization

After the SDE has been initialized, all of the commands that are part of the SDE should be on your (command) search path. The commands that are most likely to be of interest are as follows:

g++
gcc
clang++
clang
cmake
gdb
vim
ctest
latex
pdflatex
imgcmp

Do not change the PATH environment variable, except through the use of the sde_shell or sde_make_setup commands.

Do not change the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable, except through the use of the sde_shell or sde_make_setup commands.

Do not add /usr/include to the include search path.

Do not add /lib, /lib64, /usr/lib, /usr/lib64, or other such directories to the library search path.