Configuring the NetBeans IDE for C/C++/Fortran
April 2011 [Revision number: V7.0-1]
This document provides
information about downloading, installing, and configuring C/C++ support in the
NetBeans IDE. Before you can develop in C/C++, the NetBeans IDE requires the
C/C++ plugin module, and third party C/C++ compilers, make utilities, and
debuggers.
Contents
To follow this tutorial, you need the following software and resources.
The NetBeans IDE is a dynamic modular IDE, which means you can change it by
adding and removing modules of the program. You can add functionality by
installing plugin modules, or remove functionality by uninstalling plugin modules.
See the NetBeans IDE online help for more information about plugins.
If you want to work with C, C++, or Fortran programs in the NetBeans IDE,
your NetBeans installation must include the C/C++ plugin.
Although the plugin is named C/C++, it also includes support for Fortran
programming.
If you have not yet installed NetBeans IDE 7.0
If you have not yet
installed the NetBeans IDE, download either the C/C++ bundle or the
All bundle from NetBeans IDE
7.0 Download Page. If you will not be using other languages such as Java and Ruby,
you should download the C/C++ bundle.
If you have NetBeans IDE 7.0 but do not know if you have the C/C++ plugin
If you already have NetBeans IDE, determine if your NetBeans IDE includes the
C/C++ plugin already, by selecting File > New Project.
If C/C++ is listed as one of the Categories, you have the C/C++ plugin module.
You should skip to the section Installing and Setting Up the Compilers and Tools.
If you have NetBeans IDE 7.0 without the C/C++ plugin
If your NetBeans IDE does not show a C/C++ project category when you select
File > New Project, complete the
following steps to add the C/C++ plugin module to the IDE.
- If your network uses a proxy, choose Tools > Options > General in the IDE,
select Manual Proxy Settings, enter the HTTP Proxy and Port for
your proxy, and click OK.
- Choose Tools > Plugins.
- In the Plugins dialog box, click the Available Plugins tab,
and scroll to the C/C++ category.
- Select the C/C++ checkbox and click Install to start the NetBeans IDE Installer.
- In the NetBeans IDE Installer, click Next.
- Read the license agreement, select the checkbox to accept the terms
of the license agreement, and click Next.
- Click Install.
- After the installation completes, select either Restart IDE Now or Restart
IDE Later and click Finish.
The Netbeans C/C++ module requires a C compiler, C++ compiler,
make utility, and gdb debugger. See the following instructions for
the platform of your development system.
Microsoft Windows
The NetBeans C/C++ module has been tested with compilers from Cygwin and
MinGW. If you install both Cygwin and MinGW, be careful to keep their installation
locations completely separate and do not mix tools from Cygwin and MinGW in
one tool collection in the IDE.
If you want to use Qt with Windows, you must use MinGW, which is
included in the Qt SDK. You should not install MinGW separately.
Cygwin Compilers and Tools
The NetBeans C/C++ module has been tested with the following compilers
and tools from Cygwin.com.
| cygwin1.dll |
1.7.7 |
Cygwin Linux-like environment for Windows |
| gcc |
4.3.4 |
Cygwin C compiler |
| g++ |
4.3.4 |
Cygwin C++ compiler |
| gdb |
6.8 |
Cygwin GNU debugger |
| make |
3.81 |
Cygwin make utility |
If you already have the Cygwin gcc and g++ compilers, GNU make, and
gdb debugger installed on your Windows system and
your path is set up correctly to find them, make sure that you have the
correct versions.
To check the versions of your Cygwin compilers and tools:
-
Check the version of Cygwin environment by typing the following commands at a Windows command prompt:
C:\> cygcheck -c cygwin
- Check the versions of the Cygwin gcc and g++ compilers, make, and gdb by
typing the following commands at a Windows command prompt:
C:\> gcc --version
C:\> g++ --version
C:\> make --version
C:\> gdb --version
If you have the correct versions, then no further setup is
necessary. See Verifying the Installation to verify that
the tools are installed correctly for the NetBeans IDE.
To install the GNU gcc and g++ compilers, make, and gdb debugger from
cygwin.com:
- Refer to the Cygwin User's Guide for
complete information about installing and using Cygwin.
- Download the Cygwin setup.exe program by clicking Install Cygwin in the left navigation bar, or by clicking this direct
setup.exe link.
-
Run the setup.exe program. Accept the defaults until you reach
the Select Your Internet Connection page. Select the option on this
page that is best for you. Click Next.
-
On the Choose Download Site page, choose a download site you think
might be relatively close to you. Click Next.
-
On the Select Packages page you select the packages to download. Click
the + next to Devel to expand the development tools category. You may
want to resize the window so you can see more of it at one time.
-
Select each package you want to download by clicking the Skip label
next to it, which reveals the version number of the package to download.
At a minimum, select
- gcc-core: C compiler
- gcc-g++: C++ compiler
- gdb: The GNU Debugger
- make: the GNU version of the 'make' utility
Packages that are required by the packages you
select are automatically selected as well.
- Click Next to connect to the download site and download the packages you
selected, and click Finish when the installation is complete.
-
Now add the Cygwin compiler directory to your path to enable NetBeans IDE
to find the tools collection:
- Open the Control Panel:
- On Windows XP select Start > Settings > Control Panel) and
double-click System.
- On Windows 7, type var in the Start menu's
search box to quickly find a link to Edit the system environment variables.
- Select the Advanced tab and click Environment Variables.
- In the System Variables panel of the Environment Variables dialog,
select the Path variable and
click Edit.
- Add the path to the
cygwin-directory\bin directory to the Path variable, and
click OK. By default, cygwin-directory is
C:\cygwin. Directory names must be separated with a semicolon.
Your edited path should look something like
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem;C:\cygwin\bin
- Click OK in the Environment Variables dialog and the System
Properties dialog.
- See Verifying the Installation to verify that the tools were installed correctly
for the NetBeans IDE.
MinGW Compilers and Tools
NetBeans IDE 7.0 was tested with Minimalist GNU for Windows (MinGW) and the Minimal System (MSYS)
Unix-like environment. Versions tested and installation instructions are shown below.
If you want to use Qt with Windows, you should use the version of MinGW
that is included in the Qt SDK instead of installing MinGW separately.
| gcc |
3.4.5 |
MinGW C compiler |
| g++ |
3.4.5 |
MinGW C++ compiler |
| gdb |
7.0 |
MinGW GNU debugger |
| make |
3.81 |
MSYS make utility
Note that MinGW make is not supported |
To install the GNU compilers, make, and gdb debugger from
mingw.org:
- Log in to Windows using an account with computer administrator privileges.
- Download the self-extracting installer from
How To Install the MinGW (GCC) Compiler Suite on mingw.org or for convenience you
can download from this
direct link.
- Run the MinGW installer in Windows.
- In the MinGW installer, accept the defaults until you get to the Choose Components page.
- On the Choose Components page, select the g++ compiler. The gcc compiler is automatically
included in the installation so it is not a selectable component.
- Do not select MinGW make, as you need to use the make from MSYS instead,
which is downloaded separately. Click Next.
- Use the default C:\MinGW as the destination folder if possible to minimize any potential difficulty with using
the compilers from another location.
- Click Install to install the MinGW tools, then click Next, then click Finish.
- Add the C:\MinGW\bin directory to your path, as described in
Environment Settings
in the MinGW wiki.
- See the installation instructions for MSYS at the MinGW MSYS wiki.
You only need to install the MSYS 1.0 files. You do not need to
install the DTK or the core files mentioned in the wiki page.
- For convenience, you can download from this
direct link to MSYS-1.0.10.exe
- Make sure you are using a Windows account with "computer administrator" privileges when you
install MSYS. The NetBeans IDE might have issues when you try to build and run projects later if MSYS
is installed under a limited user account.
- Run the MSYS-1.0.10.exe installer and accept the defaults.
- To install the gdb debugger, download from this
direct link to gdb-7.0-2-mingw32-bin.tar.gz. You must have a Windows zip utility such
as gzip, 7-zip, or WinZip to extract this gdb archive.
- Unzip the gdb-7.0-2-mingw32-bin.tar.gz to your C:\MinGW directory so that the gdb
executable is installed into your C:\MinGW\bin directory.
- See Verifying the Installation to verify that the tools were installed correctly
for the NetBeans IDE.
Oracle Solaris OS
On the Oracle Solaris OS, you can use GNU tools or Oracle Solaris Studio tools. The GNU
tools are included in Oracle Solaris 10 OS in the /usr/sfw/bin directory by default.
The Oracle Solaris Studio software is a suite of developer tools that are free to download.
The Oracle Solaris Studio compilers are optimized for Sun hardware, and make it
easier to produce performance tuned Oracle Solaris binaries.
NetBeans IDE 7.0 has been tested with the following compilers and tools.
| cc |
5.9, 5.10, 5.11 |
Sun Studio 12, Sun Studio 12 Update 1, and Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 C compilers |
| CC |
5.9, 5.10, 5.11 |
Sun Studio 12, Sun Studio 12 Update 1, and Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 C++ compilers |
| gcc |
3.4.3, 3.4.6 |
GNU C compilers |
| g++ |
3.4.3, 3.4.6 |
GNU C++ compilers |
| gdb |
6.8 |
GNU debugger |
| gmake |
3.81 |
GNU make |
| make |
3.81 |
Solaris make |
| dmake |
7.8, 7.9, 8.0 |
Sun Studio 12, Sun Studio 12 Update 1, and Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 distributed make utility |
Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 Compilers
If you want to use the Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 compilers on Solaris 10 OS:
To download and install the Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 compilers:
- Create a directory for the downloaded file.
You must have write permission for this directory.
-
Download the package installer file for your platform into the download directory.
- Go to the download directory, and uncompress and untar the downloaded file.
bzcat filename | /bin/tar xvf -
- Follow the instructions in Chapter 2 of the Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 Installation Guide to install the C compiler, C++ compiler,
and required Solaris patches.
- Edit your PATH to add the path to the Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 software before
starting the NetBeans IDE.
- See Verifying the Installation to verify that the tools were installed correctly
for the NetBeans IDE.
GNU Compilers and GNU make
If you want to use the GNU compilers and GNU make:
- If you have a standard installation of the Oracle Solaris 10 OS, the compilers and
gmake are installed in /usr/sfw/bin. Make sure that this
location is in your PATH before starting the NetBeans IDE.
- If the compilers and gmake are not installed on your system, you can download them from
http://www.sunfreeware.com.
To download and install the GNU compilers and make utility
- Download gcc and make.
- If the download zip files are not
automatically extracted during download, unzip them with gunzip.
- Install the packages with the pkgadd command.
- Make sure to include the GNU
compiler directory and the GNU make directory in your path before starting the NetBeans IDE.
- See Verifying the Installation to verify that the tools were installed correctly
for the NetBeans IDE.
gdb Debugger
Whether you use the Oracle Solaris Studio compilers and Solaris make or the
GNU compilers and GNU make, you must have the gdb debugger to
debug applications in NetBeans IDE. You can download gdb from
http://www.sunfreeware.com.
To download and install gdb:
- Download gdb 6.6 or 6.8.
- If the download zip file is not
automatically extracted during download, unzip it with gunzip.
- Install the package with the pkgadd command.
- Make sure to include the path to gdb in your PATH before starting
the NetBeans IDE.
- See Verifying the Installation to verify that the tools were installed correctly
for the NetBeans IDE.
Linux
On Linux platforms, you can use GNU tools or Oracle Solaris Studio tools.
NetBeans IDE has been tested with the following compilers and tools:
| cc |
5.9, 5.10, 5.11 |
Sun Studio 12, Sun Studio 12 Update 1, and Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 C compilers |
| CC |
5.9, 5.10, 5.11 |
Sun Studio 12, Sun Studio 12 Update 1, and Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 C++ compilers |
| gcc |
4.3.3, 4.4.5 |
GNU C compiler in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 8.04, GNU C compiler in Oracle Linux 6 and Ubuntu 10.10 |
| g++ |
4.3.3, 4.4.5 |
GNU C++ compiler in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 8.04, GNU C++ compiler in Oracle Linux 6 and Ubuntu 10.10 |
| gdb |
6.8, 7.2 |
GNU debugger in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 8.04, GNU debugger in Oracle Linux 6 and Ubuntu 10.10 |
| gmake |
3.81 |
GNU make in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 8.04 |
Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 Compilers on Linux
If you want to use the Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 compilers in a Linux OS:
To download and install the Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 compilers:
- Create a directory for the downloaded file.
You must have write permission for this directory.
- If your browser is set to download to a particular location such as your Desktop or a Downloads directory without prompting,
set the browser preferences to download to the
directory you created. For Firefox, the download directory is set in Edit > Preferences > Main.
- Download the file
for your platform into the download directory you created. If you are using Ubuntu,
download the tarfile installation into the directory where you want to install it because the packages are for Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SuSE Linux Enterprise System. Note also
that Ubuntu is not an officially supported platform for Oracle Solaris Studio IDE, but the compilers
have been tested for use in NetBeans IDE and been found to work.
- Go to the download directory, and uncompress and untar the downloaded file.
bzcat filename | tar xvf -
-
If you downloaded the SUSE or RPM packages, follow the instructions in Chapter 2 of the Oracle Solaris Studio 12.2 Installation Guide to install the C compiler, C++ compiler, and Fortran compiler.
- Edit your PATH to add the path to the Oracle Solaris Studio software before
starting the NetBeans IDE.
- See Verifying the Installation to verify that the tools were installed correctly
for the NetBeans IDE.
To download and install the GNU debugger in Oracle Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, type:
yum install gdb
To download and install the GNU debugger in Ubuntu, type:
apt-get install gdb
Macintosh OS X
NetBeans IDE has been tested with the following compilers
and tools:
| gcc |
4.2.1 |
GNU C compiler in Mac OS X 10.6 |
| g++ |
4.2.1 |
GNU C++ compiler in Mac OS X 10.6 |
| gdb |
6.3.5 |
GNU debugger in Mac OS X 10.6 |
| make |
3.81 |
GNU make in Mac OS X 10.6 |
Install the following packages that are provided with your Macintosh OS X:
These packages can also be downloaded from
Apple Developer Connection with
the free ADC membership.
To verify that the installation is correct, start the NetBeans IDE,
build a sample project, and run it in the gdb debugger.
To start the IDE, do one of the following:
Build a Sample Project to Test the Tools
On all platforms, you can build a sample project to test the compiler installation,
and run it in the debugger to test the gdb installation.
To build a sample project and run it in the debugger:
- Open the New Project wizard by choosing File > New Project.
- In the Categories panel on the Choose Project page of the wizard, expand
the Samples category and select the C/C++ subcategory.
- In the Projects panel, select the Welcome project. Click Next.
- On the Project Name and Location page, click Finish.
- In the Projects window, right-click the Welcome_1 project and
choose Build. If your compilers and make utility are
installed correctly and the path to them is set, build output is displayed in
the Output window and the project builds successfully.
- Expand the Source Files node of the project and double-click the welcome.cc file to open it in the Source
Editor.
- Set a breakpoint by clicking in the left margin of the Source
Editor window next to any line.
- Right-click the project and choose Debug. If the gdb
debugger is installed correctly and the path to it is set, gdb starts
up, the Debugger tabs are displayed, and the Welcome application
runs and stops at the breakpoint.
- Choose Debug > Continue to run the application to completion.
- If the project doesn't build or debugger doesn't work, see the next section.
Troubleshooting Tool Issues
- Select Tools > Options and click C/C++ in the top panel of the Options dialog box.
- In the Build Tools tab, look at the Tool Collection list to see if your
tool collection is listed.
- Select the tool collection if it is listed, and check the paths to the tools.
If the Base Directory path is incorrect, you may have made a mistake when setting
your path environment variable. Refer back to the instructions for setting the path in the section for your platform
in this document, and correct the path if necessary.
- If the tool collection is not listed, click Restore Defaults. This will
cause the IDE to rescan your environment to look for tools and the tool collection
should be found if the path environment variable is correct.
- If you are still having an issue, try adding a new tool collection and
specifying the path to the tools, as follows:
- Click Add below the Tool Collection list.
- Browse to the directory that contains the executables for the compilers, debugger, and
make utility. This is usually the bin directory.
- Select the directory and click Open. The IDE should be able to determine the family
of the tools and update the other fields in the dialog box appropriately. If not, an error
is displayed.
- If the tools are identified correctly, click OK in the Add Tool Collection dialog box.
The new collection should be displayed in the list.
- Select the new tool collection and click Default to make sure this tool collection
is used automatically for new projects.
If you cannot solve the problem, ask for help at the
NetBeans C/C++ User Forum.
Next Steps
To learn quickly how to develop a C or C++ application with the NetBeans
IDE, see the C/C++
Projects Quick Start Tutorial
