Eclipse as a Code Browser

March 31, 2008 8:19 AM

How do I use Eclipse as a code browser and indexer and not as a build tool?

I'm dealing with a large codebase (C, not Java) that's not an Eclipse project, and I'd like to use Eclipse to navigate the code. The build is custom and complex and I have no fantasies of converting this over to a true Eclipse project. I've installed CDT, which has an indexing feature.

What I'd like to do is this: create a project in a different directory and have the original directory be part of the project. I can't write to the directory with the existing code, and I don't want to copy all the code to a different place. Is this possible?

posted by king walnut to computers & internet (3 comments total)

If you have the codebase in a CVS, you might set up Eclipse to connect to that CVS. You could make your own "branch", and edit your "branch" independent of the "trunk". This leaves the trunk unchanged, while giving you a sandbox in which to make your changes.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:25 AM on March 31, 2008

The codebase is not in CVS. And FYI, I won't be making changes--I would just like to use Eclipse to peruse the code.
posted by king walnut at 8:38 AM on March 31, 2008

Since you mentioned joining folders in a project, it sounded like you want to edit the project. If you just want to peruse the code, and assuming that this codebase is not a subdirectory of your workspace directory, create a new project and then File -> New Folder, click "Advanced", select the "Link to folder in the file system" option.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:44 AM on March 31, 2008