Makefile projects in CLion

Read on in our blog about Makefile project support in CLion.

Known issues which cause most of the failures:

CPP-19305 – distcc is not yet supported.
CPP-18723 – Makefile projects which use BSD make syntax are not supported.

Here is the list of Makefiles projects we've tested on:

Project	Build system	Bootstrap	Make targets, flags and environment (-wnk are automatically added by CLion as of CPP-22548 )	Status in CLion	Known issues	Comment
Sample project	GNU Make	None required		Works
ARMmbed TLS	GNU Make	None required		Works
Embedded makefile flow	GNU Make	None required		Works		Project Source Files view is only populated if arm-none-eabi-gcc is installed.
Nano	GNU Autotools	`./autogen.sh && ./configure`		Works		config.h as well as some other headers sometimes disappear from the Project Source Files view.
CPython	GNU Autotools	`./configure`		Works	CPP-19665	False positives when looking for compiler invocations. CLion may need to adjust the heuristics.
OpenJDK	GNU Autotools	`bash configure`		Doesn't work	CPP-20558	Interleaved series of "Entering directory" and "Leaving directory" messages Tips&Tricks: How to work with OpenJDK in CLion.
TscanCode	GNU Make	None required		Works		The "all" target is not defined in the Makefile, so one needs to explicitly specify it in CLion settings and reload.
Nodejs	GNU Make	./configure && /usr/bin/python3.7 tools/gyp_node.py -f make	`-e` (sufficient) or `-e MAKEFLAGS=ewnk GNUMAKEFLAGS=ewnk`	Works		Avoid running "make clean" before analyzing the project.
Linux	Kbuild	make distclean defconfig clean	`V=1 bzImage modules`	Works
GCC	GNU Autotools	./configure		Doesn't work		One needs to run make at least once for the bootstrapping to complete: the first run of make invokes configure scripts in subprojects. So before we can try and analyze the output of make, the project has to be built and cleaned first.
CMake	GNU Make	./bootstrap		Works
Lbrycrd	GNU Autotools	./autogen.sh && ./configure --with-incompatible-bdb		Works		Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported.
BusyBox	Kbuild	make distclean defconfig clean	`V=1`	Works
SerenityOS	GNU Make			Works	CPP-19305	Uses ccache. Bootstraps its own copies of gcc and binutils. Switched to CMake on May 6, 2020, so checkout commit `49727ffee424d8c0038ce18b91b0bf0ff33b1a4d` before testing GNU Make support.
Valve Proton				Doesn't work		Clone with `--recurse-submodules` (or `git submodule init && git submodule update` afterward). The `Makefile` uses a Vagrant-managed virtual machine to create a build environment.
Google AFL	GNU Make	None required		Works		Builds a custom compiler wrapper, `afl-gcc` (unavailable before the project is built), and invokes it as `AFL_QUIET=1 AFL_INST_RATIO=100 AFL_PATH=. ./afl-gcc`
UPX	GNU Make	None required	`all`	Works
VLC	GNU Autotools	`./bootstrap && ./configure`		Works		Uses dolt. Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported.
FreeBSD	BSD Make			Doesn't work	CPP-18723	Makefiles use BSD make syntax
OpenBSD	BSD Make			Doesn't work	CPP-18723	Makefiles use BSD make syntax
NetBSD	BSD Make			Doesn't work	CPP-18723	Makefiles use BSD make syntax
DragonFly BSD	BSD Make			Doesn't work	CPP-18723	Makefiles use BSD make syntax
Systemd	Meson with Ninja backend	./configure		Doesn't work		`Makefile` is used to just wrap `ninja build`.
ZFS	GNU Autotools	./autogen.sh && ./configure		Works		Uses libtool.
Wine	GNU Autotools	./configure --without-x --without-freetype		Works		Needs a 32-bit development environment, otherwise requires that some features (X11 and FreeType) are disabled.
zinit zmodules	GNU Autotools	cd zmodules && ./configure	`-e` (sufficient) or `-e MAKEFLAGS=ewnk GNUMAKEFLAGS=ewnk`	Works		Only a single source file is found (consistently with bear). Header files are generated and thus missing, so most of the code is red.
Git	GNU Autotools+Kbuild	./configure	`V=1`	Works
QEMU	GNU Make	`./configure`	`V=1`	Works	CPP-20618	Be sure to download or check out version 4.2.1 or older (versions 5.0.0+ use Meson/Ninja).
Perl	GNU Make	./Configure -d		Doesn't work		No compilation commands found.
PHP	GNU Autotools	./buildconf && ./configure		Works		Uses libtool.
Mono	GNU Autotools	./autogen.sh && ./configure		Works	CPP-24878	Uses libtool and dolt. Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported.
make	GNU Autotools	./bootstrap && ./configure		Works
LibreOffice				Doesn't work
PostgreSQL	GNU Autotools	./configure		Works
NuttX RTOS	Kbuild	`tools/configure.sh -e -a ../incubator-nuttx-apps photon:nsh` (board name and config name may vary)	`V=1`	Works		Requires `kconfig-tweak` (from the kconfig-frontends package) to be present on the `PATH`. Additionally, the `arm-none-eabi-*` toolchain (or whatever toolchain is appropriate for the board you've selected) needs to be installed first. The apps repository (nuttx-apps) needs to be cloned into a separate directory. Once bootstrapped, `make menuconfig` can be issued as usual.
Redis	GNU Make	None required		Works
Curl	GNU Autotools	autoreconf -fiv && ./configure		Works		Uses libtool. Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported.
ChibiOS demos	GNU Make	None required		Works	CPP-19665
Strace	GNU Autotools	./bootstrap && ./configure		Works		Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported.
async-profiler	GNU Make	None required		Works
imgui	GNU Make	None required		Works	CPP-20295	Inline invocation of `pkg-config --cflags` in backticks. Works if all backtick'ed sub-shell invocations are converted to use the `$(shell)` function (see this patch).
dtwmcmd	GNU Autotools	`./configure`		Works	CPP-20594
ffmpeg	GNU Make	./configure		Works	CPP-19665 CPP-21708	Object (-f) and debugging (-g) format arguments of yasm/nasm invocations are incorrectly treated as input files.
nginx	GNU Make	auto/configure		Works		"`make clean`" also removes the generated `Makefile`, so be sure to re-generate it afterwards (re-run "`auto/configure`"). The default build target used by the analyzer should be cleared (changed from "`all`" to "").
lk	GNU Make	None required	`PROJECT=<project-name>`, e.g.: `PROJECT=armemu-test`	Works	CPP-20813 CPP-20832 CPP-19665	Whenever building, cleaning or analyzing, add `PROJECT=<project-name>` to make arguments.
xfstt	GNU Autotools	./autogen		Works
sled	GNU Make	None required		Doesn't work	CPP-21675
wiredtiger	GNU Autotools	./autogen.sh && ./configure		Works		Uses libtool.
nemu	GNU Make	None required		Works
Google Protocol Buffers	GNU Autotools	./autogen.sh && ./configure		Works		Uses libtool.
Apache Thrift	GNU Autotools	./bootstrap.sh && ./configure		Works
Greenplum Database (GPDB)	GNU Autotools	./configure		Works		As a part of build process, some source files get symlinked from `src/interfaces/libpq` to `src/backend/libpq` before being compiled. CLion reports these files as missing.
ucx	GNU Autotools	./autogen.sh && ./configure		Works		Java bindings are "red" because they include headers generated from Java classes (not available before the project is built).
Bitcoin Core integration/staging tree	GNU Autotools	./autogen.sh && ./configure --with-incompatible-bdb		Works		Uses libtool and ccache. Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported.
Mesa 3D	GNU Autotools	NOCONFIGURE=1 ./autogen.sh && ./configure		Works	CPP-19665	Has recently switched to Meson, but at least version 18.3 (`mesa-18.3.6` tag) still uses `Makefile`'s. Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported.
libgstreamer	GNU Autotools	./configure		Works		Uses libtool. Uses Automake `VPATH` macros. Both `VPATH` (out-of-tree) and non-`VPATH` (in-tree) builds are supported. Git upstream has migrated to Meson/Ninja, so the last version which can be opened in CLion is 1.16.3.
c-lightning	GNU Make	./configure	`default`	Works	CPP-24880 CPP-24881	The value of the "Build target" text field should be either "default" or empty (there is no "all" target). Some dependencies use GNU Autotools with Automake `VPATH` macros.
cygwin	GNU Autotools	`./configure && cd newlib && ./configure`	`-C newlib`	Works		The `Makefile` at the root of the project is useless (can be opened as a project but doesn't produce any compilation commands). Most of the code (particularly, `libm` and `libc`) resides under `newlib/` sub-directory. Either `newlib/Makefile` may be opened directly with project root subsequently changed, or -C newlib may be added to Make switches instead. The content of `winsup/` directory may be opened as a separate project in a similar way.
mold, a modern linker	GNU Make	`git submodule update --init --recursive`	`submodules mold test`	Works		Requires GCC 10 or Clang 10+ with c++20 support and `std::span` in the standard library.
gdb	GNU Autotools	./configure	`all check`	Works	CPP-23197 CPP-23988 CPP-23991	Needs to be built first (when being built for the 1st time, runs ./configure in subprojects). After the project is `clean`'ed (particularly, from CLion), bfd/bfd.h needs to be manually rebuilt by running `make -C bfd bfd.h` Running `make check` (in addition to `make all`) requires DejaGnu to be installed.
oomph-lib	GNU Autotools	`./autogen.sh`		Works	CPP-23998
stockfish	GNU Make	None required	build	Works		Needs POSIX utilities such as `uname`, as well as `wget`, `curl`, and some others. So, when building under MinGW, be sure to add MSys or MSys2 to the `PATH` (plain MinGW is not enough).