[linuxtools-dev] autotools plug-in extensibility

[Corey Ashford <cjashfor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

We are looking to extend the autotools plug-in so that it can use a
different GNU toolchain. specifically a newer one from the one that's in
the distro.  At this point, all we really need to do, I think, is to add
the following options CC=<path-to-gcc> and CXX=<path-to-g++> options to
the configure command.

I had a look through the source, and found what appear to be several
misleading trails as to how the tool configuration options are coded.  I
found several plugin.xml and plugin.properties files that appeared to
point in the direction of using those XML structures to drive what is
displayed in the configuration dialog, but changing them had no effect
on the dialog.

After digging into the code some more, I found that the options are not
encoded in XML, but instead are in the "Option" array in the class
AutotoolsConfiguration.  Unless I am missing something, I don't see any
way, currently, to extend or alter the configuration menu structure,
except via code.

I was able to figure out how to add the needed options via code, but I
am hoping I am just missing something and this can be done via XML.

Did I in fact miss something?

Thanks for your consideration,

- Corey