Code::Blocks for DreamSDK

Code::Blocks is a free, open-source cross-platform IDE that supports multiple compilers.

This repository contains a special version of the 17.12 stable release in order to provide full support for the DreamSDK package. DreamSDK is a modern, ready-to-use environment for the Sega Dreamcast development, designed for the Microsoft Windows platform. It's a package composed by a lot of pre-compiled tools; and Code::Blocks is a nice IDE which unleash the power of DreamSDK.

Changes

Notables changes of this special release of Code::Blocks includes:

• New compiler/options file (dc-gcc) which specify the GNU GCC Compiler for Sega Dreamcast compiler.
• The compiler and debugger plugins have been patched to run the loader (i.e. dc-tool) before running the target.
• The Sega Dreamcast Project (dc) wizard template has been added (Note: a new sdk (codeblocks.dll) module is needed to expose the required CallHooks function in the Squirrel script, that's why almost all compiled binaries are provided in the generated patch).

Introduction

Basically this repository purpose is to build the Code::Blocks Patcher for DreamSDK (codeblocks-patcher.exe) file. This patcher will be embedded in the DreamSDK Setup file.

Please read this document in order to generate the Code::Blocks Patcher.

Prerequisites

Install all prerequisites before trying to work with this repository:

• 7-Zip
• Boost
• Code::Blocks
• TDM-GCC-32
• Lazarus
• Zip from Info-ZIP

Installing Boost

The last version of the Boost libraries supporting Windows XP is the 1.64.0 version. After that version, Windows XP is unsupported. To keep the XP support (as the original Code::Blocks 17.12 release) you must use that specific version. Please don't try to update it!

1. Unzip boost 1.64.0.

2. Open the TDM-GCC-32 prompt.

3. Enter the following commands:

    cd /D <path>\boost_1_64_0
    bootstrap gcc
    b2 --toolset=gcc "--prefix=C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks" install
   

Configuring Code::Blocks IDE

To build Code::Blocks you will need... Code::Blocks. Install the IDE and TDM-GCC-32 if not already done.

1. Start Code::Blocks then open the .\codeblocks\codeblocks\src\CodeBlocks.workspace file. This will open the Code::Blocks wx2.8.x workspace.
2. Select the Settings > Global Variable menu item then select (or create) the boost variable. In the base directory field, enter C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks. In the include field, enter C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\include\boost-1_64 then in the lib field, enter C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\lib.
3. Select (or create) the cb_release_type variable and enter -g -O0 in the base field.
4. Select (or create) the wx variable, enter ./wxMSW (e.g. C:\codeblocks\wxMSW) in the base field. Please use the provided wxMSW directory provided in that repository.

Debugging your Code::Blocks build

If you want to debug the Code::Blocks build, select the src target and install a DreamSDK working package in E:\DreamSDK\. If you don't have an E: drive, you have to do some modifications:

1. Change the DREAMSDK_HOME_DEBUG_DRIVE variable in .\packager\mkpkg.cmd.

2. Change the E: drive reference in the two files below:

   • .\codeblocks\src\plugins\compilergcc\resources\compilers\compiler_dc-gcc.xml
   • .\codeblocks\src\plugins\compilergcc\resources\compilers\options_dc-gcc.xml

3. In the debugged Code::Blocks, go to the Settings > Compiler menu, select the GNU GCC Compiler for Sega Dreamcast profile and click on Reset defaults. Code::Blocks should detect the DreamSDK package environment used for debug your Code::Blocks build.

4. The GNU Debugger (GDB) included in the latest release of TDM-GCC is buggy: some breakpoints are never reached. You should use a newer GNU Debugger (GDB) binary, for example the one included in DreamSDK (i.e. E:\DreamSDK\bin\gdb.exe). To change that, you may update the Debugger profile inside Code::Blocks (in the Settings menu).

Building a Code::Blocks release

1. Make your changes in the Code:Blocks source (basically in sdk, Compiler and Debugger targets).

2. Select the Settings > Global Variable menu item then select the cb_release_type variable and enter -O2 in the base field.

3. Change the content of the .\codeblocks\src\include\autorevision.h file. In normal conditions, this file is created automatically when using SVN and the autorevision tool. Or you may just create this autorevision.h file manually. The SVN revision 11256 is the official revision for the 17.12 release.

    /*0*/
    //don't include this header, only configmanager-revision.cpp should do this.
    #ifndef AUTOREVISION_H
    #define AUTOREVISION_H
   
   
    #include <wx/string.h>
   
    namespace autorevision
    {
    	const unsigned int svn_revision = 11256;
    	const wxString svnRevision(_T("11256"));
    	const wxString svnDate(_T("YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss")); // update manually the date/time using this format
    }
   
   
   
    #endif
   

4. Rebuild the the whole workspace.

5. Run the .\codeblocks\src\update.bat file.

Making the package

After building the Code::Blocks release, you need to build the package that will be embedded in the Code::Blocks Patcher for DreamSDK.

1. Build Code::Blocks in Release mode (i.e. cb_release_type variable should be -O2) and run the .\codeblocks\src\update.bat file.
2. Go to the .\packager directory.
3. From there, run the mkpkg.cmd file.
4. Build the .\cbpatcher\src\splash\codeblocks-splash.lpi in Release mode from Lazarus, then pack the .\cbpatcher\src\engine\embedded\codeblocks-splash.exe file with UPX.
5. Build the .\cbpatcher\src\codeblocks-patcher.lpi in Release mode from Lazarus. No need to pack this with UPX.
6. Done! You should have now the codeblocks-patcher.exe file which can be embedded in the DreamSDK Setup file. Don't be surprised, it's a big file around 10MB.

FAQ

Unable to debug the compiled Code::Blocks?

Sometimes, the breakpoints are never reached while compiling with TDM-GCC-32 including GCC 5.1.0.

Please verify the following:

• The cb_release_type global variable should be set to -g -O0 in order to activate debug symbols.
• Sometimes the GDB version included in TDM-GCC-32 is buggy. Try to use another GDB build (like the one included in DreamSDK itself).

The message 'Mismatch between the program and library build versions detected.' is displayed

When you rebuild the whole Code::Blocks workspace, the following message may be displayed:

Fatal Error: Mismatch between the program and library build versions detected.
The library used 2.8 (wchar_t,compiler with C++ ABI 1008,STL containers,compatible with 2.8),
and your program used 2.8 (wchar_t,compiler with C++ ABI 1002,STL containers,compatible with 2.8).

The only difference is the C++ ABI version i.e. 1008 vs. 1002.

After some investigation, the problem arises from the fact that Code::Blocks was compiled with gcc 5.1.0, which defines __GXX_ABI_VERSION as 1008, but the pre-compiled wxWidgets library was made with clang 3.6, which defines __GXX_ABI_VERSION as 1002 (See reference).

To solve this issue, you may need to recompile the provided wxMSW library (wxWidgets):

1. Open the TDM-GCC-32 command prompt from the Start menu.
2. Type cd .\wxMSW\build\msw then mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc MONOLITHIC=1 SHARED=1 UNICODE=1 BUILD=release VENDOR=cb CXXFLAGS=-fpermissive (Read more). This should update the .\wxMSW\lib\gcc_dll\wxmsw28u_gcc_cb.dll file.
3. Copy the updated .\wxMSW\lib\gcc_dll\wxmsw28u_gcc_cb.dll file to .\codeblocks\src\devel\ (this is important!).
4. Rebuild the Code::Blocks source.
5. Try again.

Note: You may need to enable debugging for wxWidgets, in this case you should just set the BUILD parameter to debug (i.e. BUILD=debug). Do this if you want to debug the wxWidgets library.

Couldn't add an image to the image list.

This message is sometimes shown when starting the debug build of Code::Blocks. It caused by missing image files in the .\codeblocks\src\devel\share\CodeBlocks\images\ directory.

To solve this issue, you just have to run the .\codeblocks\src\update.bat file, this will copy the missing files to the devel and output directories.