topic Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time? in MCUXpresso IDE

How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

mjbcswitzerland — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 22:12:33 GMT

Hi All

I have a number of projects using MCUXpresso and some behave normally but others rebuild everything each time a single C-file is changed, or - even more annoying - each time a debug connection is established (meaning that large projects take several minutes to rebuild each time the debugger needs to be connected....).

Back in KDS times this was also often an issue but could be solved by changing the indexer to always use the active build configuration rather than a fixed build configuration, which seemed to be the default.

However when this starts to happen in MCUXpresso it is presently terminal - the index setting is correct and I haven't been able to locate any other setting that helps.

I often hear the same problem from colleagues who also work with MCUXpresso (at various other locations).

Finally it is becoming so annoying that I have to ask whether there is a fix?

Thanks

Regards

Mark

Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

ZhangJennie — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 06:17:02 GMT

Hi Mark,

this is the scope of MCUXpresso build:

- Incremental Builds: To incrementally build all open projects, you can select Project> Build All or type CTRL+B.
- Build Individual Projects: To build individual projects click Project > Build Project.
- Rebuild Projects: To rebuild a project right click on the project and select Rebuild Project.
Note: This will rebuild projects that this project references as well, but will not rebuild projects that references this one.
- Build Automatically: This performs a Build All whenever any project file is saved, such as your makefile.
Tip: For C/C++ projects, this feature should be turned off. If there is a checkmark beside Build Automatically the feature is on. To turn it off, select Build Automatically.

Have a nice day,

Jun Zhang

Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

mjbcswitzerland — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 12:44:22 GMT

Hi Jun

That was not the problem that I had but I seem to have been able to fix it in the meantime.
Originally I was thinking that the problem was in the indexer because that was also often a problem in KDS but it was in the "Refresh Police" setting, as I had in fact reported in my KDS video (at 5:32):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ScSgpgQ6M&list=PLWKlVb_MqDQFZAulrUywU30v869JBYi9Q&index=9

and indeed MCUXpresso seems to have this problem of the policies getting lost when projects are transferred to different machines or possibly when new targets to an existing project are added.

In any case, adding the refresh policy setting back to the projects that had become annoying looks too have helped.

Regards

Mark

Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

myke_predko — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 14:16:15 GMT

@mjbcswitzerland

Can I make a comment that I've also made on Erich Styger's blog?

I recommend that you *always* rebuild your project before debugging? I have found too many cases in the past where Eclipse has lost the full list of what's been changed and doesn't do a correct built and you end up debugging code that you have modified.

I realize that the time it takes on your system is unacceptable, but you might want to try an SSD - or use this as an excuse to buy a fast system for yourself.

I do all my work on an Intel i9 with 32GB of DDR4 and an SSD and 50k line projects build in less than five seconds. The system was costly but it paid for itself in not having to worry about anything in the project getting missed.

myke

Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

mjbcswitzerland — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 15:07:06 GMT

Myke

Building "before debugging" is one thing but "building before connecting" (when the debugger has simply been disconnected - eg. because of an IDE failure that disconnects) and reconnecting, without even needing to load new code, is another thing...

My own build system will build a 50k project in less than 5s but I need to support also students where I can't ask them to throw their lunch money at better HW to fix an IDE funny where much bigger projects really take several minutes each time.

Regards

Mark

Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

myke_predko — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 17:19:40 GMT

Hey @mjbcswitzerland ,

First off, I've got to relearn everybody's new UserIDs because I probably wouldn't have made that comment if I knew it was you asking the question as you probably didn't need that advice.

Regardless, I was amazed at the improvement in build time on my old system (years ago) when I simply upgraded to an SSD. Also, I can't believe if you told your students they needed a better hardware that they wouldn't throw their lunch money at it: if that wasn't their first response (the second being calling Mom and Dad) then maybe they should rethink their chosen career.

Engineers/Programmers not demading the latest hardware? Unheard of.

Secondly, I haven't see the behaviour that you're describing on MCUXpresso running under Linux (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS) - I often disconnect/reconnect without any firmware changes without any building taking place. I see a verify and then I'm at the first line of code, ready to debug.

I have seen your behaviour on CodeWarrior running under Windows (7 & 10). I no longer do any development on Windows. I'm just mentioning this as another datapoint for you.

myke

Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

mjbcswitzerland — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 21:12:10 GMT

Myke

You are obviously missing out on the joys of using Eclipse under Windows... especially when trying to debug i.MX RT devices !!

Presently I am converting some of my utilities to run on Linux and MAC since there seem to be more and more people using these platforms for development (although I am still Windows oriented myself).
You may know the expression "There's nowt so queer as folk". I know of people who refuse to buy a debugger or use a board that costs more that $5 - out of principle and nothing to do about what they can afford; irrespective of whether it may make more sense or be more efficient. Also I have seen companies pay consultants $30k to fix some open source code because they refuse to buy a working solution for a couple of hundred dollars since they only accept free code.
Sometimes one has to accept that not everyone thinks the same as oneself and changing others' viewpoints just doesn't always work and they are perfectly happy with things as they are.

Regards

Mark

Re: How to stop MCUXpresso building the entire project all the time?

myke_predko — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:50:49 GMT

"You are obviously missing out on the joys of using Eclipse under Windows..."

I'm missing those joys like a toothache - The best thing I ever did was get off Windows completely.