proper IDE/project setup for multiple makefiles?

[wazoo]

Hey guys,

This is a stupid question, but how would one go about rigging up a new project in .NET studio 2003 in order to keep the capability of having makefiles
available for other IDE's?? (ie. dev-c++, MSVC6.0, etc..)..

I'd love the capability to compile my project in just about anything...

Do people usually create a directory structure first, and then handcode the makefiles?

N00b question, but I've always wondered how projects (ie. Ogre and such) do it..

thanks

[Kai Backman]

A very good question. I handcoded the Makefiles (or Jamfiles that I currently use). After that I set up a .NET solution with my games as separate projects. The .NET projects are then configured to use my makefiles and contain only enough information to launch the debugger. I use Emacs as my editor (and I compile there) and switch to .NET to run the application.

IIRC .NET no longer allows you to export a makefile directly from a solution, and compiling a .NET project on the command line is cumbersome. Separate makefiles are probably the easiest way to open up the build process (my artist uses the same tools to preprocess graphics).

BTW. Ogre uses a pure .NET solution on Windows and has separate Makefiles for building on other platforms, ie. the build systems are different.