3 Creating a project

To create a new project, first visit a file that you want to include in that project. If you have a hierarchy of directories, first visit a file in the topmost directory. From this buffer, type M-x ede-new, or click on the ‘Create Project’ item in the ‘Development’ menu.

The ede-new command prompts for the type of project you would like to create. Each project type has its own benefits or language specific enhancements. EDE supports four different project types: ‘Make’, ‘Automake’, ‘direct Automake’, and ‘Simple’.

• For the ‘Make’ project type, EDE creates a project file, called Project.ede, in each project directory. Information about the project is stored in this file. This project autogenerates a Makefile.
• For the ‘Automake’ project type, EDE creates a Project.ede project file similar to a ‘Make’ project. Unlike a ‘Make’ project, this project autogenerates a Makefile.am file. EDE handles the Automake bootstrapping routines, which import and maintain a configure.am script and other required files.
• For the ‘direct Automake’ project type, EDE reads directly from the Automake files.

  You cannot create direct Automake projects with the ede-new command. Instead, when you visit a project with existing Automake files, EDE automatically detects them.

• The ‘Simple’ project type provides light-weight constructs for identifying a project root and looking up files. If you already have a non-EDE project infrastructure, you can use a ‘Simple’ project to provide other Emacs packages, such as Semantic, with some information about the project. See Simple projects.

A subproject is merely a project in a subdirectory of another project. You can create a subproject by using the ede-new command (or the ‘Create Project’ menu item), while visiting a buffer in a subdirectory of the project root. This new project is automatically added to the parent project, and will be automatically loaded when EDE reads the parent project.

When using a project command that involves a makefile, EDE uses the top-most project's makefile as a starting place for the build. How the toplevel project handles subprojects in the build process is dependent on that project's type.