Compiler Errors when trying to build very simple gtkmm app:

Question

I installed gtkmm 3 on Ubuntu 13.04 using aptitude (I like aptitude because it remembers what was installed when you want to remove it):

sudo aptitude install libgtkmm-3.0-dev --with-recommends

Using codelite 5.1.2 and the default gtk++ tool chain, in my compiler include paths I added:

/usr/include/gtkmm-3.0 - the path to gtkmm.h

I tried to build the first sample app in Programming with GTKMM:

#include <gtkmm.h>
int main ( int argc, char *argv[] )
{

    Gtk::Main kit ( argc, argv );
    Gtk::Window window;
    Gtk::Main::run ( window );
    return 0;

}

After chasing down a few 'include file not found' errors coming from gtkmm.h, which includes the entire gtkmm framework, my compiler include path now looks like this:

/usr/include/gtkmm-3.0
/usr/include/glibmm-2.4
/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/glibmm-2.4/include
/usr/include/glib-2.0

And all hell is breaking loose from glib.h:

/bin/sh -c 'make -j 4 -e -f  "Calendars_wsp.mk"'
----------Building project:[ CalendarsGUI - Debug ]----------
........

/gtkmm-3.0 -I/usr/include/glibmm-2.4 -I/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/glibmm-2.4/include -I//usr/include/glib-2.0
In file included from //usr/include/glib-2.0/glib/gtypes.h:36:0,
                 from //usr/include/glib-2.0/glib/galloca.h:34,
                 from //usr/include/glib-2.0/glib.h:32,
                 from /usr/include/glibmm-2.4/glibmm/thread.h:46,
                 from /usr/include/glibmm-2.4/glibmm.h:87,
                 from /usr/include/gtkmm-3.0/gtkmm.h:87,
                 from main.cpp:16:
***//usr/include/glib-2.0/glib/gversionmacros.h:179:2: error: #error "GLIB_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED must be >= GLIB_VERSION_2_26"***
In file included from //usr/include/glib-2.0/glib/galloca.h:34:0,
                 from //usr/include/glib-2.0/glib.h:32,
                 from /usr/include/glibmm-2.4/glibmm/thread.h:46,
                 from /usr/include/glibmm-2.4/glibmm.h:87,
                 from /usr/include/gtkmm-3.0/gtkmm.h:87,
                 from main.cpp:16:
***//usr/include/glib-2.0/glib/gtypes.h:448:2: error: #error unknown ENDIAN type
.......
make: *** [All] Error 2
2 errors, 2 warnings***

(I also had the same problems when trying to use gtkmm 2.4)

Obviously I am missing something here. What am I doing wrong? What else do I need to do to build gtkmm projects?

Answer 1

When using gtkmm, its advised to use the pkg-config tool. You can do this from codelite as well:

Right click on your project: Settings -> Common Settings -> Compiler -> C++ Compiler options: and add:

$(shell pkg-config gtkmm-3.0 --cflags)

If you have another options, they should be semi-colon delimited

Next, add the following to the linker options: Right click on your project: Settings -> Common Settings -> Linker -> Options:

$(shell pkg-config gtkmm-3.0 --libs)

again, if you have another options, they should be semi-colon delimited

Remove all the hard coded include paths you added the above 2 should suffice

Note:

This exact question was also answered on codelite's forum: http://forums.codelite.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1396&p=6416&hilit=gtkmm#p6410

Eran

Answer 2

Don't fiddle with includes, use pkg-config instead:

g++ foo.cc -o foo `pkg-config gtkmm-3.0 --cflags --libs`

btw, your example compiles and runs just fine.