Bitcoin Forum

How can I import the Bitcoin Source Code easily into an Development Environment e.g. KDevelop ?

I download the source code from GitHub, unzip it, but there is no .project File or anything like that.

That's because there is no IDE-specific project file included as part of the source.  If you want to use one, it's up to you to create your own project in whatever specific IDE you want to use.

It is too time consuming to add all the classes manually to the DE (Development Environment). There must be easier ways. I am an experienced Software Developer but I dont know how to do this.

I want to use a Linux or independent free DE and I want to easily add the whole Bitcoin Source Code. It would be nice to automatically update the source code and compare changes.

Because I have no experience doing this, I dont know where to start googling. Some links and hints would be nice.  ;)

Thanks!  :)

Personally I use Netbeans for development. I have imported Bitcoin core into it before. The process was simply to create a c++ project, choose the option for c++ project from existing source, point Netbeans to the git cloned folder, and hit finish. It was very quick and easy, there was no need to import each file individually and manually.

There are indeed easier ways, which virtually every IDE provides - either through plugins which will connect to a git repo directly, or other mechanisms to get you started.

Already mentioned was NetBeans.  There's also Eclipse.  Xcode on the Mac.  VS on Windows.  JetBrains' CLion is a good cross platform IDE.  Heck, even Qt Creator will suffice, and give you the added benefit of visualizing the forms for the Core GUI.