[solved] CubeIDE: using __date__/__time__ macros & force rebuild of files using them

[RAltm]

Hello,

I'm using the __date__/__time__ macros. Their values are only updated if the file using them is re-compiled. Cleaning up before building forces the values to be updated, but this is not feasible on bigger projects.

Is there a way to tell CubeIDE that a specific file always has to be rebuild? I only found solutions for makefiles, but CubeIDE is not using makefiles.

Regards

[Pavel A.]

>  but CubeIDE is not using makefiles

Nevertheless if you touch a source file, eclipse usually recompiles it.

-- pa

[KnarfB · Accepted solution]

You can add a pre-build step in the C/C++ Build Settings. The pre-build step can be any command like touch or a shell script generating a version file etc..

[RAltm]

Hello Pavel & KnarfB,

okay, I'll check those ways. I'll have to figure out if Windows has a function similar to the touch command on Linux.

Thank you.

Regards

[KnarfB]

Hi RAltm,

copy/b test.txt +,,

does the trick in Windows. A real "touch" comes with the STM32CubeIDE plugins like:

C:\ST\STM32CubeIDE\STM32CubeIDE\plugins\com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.make.win32_1.5.0.202011040924\tools\bin\busybox.exe touch test.txt

Your path may vary

hth

KnarfB

[Pavel A.]

Actually much easier. Just make a small change in the file, undo, save. Or, delete corresponding object files.

-- pa

[KnarfB]

Well, I dont think so. For production builds, I would avoid any additional human action in favor of automatted tooling.

[Pavel A.]

For production you would prefer full clean rebuild which will rebuild everything.

[Garnett.Robert]

Actually quite easy to forget in the middle of debugging a rather tricky problem.

[Garnett.Robert]

You are quite right.  Production builds should be done with a clean and full build.  It's surprising how many little problems can sneak through the IDE's checks which only bring up an error with a full build.