recommended IDE for developing openjdk?

[Pavel Rappo]

Maurizio,

Here are three observations on configuring the JDK project in IntelliJ IDEA.

1. A folder can be present or absent in the "Excluded Folders" list. This list sits below the "+ Add Content Root" button on the right-hand side of the "Project Structure / Project Settings / Modules" window. The list's entries are of brown-red color. (Note: if the list is empty, it doesn't display its title "Excluded Folders" making it impossible to locate.)

2. The icon of a folder can be displayed in a bleak orange color; selecting such a folder causes the "Excluded" toggle to become pressed. This toggle is the rightmost toggle from the "Mark as:" label on the "Project Structure / Project Settings / Modules" window. 

3. It seems that a folder can be both "Excluded" (2) and absent in "Excluded Folders" (1). For example, this is the case for the `build/macosx-x86_64-server-release` folder. If you delete the corresponding entry from "Excluded Folders" (1), that folder will stay "Excluded" (2). I believe this is because that folder is specified in the "Project compiler output" field on the "Project Structure / Project Settings / Project" window and, thus, is excluded implicitly.

If we assume that being "Excluded" (2) implies that a folder is not indexed, then we could piggyback on (3) and simply delete the corresponding entry from "Excluded Folders" (1). I do that by pressing a cross-shaped, gray "Include" button on the corresponding entry and then press the "Apply" button on the window. That causes IDE to familiarize itself with the contents of `build/macosx-x86_64-server-release/support/gensrc/java.base`: symbols in editor are no longer of red color with a "Cannot resolve symbol ... " tooltip.

I'm not sure how this tweak affects indexing though. 

-Pavel

> On 18/01/2021 11:49, Pavel Rappo wrote:
>> I note that the last time I configured IntelliJ IDEA for `openjdk/jdk` using a procedure similar to the one that Maurizio has just described, I had to tweak inclusion of generated source.
>> 
>> IIRC, after the `idea.sh` script completed, I opened the project it created and went to "File > Project Structure... Project Settings > Modules > Add Content Root" to fix up the way `support/gensrc/java.base` was included. Before I did that, IntelliJ IDEA couldn't see `java.nio.ByteBuffer` and friends.
>> 
>> There's always a chance that I followed the reference procedure incorrectly since I haven't seen others complaining about having had to do similar tweaks.
> Hi Pavel,
> 
> this is also what I do.
> 
> I believe the problem is a consequence of something Chris and I have tried early on as a way to reduce indexing time of the project - e.g. a long time was spent indexing files in the build folder - so we excluded that. The project also re-add generated sources folders - but since these occur inside an excluded folder, it seems like the IDE gets confused.
> 
> I tried your trick of adding a new content folder and, while clever, it doesn't seem to help - e.g. as long as the build folder is excluded, the IDE cannot see the generated files when try to open a class (e.g. CTRL + N).
> 
> Maurizio