Getting started with AspectC++

Question

I do think that some of my problems concerning adding new functionality to old C++ code can be solved elegantly using AOP. Now, my first idea was to download AspectC++ and just start working. However, it doesn't seem to be that simple:

• The Visual Studio integration thingy by pure systems has been updated for the last time about 5 years ago, adding support for VS '05. '10 (which I'm using) isn't detected during installation which in turn results in the installation being canceled.
• ACDT was updated the last time Feb '07, Eclipse 3.2 being the last one supported, installation on current Eclipse fails.

• Simply trying to compile the examples that come with AspectC++ doesn't work either:

  username@username-VirtualBox:/media/sf_Temp/aspectc++$ make
  make -C examples/coverage
  make[1]: Entering directory `/media/sf_Temp/aspectc++/examples/coverage'
  Compiling main.cc
  make[1]: /media/sf_Temp/aspectc++/ag++: Command not found
  make[1]: *** [Junk/main.o] Error 127
  make[1]: Leaving directory `/media/sf_Temp/aspectc++/examples/coverage'
  make: *** [coverage.make] Error 2
  username@username-VirtualBox:/media/sf_Temp/aspectc++$ 
  

  This "command not found" is weird, as simply running ag++ works (albeit it then of course complains about having no input files).

Soooo ... I'm kind of lost now. Any help on where to find a working manual for performing the first steps or some hint concerning what I'm doing wrong would be appreciated. Or is AspectC++ just too outdated/unusable/whatever for people to use it (which would explain the lack of some simple first-steps-manual which usually can be found by the hundreds)?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I'm the AspectC++ project leader. If you need help, the best way is to subscribe to the AspectC++ user mailing list (visit www.aspectc.org and click on "support") and post a question there. It is not possible to be aware of all questions being posted anywhere on the web. Sorry. Yet, you are really welcome on our mailing list! :-)

In your special case, the error message sounds as if ag++ hadn't found ac++. These two binaries have to reside in the same directory. ag++ is just a wrapper that calls ac++, which performs the actual code transformation, and g++ for the compilation into an object file.