Considering that the Kylix IDE doens't run any more on most recent Linux distros (including the Ubuntu client and the Debian server I generally use), it should not come to a surprise that I've not use the Kylix IDE for a couple of years now. But I do compile Kylix applications often, and today I spent most of the day doing exactly that. So how can you edit and compile is a nice way? The solution to editing is simple: use BDS 2006 (or the latest version of Delphi you have), and use it on Windows, of course. I can see three options (which I all use, depending on the project):

  • Use CrossKylix. You use the Delphi IDE, compile on Windows by executing the Kylix command line compiler right on the Windows box, using an emulator.
  • Edit and compile the source code on Windows. Than copy it on a Linux box (for a remote one I'd use WinSCP, for a Samba-share I'd use Beyond Compare, for a CVS-based program I'd commit changes on the Windows box and update the Linux source code tree). This makes sense if the program you are wokring is cross.platform, and compiles and runs both on Windows and Linux.
  • Open a Samba-share directly in Delphi 2006, so that you are in fact editing the source code on the Liunux box, than use the command line compiler in a terminal windows (like Putty), to compile. I wish I had a plug-in to automate this process, which I use often.

There are possible many more options. I use all three, although the second is the most frequent, as I can often also debug the Windows version of the program before deploying the Linux one. The positive in all 3 appraoches, is that you can use a modern editor with refactoring and live templates even for your Linux source code. The only drawback is taht you have to remembert not using the most recent featrues of the Delphi language because the Kylix compiler doens't suppor them... which is why an updated version of the Kylix compiler (and maybe the RTL, but no CLX and no IDE) is quite high in my Delphi wish list. Bye.