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I am looking for a C++ IDE for Linux with the following features (with this order of priority):

  1. Can run on Linux
  2. Open source, or, at least free.
  3. Easy and powerful refactoring & code suggestion tools, similar to IntelliJ Idea
  4. Supports cross-compilation to Windows (and preferably Mac) from Linux
  5. Supports 3rd party libraries (ie. Boost, QT (a GUI builder is not necessary), OpenGl)
  6. Has a dark theme that isn't ugly

As you may guess, JetBrains' CLion would be perfect. The issue with CLion is that I can't justify spending the money to buy it when an IDE like Code Blocks will get the job done well enough. I am, more or less, looking for an open source Linux compatible alternative to CLion. I am unsure if such a thing exists.

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Not sure about cross compilation, but I bet NetBeans can do all the rest pretty easily. As for cross compilation, I guess you can install mingw for Linux and configure it as a compiler in NetBeans.

http://netbeans.org

I'm not sure it is possible to cross compile to Mac (I mean, in absolute terms, regardless of the IDE you use), at least I guess you should be running Linux on Mac hardware for that and, even then, maybe you need XCode and OSX instead of Linux.

At the end of the day, all the work needed to make cross compilation work in Linux, plus the work to make your C++ application portable to Linux, Windows and OSX, plus the work to arrange for different installers, tipically does not pay off enough.

You may consider a different solution, such as SaaS or a different language that was built from ground up to be portable (Java is the first that comes to my mind).

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Code::Blocks is well worth looking at in more depth:

  1. Can run on Linux - Yes & Windows/OS-X
  2. Open source, or, at least free. Yes - both FOSS & Gratis!
  3. Easy and powerful refactoring & code suggestion tools, similar to IntelliJ Idea Includes some specific refactoring, snippets and code completion
  4. Supports cross-compilation to Windows (and preferably Mac) from Linux Yes given the necessary tool chain - even supports embedded targets.
  5. Supports 3rd party libraries (ie. Boost, QT (a GUI builder is not necessary), OpenGl) Yes
  6. Has a dark theme that isn't ugly You have complete control of the colours but the wiki includes some themes
  7. Supports C/C++/Fortan plus some other languages via plugins.
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  • My main issue with code::blocks is its lack of powerful refactoring tools and intellisense. Specifically, it does not begin suggesting what to type until after I use some sort of operator with possibilities to the right of it (ie. ., ->, ::). Furthermore, it is unable to (to my knowledge) rename a function or type while automatically renaming all uses of that function or type throughout the entire code base. This isn't a big deal for small programs, but, I imagine it would be quite bad for larger programs. Lastly, its interface to create new source and header files is somewhat cumbersome.
    – john01dav
    Commented Aug 5, 2016 at 10:48
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Microsoft recently released Visual Studio Code, a free, open-source, multi-platform, multi-language, code editor. It provides:

  • Intellisense

  • Debugging

  • Built in Git support

  • And is powered by an extensions framework to support third party add-ons.

As far as a dark theme is concerned, that’s subjective. It does come installed with several choices of themes and the ability to load more as extensions.

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  • I have just looked over this product and its license agreements appear to be anything but open source. For instance, they seem to allow for them to spy on everything I do on my computer. I am not a lawyer.
    – john01dav
    Commented Aug 6, 2016 at 7:26
  • I'm not sure of your concern. I don't think Microsoft cares about your individual projects. Their license agreement is typical of Open Source software. That's why it's free.
    – rrirower
    Commented Aug 6, 2016 at 17:50
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    See this quote from their privacy statement (emphasis mine): "We collect information about how you interact with our products and services. This includes information about how you use the products and services, such as the features you use, the web pages you visit, and the search terms you enter."
    – john01dav
    Commented Aug 7, 2016 at 7:06
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I would recommend Qt Creator, it matches all the requirements, as far as I know. I've been using it for work and my pet projects for years and I love it.

You can also check out SublimeText, but it requires a bit of tweaking to use it as C++ IDE, i. e. points 3-5 can be added via plug-ins.

Same is applicable to vim.

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