title: What's the recommended Eclipse CDT configuration for big C++ project (indexer takes forever)
body: <p>I'm working on some legacy C++ code written using "vi" and "emacs" and I am trying to build an eclipse CDT setup to maintain it (on linux).  The two main problems I've been facing are that the indexing takes very long (over 4h) and that even once that's finished, eclipse is barely responsive.</p>
  
  <p>The code base is structured in a "3-4 level deep" manner:</p>
  
  <pre><code>/system/${category}/${library}/
  /server/${serverName}/${component}/
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>/system/CORE/CommandLine/*.cpp
  /system/CORE/Connection/*.cpp
  ...
  /server/Authentication/DB/Objects/*.cpp
  /server/Authentication/Main/*.cpp
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>There are about 200 "modules" under /system/* and around 50 under /server/Authentication/*.
  There is also an amazingly convoluted make system with 20 years worth of <em>make-code</em> written by people who wanted to showoff their make abilities :-)</p>
  
  <p>I've tried two approaches so far</p>
  
  <p>1) Two eclipse cdt projects, namely /system and /Authentication</p>
  
  <p>2) One eclipse cdt project per "module" ending up with +200 modules.  I even calculated dependencies between modules.</p>
  
  <p>In both approaches, indexing takes very long.  On approach 1) I get quite a few problems with non-resolved dependencies.  With approach 2) eclipse is barely responsive, when I ctrl+click a function I can go for a coffee and come back before it responds...</p>
  
  <p>Anyone out there has worked with big projects like these?  What do you suggest?</p>