# Installation and Set-Up

Gcov plugin depends on binutils (such as addr2line, c++filt and nm). Gcov can be used on any platform as soon as these binutils are in PATH. For example, you can use it on Windows with Cygwin.

## Older version Configuration pre 3.2.0

First of all, the user has to compile the C/C++ program with profiling enabled using "-ftest-coverage -fprofile-arcs" options prior to running the tool. These two options must be passed via the project properties to both the compiler (C/C++ Build->Settings->Tool Settings->GCC C Compiler->Miscellaneous->Other flags) and the linker (C/C++ Build->Settings->Tool Settings->GCC C Linker->Miscellaneous->Linker flags). For a CDT Autotools project, there is a check-box found under the project properties (Autotools->Configure Settings->configure->Advanced->Gcov support).

## Newer Version Configuration 3.2.* onwards

When the user tires to run gcov for the first time, the user will be asked if he would like eclipse to enable gcov for the user automatically.

This will enable the debug checkbox 'Generate Gcov information' in the setting shown in the following screenshot:

After which the tool will start and generate a new view as the output.