Version: 3.0.0a4 (using KDE 3.1.1) Compiler: gcc version 3.3 20030226 (prerelease) (SuSE Linux) OS: Linux (i686) release 2.4.20-4GB At several places in Gideon it is possible to enter symbolic names for libraries, KDE locations, etc. such as $(kde_datadir), $(LIB_KDEGAMES). If the user forgets the correct symbolic name, mis-types it or Gideon simply does not recognize it (see bug 62288), there is no feedback or error message. Problems then happen during the compilation, build or install and can be very nasty and hard to diagnose. Also, there are some internal symbolic names, such as $(PREFIX), $(QTDIR) or $(KDEDIRS), which can give catastrophic problems if theiir value is not set for some reason. One time Gideon scattered files all over my root directory because $(PREFIX) was not set. I think Gideon should validate those at least, and maybe the libs and KDE locations referred to above, whenever it runs automake, configure, etc., because values can also come from the Shell env.
You should probably be using $(prefix), not $(PREFIX).
I don't see how KDevelop could do anything about this. This is a problem of the underlying buildsystem. We do provide help in writing buildsystem files in KDevelop4 though (currently only for CMake), i.e. completing variable names and similar stuff. The GUI will be reduced to the simpler cases. So this is basically fixed/wontfix for KDevelop4.