newbie on Zoneminder 1.36.x, how to modify and compile source code change?

[tong123123]

My background is on Java and in java development, I can use IDE like eclipse, and set debug mode to run line by line.

Now I need to modify zoneminder source, I have no experience on developing Linux application and want to ask some question:

1) is there some IDE like eclipse IDE for java development for ZoneMinder, so I can set debug mode and run the source code line by line and see the result?

2) if I change some code (e.g. php, cpp...), then how to compile and see the result in zoneminder output? Or just place back the file to ZoneMinder_zoneminder_release/xxx (e.g. src, web...) and the change will automatically show in Zoneminder.

[RagenVox]

You usually need to use make or a similar build system to recompile the application when dealing with C++ files. To make changes to PHP or other scripts, you can just replace the file in the relevant directory. To prevent messing up your ZoneMinder setup, make sure you understand the build process and have a backup of the original files.