# Building programs on a remote system

A configuration in the External Tools dialog lets you build programs on remote systems.

To build programs on a remote system:

1. Select Run > External Tools > External Tools from the workbench menu bar. The External Tools dialog opens.
2. Right click on Remote Build and select New. A remote build configuration is created.
3. Choose the connection for the remote system or create a new one.
4. Type the build command or browse the file system to find the build command
5. Type or select the working directory. This is the directory where the command will be run.
6. Enter the arguments to the build command.
7. Optional: Select the checkbox to specify that there is an associated project with this build command. If the command operates on a set of remote files (for example, a command such as 'make'), the Remote System Explorer will interpret any errors or other messages and allow you to double click on them to open the source. Specifying this option means the Remote System Explorer will open the source from a local project (that is, it will not open the remote source). This is useful if you are developing a program from a local project.
8. Optional: Select the checkbox to specify that local files should be exported before the build command is executed. This is useful if you are developing your remote application from a local project. In such cases, you would export the files from the workspace to the remote system using the Remote file system export wizard. That wizard lets you save the settings of the export to a file. The settings file contains information about which files were exported and various export options. You can specify this settings file here. This configuration will use the settings file to do the export and when the export is completed it will execute the build command. This ensures that the local source you are working on is always sent to the remote system before the build takes place.
9. Click on Apply to save the configuration. Click on Run to execute it.