Can multiple instances of CLion run at the same time?

Shaun,

Certainly you can open several projects in one instance of CLion, I beleive it should meet your criteria. If not please describe your case more specifically. Regarding launch of several instances of CLion there's a restriction indeed, you can use only one instance at the same time.

It can open several projects, but not simultaneously. It would be really helpful to me if I could use it to work on at least two C projects simultaneously.

CLion can open several projects at the same time if you choose Open > New Window it'll open next project in parallel window, so I think nothing should prevent you from using several projects simultaneously.

Thanks for the info, that is what I needed! I can confirm this worked for me on Mac OS X.

Update, I just tried this on Linux build 140.1221.2 under Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS and the dialog asking if the project to be opened should be opened in a new window does NOT appear. So the feature does work for me on Mac but not on Linux. I'm guessing this is a bug?

For me it works fine on all platforms including Ubuntu. I can only suppose you might choose the same directory or remembered the choice to open project in the same window prevoiusly like on a screenshot. Could any of this be your case?

Ok, looks like the "Remember, don't ask again checkbox" was the problem. One interesting thing is that I do not see the remember checkbox on the Mac version of the open project dialog window. Since I didn't see it on the Mac version, I assumed it wasn't an option on the Linux version. My mac version of CLion is also 140.1221.2.

Thanks for the information, we'll try to fix it asap.

I don't understand how can I launch two Clion instances. When I try to open second instance I got:

"Already running" message in console.

I understand I can open multiple projects in single Clion instance, but in my case I need to run project-specific environment initialization script before launching Clion...

I have the same issue as Roman. Our internal toolchains rely on the environment variables. Each package needs to use their own version of environment variables. In my case I can achieve that using other ways, but for convenience I would prefer to run separate instances from console. 

For similar reasons involving the environment it would be nice to be able to run completely separate clion processes, I am not sure why this isn't supported. 

I second this - working on projects with multiple embedded targets with different toolchains, set up via environment variables (which themselves are set in a moderately complex script). I typically have multiple terminal shells open simultaneously with different environments active, but right now can only have one CLion instance open at a time - which is a bit annoying.

The great tool that fails with such small features... I really need to be able to run multiple instances of CLioin from command line not with open new window thing. This is C++ tool and people who intend to use it seriously are not sold with that open new window thingy... Fix it.

I agree with the last comment. A great tool that gets lost in details that SEEM small. I need to run two instances of CLion into two different Docker containers. Nowadays, development in separate containers is pretty wide spread. Yet, I can only have one instance at the time because of this "Already running" message. It is very annoying. The "Open a new window" command is not sufficient when the environments in which Clion must run are completely different. Because the company works primarily with Docker containers, it might be necessary change tool altogether.

I also have multiple docker container where CLion (2018.1) is installed.

Are there any plans to support multiple instances?

I am experiencing another problem. I'll explain this simply.

I have docker container A (DCA), with CLion installed. Using CLion in this container I load the CMakeLists.txt of SourceA. CLion starts, indexes and builds symbols.

I have docker container B (DCB), with CLion installed. Using CLion in this container I load the CMakeLists.txt of SourceB. CLion starts, indexes and builds symbols.

Now, when I switch back to running CLion in DCA, it has to index and rebuild symbols again. How does one instance of CLion invalidate the indexes and symbols of the other instance?

Yes to all this. I am in the middle of moving from Emacs to Clion and this is the number one reason I might not make the transition. Being able to have separate work environments, each with its own set of xterms and editors, is vital to working effectively for me. I am frequently working on different versions of the same code base and therefore all the files names are repeated, which becomes confusing (and quite dangerous) in such a situation ("is that HttpSM.cc from 7.1.2, master, or 6.2.3?"). It gets worse, though, with Gnome or XFCE workspaces. Suppose I have CLion running in workspace 1. I open a new window and move it to workspace 2, to work on something. However, the secondary window doesn't have the main title bar so I cannot, for instance, type "alt-F" to get to the file menu from that workspace at all. No refactor menu, etc. If it's not on a hot key, it's not available. I honestly don't understand why this restriction was implemented in the first place. I'm about at the point of setting up local VMs and installing CLion on them and forwarding the X windows display to get around this.

Hello everyone!

First of all, here is the related feature request - https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEABKL-5934. Feel free to comment or upvote.

Secondly, as it's written in the comments to the mentioned issue, you can run multiple instances of IDE at once if you specify separate config and system directories for them in idea.properties. Please find details in FAQ: https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/articles/207240985. The comments also might be useful.

Anna,

Thanks you! This solved the issues I mentioned above.