I'm not new to C or Linux. However, most of the projects I've worked on were either my own or at work. In both scenarios, I have full control over the build system used and/or can easily get help.
However, take for example this library: GitHub - liblouis/liblouis: Open-source braille translator and back-translator.
Say I want to contribute, or at least play with the library. I usually use CLion in my projects, which can work with CMake files. However, if I simply clone that repository and open it in CLion, CLion does not properly parse everything and it ends up being a big mess that I can't really build or debug/run for example.
I know that many of these linux projects follow a pattern to INSTALL like this:
1. ./configure
2. ./make
3. ./make install
However, this builds the binaries which doesn't help me if I want to work with the codebase in an IDE or do source-level debugging for example. Are there any generic tips on working on open-source linux projects or do they pretty much all vary on a case-by-case basis and nobody else could just go to that library and get it working with their IDE/editor quickly either?