Building-Qt-Creator-Packages
General Building of Qt Creator
- It is recommended to build in a shadow build directory
- <code>qmake $SOURCES/qtcreator.pro CONFIG+=release" "DEFINES+=IDE_REVISION=$GIT_COMMIT" "QTC_PREFIX=/qt-creator-x.y.z"</code> where <code>$GIT_COMMIT</code> should be the sha1 of the commit that you build, and where the <code>QTC_PREFIX</code> is the directory prefix used for the 7zips that are created by the bindist target (see below).
- set the following environment variables:
- <code>INSTALL_ROOT</code>: changes the location for the install dir when doing <code>make install</code>, e.g. <code>$BUILDDIR/install/qtcreator</code> (not used on Mac)
- <code>INSTALL_EDITION</code>: can be set to e.g. <code>-opensource</code>, used for 7z and dmg file names, <code>$${PLATFORM}$(INSTALL_EDITION)
$${QTCREATOR_VERSION}$(INSTALL_POSTFIX)</code>$${QTCREATOR_VERSION}$(INSTALL_POSTFIX)</code>
## <code>INSTALL_POSTFIX</code>: used for 7z and dmg file names, <code>$${PLATFORM}$(INSTALL_EDITION)
- <code>make</code>
- <code>make docs</code>
- <code>make install</code> (don't use on Mac)
- <code>make install_docs</code> (don't use on Mac)
- <code>make deployqt</code>
After these calls the <code>INSTALL_ROOT</code> (Windows/Linux) or <code>$BUILDDIR/bin/Qt Creator.app</code> (Mac) contains a distributable binary build.
To add "external" executables (jom, qtcreatorcdbext64) that we deploy for Windows builds to your install, call
# <code>make deployartifacts</code>
To create a 7zip with the binary build, call
# <code>make bindist</code>
That packages the files with a directory starting with the <code>QTC_PREFIX</code> you set in the qmake call.
To create a 7zip that can be used for installers, that directly contains the files without additional directory prefix (i.e. directly bin/, lib/, and so on), call
# <code>make bindist_installer</code>
To create actual Qt Creator-only installers, you need to have the installer framework binaries installed, then
# set the following additional environment variable:
## <code>IFW_PATH</code>: location where <code>make installer</code> looks for the installer framework binaries (i.e. its bin/ and lib/ directories)
# <code>make bindist_installer installer</code>
To create a disk image (dmg) with the <code>Qt Creator.app</code> on Mac, call
# <code>make dmg</code>
Things affecting the build/install
Environment Variables
| INSTALL_ROOT | Changes the location for the install dir when doing <code>make install</code>, e.g. <code>$BUILDDIR/install/qtcreator</code> (not used on Mac), installation is done into <code>$(INSTALL_ROOT)$$QTC_PREFIX</code> |
| INSTALL_BASENAME | Sets the base name used for the files created by make bindist, bindist_installer, dmg and dmg_installer. Defaults to <code>qt-creator-$${PLATFORM}$(INSTALL_EDITION)-$${QTCREATOR_VERSION}$(INSTALL_POSTFIX)</code> |
| INSTALL_EDITION | Can be set to e.g. <code>-opensource</code>, used for default INSTALL_BASENAME |
| INSTALL_POSTFIX | Used for default INSTALL_BASENAME |
| IFW_PATH | Location where <code>make installer</code> looks for the installer framework binaries (i.e. its bin/ and lib/ directories) |
| INSTALLER_ARCHIVE | This overwrites the default value of the 7z filename which is used by the bindist_installer step, including file extension. |
Qmake Variables
| QTC_PREFIX | directory prefix for the install directory <code>make install</code> and for what is packaged with <code>make bindist</code>, must start with a <code>/</code>, e.g. <code>/qt-creator-x.y.z</code>, installation is done into <code>$(INSTALL_ROOT)$$QTC_PREFIX</code> |
| IDE_PACKAGE_MODE | Disables building the HellWorld and UpdateInfo plugins (which are built but marked experimental otherwise) |
| UPDATEINFO_ENABLE | Enables the UpdateInfo plugin and enables it for the build (usually it is marked as experimental) |
| QT_PRIVATE_HEADERS | Set to QTDIR/include where private headers are installed, if your Qt version doesn't have them in its standard include directory |
C Defines
| IDE_VERSION_DESCRIPTION | Text description for the Qt Creator version, shown in parenthesis after the version number in the About dialog. For example used to show "Qt Creator 2.4.82 (2.5.0-beta)" (IDE_VERSION_DESCRIPTION="2.5.0-beta" in that case) |
| IDE_REVISION | String to show as revision in About dialog. Should be set to the git sha that the Qt Creator was built from. |
| IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT | Changes the directory where Qt Creator looks for user settings and resources. E.g. <code>~/.config/IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT/qtcreator.ini</code> on Linux. Defaults to "Nokia". |
Install Settings
Qt Creator reads the QtCreator.ini, qtversion.xml and toolchains.xml from its installation directory as "install settings". (The directory is <code>share/qtcreator/IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT/</code> on Windows and Linux, <code>Qt Creator.app/Contents/Resources/IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT/</code> on Mac.)
The qt versions from the qtversion.xml and tool chains from toolchains.xml are added as "autodetected" to Qt Creator. The settings file (.ini&#41; is used for QSettings::SystemScope. An installer can give any Qt Creator setting a default value by writing into this .ini file.
The following special settings (or specially notable settings) are also read by Qt Creator:
| ExampleManifests | Array of strings. Paths to manifest xml files that describe examples to show in Qt Creator's example browser.|
| Plugins/Ignored | QStringList (i.e. string containing of comma-separated values). Names of plugins that should not be loaded by default (even though they are installed and not marked experimental).|
| Plugins/ForceEnabled | QStringList (i.e. string containing of comma-separated values). Names of plugins that should be loaded even though they would not be loaded by default (e.g. because they are marked as experimental).|
| Help/InstalledDocumentation | QStringList (i.e. string containing of comma-separated values). Paths to qch (documentation) files and directories containing qch files that should be registered with Qt Creator|