Building-Qt-Creator-Packages

General Building of Qt Creator

1. It is recommended to build in a shadow build directory
2. <code&gt;qmake $SOURCES/qtcreator.pro CONFIG+=release&quot; "DEFINES+=IDE_REVISION=$GIT_COMMIT&quot; "QTC_PREFIX=/qt-creator-x.y.z&quot;</code&gt; where <code&gt;$GIT_COMMIT&lt;/code&gt; should be the sha1 of the commit that you build, and where the <code&gt;QTC_PREFIX&lt;/code&gt; is the directory prefix used for the 7zips that are created by the bindist target (see below).
3. set the following environment variables:
   1. <code&gt;INSTALL_ROOT&lt;/code&gt;: changes the location for the install dir when doing <code&gt;make install&lt;/code&gt;, e.g. <code&gt;$BUILDDIR/install/qtcreator&lt;/code&gt; (not used on Mac)
   2. <code&gt;INSTALL_EDITION&lt;/code&gt;: can be set to e.g. <code&gt;&#45;opensource&lt;/code&gt;, used for 7z and dmg file names, <code&gt;$${PLATFORM}$(INSTALL_EDITION)$${QTCREATOR_VERSION}$(INSTALL_POSTFIX)</code&gt;
      ## <code&gt;INSTALL_POSTFIX&lt;/code&gt;: used for 7z and dmg file names, <code&gt;$${PLATFORM}$(INSTALL_EDITION)$${QTCREATOR_VERSION}$(INSTALL_POSTFIX)</code&gt;
4. <code&gt;make&lt;/code&gt;
5. <code&gt;make docs&lt;/code&gt;
6. <code&gt;make install&lt;/code&gt; (don't use on Mac)
7. <code&gt;make install_docs&lt;/code&gt; (don't use on Mac)
8. <code&gt;make deployqt&lt;/code&gt;

After these calls the <code&gt;INSTALL_ROOT&lt;/code&gt; (Windows/Linux) or <code&gt;$BUILDDIR/bin/Qt Creator.app&lt;/code&gt; (Mac) contains a distributable binary build.

To add "external&quot; executables (jom, qtcreatorcdbext64) that we deploy for Windows builds to your install, call
# <code&gt;make deployartifacts&lt;/code&gt;

To create a 7zip with the binary build, call
# <code&gt;make bindist&lt;/code&gt;
That packages the files with a directory starting with the <code&gt;QTC_PREFIX&lt;/code&gt; 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&gt;make bindist_installer&lt;/code&gt;

To create actual Qt Creator-only installers, you need to have the installer framework binaries installed, then
# set the following additional environment variable:
## <code&gt;IFW_PATH&lt;/code&gt;: location where <code&gt;make installer&lt;/code&gt; looks for the installer framework binaries (i.e. its bin/ and lib/ directories)
# <code&gt;make bindist_installer installer&lt;/code&gt;

To create a disk image (dmg) with the <code&gt;Qt Creator.app&lt;/code&gt; on Mac, call
# <code&gt;make dmg&lt;/code&gt;

Things affecting the build/install

Environment Variables

INSTALL_ROOT	Changes the location for the install dir when doing <code&gt;make install&lt;/code&gt;, e.g. <code&gt;$BUILDDIR/install/qtcreator&lt;/code&gt; (not used on Mac), installation is done into <code&gt;$(INSTALL_ROOT)$$QTC_PREFIX&lt;/code&gt;
INSTALL_BASENAME	Sets the base name used for the files created by make bindist, bindist_installer, dmg and dmg_installer. Defaults to <code&gt;qt-creator-$${PLATFORM}$(INSTALL_EDITION)-$${QTCREATOR_VERSION}$(INSTALL_POSTFIX)</code&gt;
INSTALL_EDITION	Can be set to e.g. <code&gt;&#45;opensource&lt;/code&gt;, used for default INSTALL_BASENAME
INSTALL_POSTFIX	Used for default INSTALL_BASENAME
IFW_PATH	Location where <code&gt;make installer&lt;/code&gt; 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&gt;make install&lt;/code&gt; and for what is packaged with <code&gt;make bindist&lt;/code&gt;, must start with a <code&gt;/&lt;/code&gt;, e.g. <code&gt;/qt-creator-x.y.z&lt;/code&gt;, installation is done into <code&gt;$(INSTALL_ROOT)$$QTC_PREFIX&lt;/code&gt;
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&gt;~/.config/IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT/qtcreator.ini&lt;/code&gt; on Linux. Defaults to "Nokia&quot;.

Install Settings

Qt Creator reads the QtCreator.ini, qtversion.xml and toolchains.xml from its installation directory as "install settings&quot;. (The directory is <code&gt;share/qtcreator/IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT/&lt;/code&gt; on Windows and Linux, <code&gt;Qt Creator.app/Contents/Resources/IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT/&lt;/code&gt; on Mac.)

The qt versions from the qtversion.xml and tool chains from toolchains.xml are added as "autodetected&quot; to Qt Creator. The settings file &#40;.ini&amp;#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|