Unable to build for Windows on Linux, with MinGW - c++

Because I am not a Java enthusiast, I decided to use C++ and Qt for one of my projects. However, I came across the big cross-compiling Qt problem, and I am unable to produce an .exe file for Windows users.
My setup
Linux Ubuntu 12.04, with Wine and Qt. qmake -v gives the following output :
QMake version 2.01a
Using Qt version 4.8.1 in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
I also have a MinGW32 compiler, which can be found at /usr/bin/i586-mingw32msvc-g++. My Wine drive_c folder contains the following Qt directories :
$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Qt/Qt5.2.0/5.2.0/Src
$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Qt/Qt5.2.0/5.2.0/mingw48_32
The mingw48_32 directory contains the necessary include/ and lib/ directories, which are used in my mkspec file, /usr/share/qt4/mkspecs/win32-x-g++/qmake.conf :
QMAKE_INCDIR_QT = /home/me/.wine/drive_c/Qt/Qt5.2.0/5.2.0/mingw48_32/include
QMAKE_LIBDIR_QT = /home/me/.wine/drive_c/Qt/Qt5.2.0/5.2.0/mingw48_32/lib
The problem
According to most guides I've found about Qt cross-compiling, my setup should be enough to run a simple :
qmake -spec win32-x-g++
make
wine /path/to/my/application.exe
But... nothing's linked. QApplication and every other symbol I use in my program are "not found". No QApplication, no QPushButton, no connect(), no SIGNAL(), no SLOT()...
My objective here is to successfully configure QtCreator to use this setup (in an independent build configuration), so that it can build a Linux executable (through the first and working configuration), and a Win32 .exe (through the MinGW setup above). However, I cannot modify a single build step in QtCreator :
Cannot add a "MinGW" toolchain : it is not available in the "Add" dropdown list.
Cannot change the -spec parameter value in the project build configurations panel. The field is non-editable.
Despite guides and solutions I found all over the Internet, my only solution so far is to send my source code to a virtual Windows machine, and have it create a new project with it. On this VM, I could probably compile for Windows... But of course, this doesn't actually sound like a real "solution" to me...
Is there any way Qt(Creator) has finally made cross-compiling easier now ? I'm getting a bit tired of "symbol not found" errors...

First,
sudo apt-get install mingw-w64
Then, check if Qt Creator finds the toolchain.
Next, until Ubuntu starts providing a mingw-w64-qt package, download the Qt source and build it. This is bound to get messy, and maybe even the simplest thing to do is to install WINE and use a Windows Qt version.

Related

Cannot Run Compiler 'cl' for qt5.10.1 on Windows 10 in terminal

I have never used qt before, but I got a task to build an already existing application for Windows and Mac using the newest version of qt. What I have done so far is:
Installed Visual Studio Professional 2017.
Installed the latest Qt 5 Open Source.
Note: when installing the QT 5 I installed all of the components under QT/ QT 5.10.1 which were: qt 5.10.1 components and under QT/Tools I installed QT Creator 4.6.0 CDB Debugger Support and MinGW 5.3.0 : qt 5 Tools
I cloned the branch from GitHub that I wanted to build to C:/Projects
Then in Git Bash I cd to the project and tried to run qmake. The first time I had this problem:
"bash: qmake: command not found"
After searching into the problem I found out that I haven't added "Qt/5.10.1/msvc2017_64/bin" to PATH and I added it. Now when I echo $PATH I can see the directory added.
Now after bash recognises qmake and I try to run it it says:
Project ERROR: Cannot run target compiler 'cl'. Output:
===================
Maybe you forgot to setup the environment?
I have no idea how to fix the problem due to the fact that I have never used QT to build anything before. Can you help me?
In the read me file for the application I am trying to build it says:
Step-by-step instructions
1. Clone this branch
2. cd into the project
3. Run qmake - this wil generate Makefiles for all of the project's modules
4.Run make (Use the -j4 of -j flags - this greatly speeds up the build process - see the manual page for make for more info). You can also use the -s flag to silence the output - this also wins you a few seconds.
I am a bit puzzled by the instructions, it does not say to run qmake -project anywhere, but there is a qt project file in the directory that I cd to. Does this mean that I don't have to run qmake -project?
Also I have no idea how to run make by using the -j4 and -j flags and how to run flags in general. Could someone help me?
I believe that for the Cannot Run Compiler 'cl' issue I have some kind of a problem with the set up. Did I install too many components or is it to do with the VS setup?
I highly recommend you to install Qt from the Qt installer, and to use Qt Creator.
However, if you want to use it from source, you first need to get a compiler (ex: MinGW). Then you need to execute the instructions, but you need to use a MinGW (or whatever compiler you use) command prompt, which will automatically set the environment variables needed.
Note that this is Windows specific. On mac and linux, the compiler's environment variables are already set in the default command prompt (if there is a compiler, obviously).

Qt Creator Compiling Error at step 'make'

I just started using Qt Creator for creating C++ GUI programs. I just downloaded it and installed it, but the compiling process is throwing me errors. When I try to compile my project (very simple, just a QLabel on the screen...it's my first project) it comes up with the error:
qtcreator_ctrlc_stub: Command line failed:
C:\Users\andrew\Dropbox\Programming\C++\build-
FirstGUIApp-Desktop_Qt_5_1_1_MSVC2012_32bit-Debug\Makefile 10:04:35:
The process
"C:\Users\andrew\Dropbox\Programming\C++\build-FirstGUIApp-Desktop_Qt_5_1_1_MSVC2012_32bit-Debug\Makefile"
exited with code -1. Error while building/deploying project
FirstGUIApp (kit: Desktop Qt 5.1.1 MSVC2012 32bit) When executing step
'Make'
I hunted around for an answer here and here and a couple other places but I'm just confused about the whole thing. I have a couple of ideas of my own but I don't know how to try my ideas. Here are some of my ideas:
1) MinGW isn't in the path or isn't installed
But, if it isn't in the path, how do I put it in? Where is it? I have Code Blocks installed which has MinGW installed, so could I maybe use it from there?
2) the make file is messed up somehow
Again, what could be wrong and how could I fix it?
3) Qt Creator isn't installed correctly.
Obviously, re-install it, but I want to make sure all other options are tried before, because it took me a very long time to download.
I apologize if I'm sounding noobish or it's a stupid question, but I really am confused with all of this. Please be patient with me and try to explain things well and thoroughly. I'm using Windows 8.1 and downloaded the offline installer. Thanks in advance.
UPDATE
Here is a screenshot of my Qt, how can I tell if it is the visual studio or minGW version?
UPDATE
Here is my MinGW Folder in CodeBlocks. Is this the folder with the compiler or is it something else?
For your ideas:
1: if you downloaded from qtproject with binary. then qt and qt creator should be installed under the C:\Qt\Qt5.1.1 then corresponding minGW should be stay in C:\Qt\Qt5.1.1\Tools\mingw48_32\bin\gcc.exe
this is the directory you need. Remember, QtCreator needs two tools to make sure your project and compile and run, qmake and compiler.
Qmake is tool help you translate .pro file into makefile,
compiler (gcc) minGW use gcc to run the makefile, compile your code to binary.
where to figure out tools you are using are correct?
---> qtcreator --> Tools -> Build&Run -> Kits
in here You should be able find different kits, of course you maybe have only one.
Select one, Double check the Qt Version and Compiler is the one you wish to use.
click Manage next to compiler, Every compiler in the Auto-detect should be ok to use.
If you don't see anyone, add one, click Add, MinGW, put C:\Qt\Qt5.1.1\Tools\mingw48_32\bin\gcc.exe like into path. ABI should auto-set depends on your environment.
Answer to your second question, what's wrong with your makefile, no one knows, you should check your .pro, usually makefile are generated by qmake xx.pro. Double check your .pro file and re-run qmake will solve the problem.
in tools->options->build&run check if minGW is actually there in the compiler and kit list
in the project tab (on the left hand side) you can set the environment for the build click the PATH value and add the path to minGW to it (you may need to add a lib and include var so the standard library gets added)
re run qmake from the build menu
double check you have the correct version it looks like you have the visual studio Qt not the minGW version,
Terminal:(in Linux)
sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake libqt4-dev
i'm sorry i dont know why this code works,but i have the same problem in linux and this code worked.

Qt 5.1.1 compiler setup on Ubuntu

First of all, I should point out that I've never used linux before.
I have a clean install of 64bit ubuntu, I downloaded Qt 5.1.1 for linux 64 bit from http://qt-project.org/downloads, ran the .run file, installed it and gcc which is included in that download, opened Qt Creator, made a new project and tried to compile it. It wont compile and I keep getting this error message
:-1: error: Qt Creator needs a compiler set up to build. Configure a compiler in the kit options.
I added a gcc compiler, but what do I need to put for the compiler path, platform codegen flags, platform linker flags and ABI?
You don't have to input the path of your compiler because gcc and g++ paths are available in the $PATH enovironment variable. So just use "gcc" and "g++" and that should work. Just make sure you restart Qt Creator after the installation of g++.
One more thing. You need a compiled version of Qt installed on your computer. So also install Qt libraries with
sudo apt-get install qt4-dev-tools
If you want to use the new version of the library you have to add it to $PATH. You can do this in the terminal with
export PATH=/path/to/Qt/qtbase:$PATH
And then run Qt Creator from the same terminal, in which you did the last command.
Good luck!
You will have to install the dependencies as well. I got it working when I followed the steps in the following link.
Try this:
http://wiki.qt.io/Building_Qt_5_from_Git

How to compile Qt statically under Windows?

After successfully installing the Qt SDK 4.7.4 (MingW) and building an application I can find no way to deploy my program. Qt is really nice, but to deploy under Windows means to leave he surfaced road.
First the executable requires QtCore4.dll plus some other DLLs, but the Creator does not copy them into the deploy folder. Do I really have to try DEPENDS.EXE, to find out which DLLs are required, and then cull them manually from somewhere under C:/QtSDK?
Be that as it may, preferably I want to link statically. There are few recipes on the net how this can be done (e.g. here and here). So I launched a Qt 4.7.4 Desktop (MingW) command prompt. The Qt Reference Documentation tells to run CONFIGURE.EXE, but there's no CONFIGURE.EXE and no CONFIGURE.CMD, not under C:/QtSDK and not under C:/.
What am I missing?

Stepping into Qt sources in Qt Creator (in Ubuntu Linux)

I'm using Qt Creator in Ubuntu. It's installed from the repositories but as it is now, there is no way to step into the Qt sources when debugging.
How can I enable that?
Since Qt Creator uses gdb, you need to configure gdb. First thing to do is to install Qt debugging symbols:
apt-get install libqt4-dbg
Or, for Qt5:
apt-get install qtbase5-dbg # For the qtbase package
This will install the debugging symbols for Qt libraries. Older releases of Ubuntu had a silly bug that required additional trick to correct those symbol files, but in the current release it works fine.
This will make gdb step inside Qt methods, but it's no fun without sources. So we need sources which can be installed like this, assuming that the source repository is enabled in the APT:
apt-get source qt4-x11
ln -s qt4-x11-4.7.0 qt # a convenience symlink
Or, for Qt5:
apt-get source qtbase-opensource-src
# Make a link as above, if you wish
This will download the sources, unpack them into the current directory and patch them accordingly, no root privileges needed unless the current dir isn't writeable by the current user.
And the last thing is to inform gdb of the sources location, which is done by putting this in the ~/.gdbinit file:
dir ~/vita/qt/src/corelib
dir ~/vita/qt/src/gui
dir ~/vita/qt/src/network
dir ~/vita/qt/src/sql
Add modules and correct paths as needed. The convenience symlink is very useful here, so we don't have to edit this file each time we upgrade to a new Qt version. We only need to download the new sources, patch them and change the symlink.
Note that even we have installed the debugging symbols, we still use the release build of Qt libraries. This means that the code is highly optimized and will sometimes behave very strange when stepping inside Qt binaries. If it is a problem, then it is necessary to build Qt in debug mode, install it separately (say, in /usr/local/qt4-debug) and tell Qt Creator to use that particular installation.
The only way i made it work on Ubuntu is building Qt from sources with configure -debug.
Everything started to work like a charm afterwards.
Qt binary packages for Linux don't contain debug symbols and therefore the debugger doesn't know files or line numbers where to jump to. You need to build Qt yourself with -debug configure option if you want to be able to debug Qt code.
Instructions from Sergey Tachenov instructions would only work if you build your application against the Qt version that you can find from Ubuntu repositories.