Qt for Linux/X11

Contents

• Step 1: Installing the License File (Commercial Editions Only)
• Step 2: Unpacking the Archive
• Step 3: Building the Library
• Step 4: Set the Environment Variables

Reference

• All Qt C++ Classes
• All QML Types
• All Qt Modules
• Qt Creator Manual

• All Qt Reference Documentation

Getting Started

• Getting Started with Qt
• What's New in Qt 5
• Examples and Tutorials
• Supported Platforms
• Qt Licensing

Overviews

• Development Tools
• User Interfaces
• Core Internals
• Data Storage
• Multimedia
• Networking and Connectivity
• Graphics
• Mobile APIs
• QML Applications

• All Qt Overviews

Qt for Linux/X11 - Building from Source

You can download the Qt 5 sources from the Downloads page. For more information, visit the Getting Started with Qt page.

Qt for X11 has some requirements that are given in more detail in the Qt for X11 Requirements document.

Step 1: Installing the License File (Commercial Editions Only)

If you have the commercial edition of Qt, install your license file as $HOME/.qt-license.

For the open source version you do not need a license file.

Step 2: Unpacking the Archive

Unpack the archive if you have not done so already. For example, if you have the qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%.tar.gz package, type the following commands at a command line prompt:

cd /tmpgunzip qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%.tar.gz        # uncompress the archivetar xvf qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%.tar          # unpack it

This creates the directory /tmp/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION% containing the files from the archive. We only support the GNU version of the tar archiving utility. Note that on some systems it is called gtar.

Step 3: Building the Library

To configure the Qt library for your machine type, run the ./configure script in the package directory.

By default, Qt is configured for installation in the /usr/local/Qt-%VERSION% directory, but this can be changed by using the -prefix option.

cd /tmp/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%./configure

The Configure Options page contains more information about the configure options.

To create the library and compile all the examples, tools, and tutorials, type:

make

If -prefix is outside the build directory, you need to install the library, examples, tools, and tutorials in the appropriate place. To do this (as root if necessary), type:

make install

Note that on some systems the make utility is named differently, e.g. gmake. The configure script tells you which make utility to use.

Note: If you later need to reconfigure and rebuild Qt from the same location, ensure that all traces of the previous configuration are removed by entering the build directory and typing make confclean before running configure again.

Step 4: Set the Environment Variables

In order to use Qt, some environment variables needs to be extended.

PATH               - to locate qmake, moc and other Qt tools

This is done like this:

In .profile (if your shell is bash, ksh, zsh or sh), add the following lines:

PATH=/usr/local/Qt-%VERSION%/bin:$PATHexport PATH

In .login (in case your shell is csh or tcsh), add the following line:

setenv PATH /usr/local/Qt-%VERSION%/bin:$PATH

If you use a different shell, please modify your environment variables accordingly.

For compilers that do not support rpath you must also extended the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to include /usr/local/Qt-%VERSION%/lib. On Linux with GCC this step is not needed.

2014 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiaries. Documentation contributions included herein are the copyrights of their respective owners. The documentation provided herein is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software Foundation. Digia, Qt and their respective logos are trademarks of Digia Plc in Finland and/or other countries worldwide. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.