qt ubuntu

Compiling Qt applications on windows for redistribution is utterly complicated, or impossible (missing dll, crashes, …). So here is a way to compile static qt application, from your preferred unix-like.

Tested on ubuntu 20.04. LTS, see mxe.cc for other unix-likes (even Mac OSX).

Installation

• Install dependencies :

  sudo apt-get install \
  autoconf automake autopoint bash bison bzip2 cmake flex \
  gettext git g++ gperf intltool libffi-dev libtool \
  libltdl-dev libssl-dev libxml-parser-perl make openssl \
  p7zip-full patch perl pkg-config python ruby scons sed \
  unzip wget xz-utils git lzip libtool-bin python3-mako
  

• Clone mxe:

  mkdir -p ~/git && cd ~/git
  git clone https://github.com/mxe/mxe.git
  cd mxe
  

• Configure (create the file) settings.mk for 32 and 64 bit

  MXE_TARGETS := x86_64-w64-mingw32.static i686-w64-mingw32.static
  

• Compile it

  make -j9 qt6
  

Testing

# Qt project creation
mkdir /tmp/qt-test && cd /tmp/qt-test
echo 'QT += core gui opengl widgets
TEMPLATE = app
TARGET = hello
INCLUDEPATH += .
SOURCES += hello.cpp
' > test.pro

# main creation
echo '#include <QtWidgets/QApplication>
#include <QtWidgets/QLabel>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QApplication app(argc, argv);
    QLabel *label = new QLabel("Hello RandomReaper !");
    label->show();
    return app.exec();

}

' > hello.cpp

#compiling
mkdir build && cd build
export PATH=~/git/mxe/usr/bin/:$PATH
~/git/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.static/qt6/bin/qmake ..

make
...

# Result
file release/hello.exe
    release/hello.exe: PE32+ executable (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows

Compiling an existing Qt project

• Go to your project root (where the .pro is).

• mkdir build && cd build
  export PATH=~/git/mxe/usr/bin/:$PATH
  ~/git/mxe/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32.static/qt6/bin/qmake ..
  make
  

~~~

Question, remark, bug? Don't hesitate to contact me or report a bug.