How to copy Qt runtime DLLs to project output
Solution 1
OK, here's an ugly hack:
# Copy required DLLs to output directory
CONFIG(debug, debug|release) {
QtCored4.commands = copy /Y %QTDIR%\\bin\\QtCored4.dll debug
QtCored4.target = debug/QtCored4.dll
QtGuid4.commands = copy /Y %QTDIR%\\bin\\QtGuid4.dll debug
QtGuid4.target = debug/QtGuid4.dll
QMAKE_EXTRA_TARGETS += QtCored4 QtGuid4
PRE_TARGETDEPS += debug/QtCored4.dll debug/QtGuid4.dll
} else:CONFIG(release, debug|release) {
QtCore4.commands = copy /Y %QTDIR%\\bin\\QtCore4.dll release
QtCore4.target = release/QtCore4.dll
QtGui4.commands = copy /Y %QTDIR%\\bin\\QtGui4.dll release
QtGui4.target = release/QtGui4.dll
QMAKE_EXTRA_TARGETS += QtCore4 QtGui4
PRE_TARGETDEPS += release/QtCore4.dll release/QtGui4.dll
} else {
error(Unknown set of dependencies.)
}
Here's some of what I don't like about it:
- Uses %QTDIR% environment variable; this variable isn't evaluated until the copy command is actually run. Seems like something along the lines of QMAKE_LIBS_QT_DLL would be more appropriate, but I couldn't get that working for some reason.
- Hard-coded "debug" and "release" names; seems like there ought to be some kind of variable to use for that.
- Calling out to the environment by using the "copy" command.
I'll accept another answer if somebody can clean this up a good bit, for example by shortening it and/or addressing some of my concerns, or just finding a better way in general.
Solution 2
A bit cleaner method, but it will require doing a make install
after a make
. It will work on Windows, but would need tweaking for other platforms.
debug { DESTDIR = debug }
release { DESTDIR = release }
debug_and_release { DESTDIR = bin }
myqtlibs.path = $$DESTDIR
myqtlibs.files = $$QMAKE_LIBDIR_QT/*.dll junk.txt fred.out
myqtlibs.CONFIG = no_check_exist
INSTALLS += myqtlibs
If qmake is run just for debug, all output will go into ./debug . If it is just for release, all output goes in ./release . If both, then into ./bin .
I did notice that enabling shadow building in QtCreator caused the executable not to end up in the DESTDIR. I'm not quite sure why.
Solution 3
Copy Dependencies with windeployqt
# Deployment - Automatically Detect and Copy Dependencies to Build Folder
TARGET_CUSTOM_EXT = .exe
DEPLOY_COMMAND = windeployqt
DEPLOY_OPTIONS = "--no-svg --no-system-d3d-compiler --no-opengl --no-angle --no-opengl-sw"
CONFIG( debug, debug|release ) {
# debug
DEPLOY_TARGET = $$shell_quote($$shell_path($${OUT_PWD}/debug/$${TARGET}$${TARGET_CUSTOM_EXT}))
DEPLOY_OPTIONS += "--debug"
} else {
# release
DEPLOY_TARGET = $$shell_quote($$shell_path($${OUT_PWD}/release/$${TARGET}$${TARGET_CUSTOM_EXT}))
DEPLOY_OPTIONS += "--release"
}
# Uncomment the following line to help debug the deploy command when running qmake
#message($${DEPLOY_COMMAND} $${DEPLOY_OPTIONS} $${DEPLOY_TARGET})
QMAKE_POST_LINK = $${DEPLOY_COMMAND} $${DEPLOY_OPTIONS} $${DEPLOY_TARGET}
or Copy dependencies manually
# Deployment - Copy Dependencies to Build Folder
dlls.path = $${DESTDIR}
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/icudt51.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/icuin51.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/icuuc51.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/libstdc++-6.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/libwinpthread-1.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/Qt5Core.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/Qt5Network.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/Qt5Gui.dll
dlls.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS]/Qt5Widgets.dll
dllA.path += $${DESTDIR}/platforms
dllA.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS]/platforms/qwindows.dll
dllB.path += $${DESTDIR}/plugins/imageformats/
dllB.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS]/imageformats/qico.dll
dllB.files += $$[QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS]/imageformats/qwbmp.dll
INSTALLS += dlls dllA dllB
Referencing: http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qmake-variable-reference.html#deployment
In case you need to identify prerequisites / dependencies cross-platform, please take a look at CMake's getPrerequisites()
. It uses dumpbin
, objbin
, ldd
, otool
for the identification of dependencies.
Referencing: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.0/module/GetPrerequisites.html
Solution 4
I ran into the same problem and jwernerny's solution helped me a lot. However, I was using Shadow Build on Window 7 and it needed a bit more tweeking.
I also needed to set the DESTDIR
according to the current configuration.
In my case I wanted to copy *.qml
files, that's how I achieved it:
CONFIG(release, debug|release): DESTDIR = $$OUT_PWD/release
CONFIG(debug, debug|release): DESTDIR = $$OUT_PWD/debug
QmlFiles.path = $$DESTDIR/Qml
QmlFiles.files += $$files(Qml/*.qml)
INSTALLS += QmlFiles
EDIT :
Since I use Shadow Build I need to use $$OUT_PWD
to get the output folder.
James Johnston
I'm a software and hardware engineer for Motion View Software, which builds and maintains a line of orthodontic products and 3D scanners.
Updated on June 26, 2022Comments
-
James Johnston almost 2 years
I have a simple project created in Qt Creator (installed using Qt SDK 1.1.4). It runs just fine from within Qt Creator, but if I then browse to the output directory in Windows and double-click the EXE, I'll get an error like:
The program can't start because QtCored4.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
That's obviously because Qt isn't in my PATH (and I don't want it to be, in case I have multiple versions of Qt on my computer), and Qt Creator / qmake didn't copy the Qt DLLs to the project output.
What I would like to do is use qmake to copy the necessary Qt files to the project output directory - wherever it may be. How do I do this?
(I tried creating a custom target in qmake, but I'm not getting too far...)
UPDATE July 19, 2016: Just to clarify, the above post was concerning Qt4. On Qt5, you should instead look into calling
windeployqt
. This Qt5 tool will read your binary, determine which Qt5 runtime files you need, and copy them to your binary directory. Also note that it will fix absolute paths in the Qt5::Core library that are specific to your PC - so use of this tool is basically mandatory unless you want to provide aqt.conf
file yourself. -
Gerald Combs almost 12 years$$QMAKE_LIBDIR_QT appears to be the correct replacement for %QTDIR%\\bin.
-
Gerald Combs over 11 yearsUpdate: $$QMAKE_LIBDIR_QT didn't work for one of our developers. We switched to $$[QT_INSTALL_BINS], pointed to by "qmake -query".
-
Thibaut D. almost 9 yearsAlso, using $$QMAKE_COPY, $$QMAKE_DIR_SEP and $$QMAKE_EXTENSION_SHLIB could make this cross-platform.
-
kayleeFrye_onDeck about 8 yearsIs there a generic / placeholder way I could do this when making for multiple platforms? like,
DEPLOY_COMMAND = *deploy
, or do these all need to be individually/explicitly specified? -
Jens A. Koch about 8 yearsNot with Qt on-board tools. But for instance with CMake you could use getPrerequisites(). It uses
dumpbin
,objbin
,ldd
,otool
(cross-platform) for the identification of dependencies. See cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.0/module/GetPrerequisites.html -
kayleeFrye_onDeck about 8 yearsNice! Thank you, @Jens A. Koch!
-
kayleeFrye_onDeck about 8 yearsI've found that sometimes I need to actually reboot to fix some of the weirder qmake bugs that occasionally happen. Bug happening 100% of the time? Leave it alone, come back, and now it works -_- ...
-
kayleeFrye_onDeck about 8 yearsYou can always reference the configuration files in your relevant mkespec directories. Just don't forget to check out the
common/
folder :)