2-3 years ago or so, it seems a war of attrition was waged in the examples subdir of qtbase. There have been a few outright removals, but the primary form this takes is an innocuous-sounding commit message reading, "Move so-and-so example to manual test".
While that may sound like just a reorganization, what isn't immediately apparent is that any example so moved is no longer included in the Qt distribution. Which I think is a shame.
And when I say there's been a lot of this, I mean that this is the result of running git log --oneline 'HEAD@{2 years ago}' examples/widgets/ inside qtbase:
$ git log --oneline 'HEAD@{2 years ago}' examples/widgets/
f6e7fdd4ad8 Refurbish the shaped clock example
619ec1a6406 Refurbish the clock example
7c59c5ed13d Examples: remove OpenGL code paths from painting examples
ae39b163455 Convert tooltips example to snippets
1fd1ffd03d6 standarddialogs: Don't assume QMessageBox::exec() returns clicked role
4e8b54eb811 Preparations to deprecate QItemDelegate
9de4133da29 Move Calendar Widget Example to UI Components category
c3171938c3e Doc: Fix typo in examplecategory command
c46551e2033 Doc: Fix documentation issues
7ef93cbf688 Doc: Add example categories to Qt Widget examples
381612f7944 Image Gestures Example: use QFileInfo for images file names
f6e7fdd4ad8 Refurbish the shaped clock example
619ec1a6406 Refurbish the clock example
7c59c5ed13d Examples: remove OpenGL code paths from painting examples
ae39b163455 Convert tooltips example to snippets
1fd1ffd03d6 standarddialogs: Don't assume QMessageBox::exec() returns clicked ro
le
4e8b54eb811 Preparations to deprecate QItemDelegate
9de4133da29 Move Calendar Widget Example to UI Components category
c3171938c3e Doc: Fix typo in examplecategory command
c46551e2033 Doc: Fix documentation issues
7ef93cbf688 Doc: Add example categories to Qt Widget examples
381612f7944 Image Gestures Example: use QFileInfo for images file names
80520c2f52a Enable QWidget::grab() with QRhiWidget in the widget tree
0b3390f33d4 examples/: fix compiler (GCC) warnings -Wsign-compare
d48831612a3 examples: Add new subdirectory to examples/widgets CMakeLists
72a453c6a8b Add QRhiWidget
95ed8d1fd9c Fix the project name
631cb589bf5 Doc fix: Use correct initials for Porter and Duff
60f706063ae Doc: Update example category names
d2db1d511dd Remove references to Application Example
3040eadd832 Doc: Fix license of foreignwindows example
72a153a7f57 Move simple widget mapper example to manual test
8937169c190 Move simple dom model example to manual test
9c71b924304 Move plug and paint example to manual test
921337f98c5 Move pixelator example to manual test
5654fbffd58 Move dials example to manual test
81db1766dd0 Move textedit example to manual test
40dbee13ebf Move tetrix example to manual test
89b463ac2fa Move styles example to manual test
1e954f9be89 Move stylesheets example to manual test
c5ee7c8b8f2 Move main window example to manual test
4b79834e1a8 Move MDI example to manual test
cd7995de573 Move windowcontainer example to manual test
604b2feca75 Modernize EditableTreeModel
25027444a9b Modernize SimpleTreeModel example
ec01f6ae8b2 Move movie example to manual test
c7702638f33 Move pinch zoom example to manual test
e00d8aa6a83 Move validators example to manual test
a18c55e7380 Move item views puzzle example to manual test
645e011d7dd Move interview example to manual test
b8f588bea74 Move image viewer example to manual test
c3fd8e911ea Move icons example to manual test
95595d68bee Move graphis view flow layout example to manual test
532e1c9bf67 Move fridge magnets example to manual test
917282ea536 Move font sampler example to manual test
0b6f5ae131a Move finger paint example to manual test
9a320b037ce Move fade effect example to manual test
7b4b5c839ba Move embedded dialogs example to manual test
76ba4a04223 Move dynamic layouts example to manual test
cefb1c9ca9a Move drag and drop puzzle example to manual test
35063254fdb Fix missing references to 'Qt Widgets - Application Example'
71f156fff07 Fix qdoc link warnings after moving a few examples to manual tests
2a65849e10e Move dock widgets example to manual test
fc0e82f58a8 Move dirview example to manual test
65e7303ec90 Move digital clock example to manual test
e46fb69a87c Move chart example to manual test
3a8265a4290 Move character map example to manual test
288c7ef5570 Move calendar example to manual test
42b58f8cb41 Move border layout example to manual test
7022d0e2236 Replace QDialog::exec() with open() in text edit example
3ccf2f8308b Examples: "About &Qt" should show info about Qt, not quit
b908c5cf289 Move scroller/graphicsview example into tests/manual
a89f575be3a Move storageview example into tests/manual
ce13dc8c2f7 Remove flattreeview example
fc9aae544be Dialogs example: add checkbox for ColorDialogOption::NoEyeDropperButton
17ddf2a6a52 Doc: Fix documentation issues
eed17b3634a Examples: Remove unnecessary Q_INIT_RESOURCE calls
a3dde7c93eb Move widgets blurpicker example to manual test
eda71105ff9 Move widgets Application example to manual tests
2a90efcfc2c Diagram Scene: Fix documentation word repetiton
fda4da6df96 shortcuteditor example: Don't reference null-action
b7c15f7f24c Remove the "classwizard" example
11da92ba945 Convert "extension" dialog example into snippets
8e94af2ed05 Revamp the shapedclock example
As a result, the widgets example directory that used to look like this in the Qt 5.15.2 distribution (still does, technically, I suppose):
$ cd ~/Qt/Examples; tree -d -L 3 Qt-5.15.2/widgets
Qt-5.15.2/widgets/
├── animation
│ ├── animatedtiles
│ │ └── images
│ ├── easing
│ │ └── images
│ ├── moveblocks
│ ├── states
│ ├── stickman
│ │ └── animations
│ └── sub-attaq
│ └── pics
├── desktop
│ ├── screenshot
│ └── systray
│ ├── doc
│ └── images
├── dialogs
│ ├── classwizard
│ │ └── images
│ ├── extension
│ ├── findfiles
│ ├── licensewizard
│ │ └── images
│ ├── standarddialogs
│ ├── tabdialog
│ └── trivialwizard
├── doc
│ ├── images
│ └── src
├── draganddrop
│ ├── draggableicons
│ │ └── images
│ ├── draggabletext
│ ├── dropsite
│ ├── fridgemagnets
│ └── puzzle
├── effects
│ ├── blurpicker
│ │ └── images
│ └── fademessage
├── gallery
├── gestures
│ └── imagegestures
│ └── doc
├── graphicsview
│ ├── anchorlayout
│ ├── basicgraphicslayouts
│ │ └── images
│ ├── boxes
│ │ └── 3rdparty
│ ├── chip
│ ├── collidingmice
│ │ └── images
│ ├── diagramscene
│ │ └── images
│ ├── dragdroprobot
│ │ └── images
│ ├── elasticnodes
│ ├── embeddeddialogs
│ ├── flowlayout
│ ├── padnavigator
│ │ └── images
│ ├── simpleanchorlayout
│ └── weatheranchorlayout
│ └── images
├── itemviews
│ ├── addressbook
│ ├── basicsortfiltermodel
│ ├── chart
│ ├── coloreditorfactory
│ ├── combowidgetmapper
│ ├── customsortfiltermodel
│ │ └── images
│ ├── dirview
│ ├── editabletreemodel
│ ├── fetchmore
│ ├── flattreeview
│ ├── frozencolumn
│ ├── interview
│ │ └── images
│ ├── pixelator
│ │ └── images
│ ├── puzzle
│ ├── simpledommodel
│ ├── simpletreemodel
│ ├── simplewidgetmapper
│ ├── spinboxdelegate
│ ├── spreadsheet
│ │ └── images
│ ├── stardelegate
│ └── storageview
├── layouts
│ ├── basiclayouts
│ ├── borderlayout
│ ├── dynamiclayouts
│ └── flowlayout
├── mac
│ ├── qmaccocoaviewcontainer
│ └── qmacnativewidget
├── mainwindows
│ ├── application
│ │ └── images
│ ├── dockwidgets
│ │ └── images
│ ├── mainwindow
│ ├── mdi
│ │ └── images
│ ├── menus
│ └── sdi
│ └── images
├── painting
│ ├── affine
│ ├── basicdrawing
│ │ └── images
│ ├── composition
│ ├── concentriccircles
│ ├── deform
│ ├── fontsampler
│ ├── gradients
│ ├── imagecomposition
│ │ └── images
│ ├── painterpaths
│ ├── pathstroke
│ ├── shared
│ │ └── images
│ └── transformations
├── qnx
│ └── foreignwindows
├── richtext
│ ├── calendar
│ ├── orderform
│ ├── syntaxhighlighter
│ └── textedit
│ └── images
├── scroller
│ └── graphicsview
├── statemachine
│ ├── eventtransitions
│ ├── factorial
│ ├── pingpong
│ ├── rogue
│ ├── trafficlight
│ └── twowaybutton
├── tools
│ ├── codecs
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ ├── encodedfiles
│ │ └── images
│ ├── completer
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── customcompleter
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── echoplugin
│ │ ├── echowindow
│ │ └── plugin
│ ├── i18n
│ │ └── translations
│ ├── plugandpaint
│ │ ├── app
│ │ └── plugins
│ ├── regexp
│ ├── regularexpression
│ │ └── images
│ ├── settingseditor
│ │ └── inifiles
│ ├── styleplugin
│ │ ├── plugin
│ │ └── stylewindow
│ ├── treemodelcompleter
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── undo
│ │ └── icons
│ └── undoframework
│ └── images
├── touch
│ ├── dials
│ │ └── doc
│ ├── fingerpaint
│ │ └── doc
│ ├── knobs
│ │ └── doc
│ └── pinchzoom
│ ├── doc
│ └── images
├── tutorials
│ ├── addressbook
│ │ ├── part1
│ │ ├── part2
│ │ ├── part3
│ │ ├── part4
│ │ ├── part5
│ │ ├── part6
│ │ └── part7
│ ├── gettingStarted
│ │ └── gsQt
│ ├── modelview
│ │ ├── 1_readonly
│ │ ├── 2_formatting
│ │ ├── 3_changingmodel
│ │ ├── 4_headers
│ │ ├── 5_edit
│ │ ├── 6_treeview
│ │ └── 7_selections
│ ├── notepad
│ │ └── images
│ └── widgets
│ ├── childwidget
│ ├── nestedlayouts
│ ├── toplevel
│ └── windowlayout
├── widgets
│ ├── analogclock
│ ├── calculator
│ ├── calendarwidget
│ ├── charactermap
│ ├── codeeditor
│ ├── digitalclock
│ ├── elidedlabel
│ ├── groupbox
│ ├── icons
│ │ └── images
│ ├── imageviewer
│ ├── lineedits
│ ├── mousebuttons
│ ├── movie
│ ├── scribble
│ ├── shapedclock
│ ├── sliders
│ ├── spinboxes
│ ├── styles
│ │ └── images
│ ├── stylesheet
│ │ ├── images
│ │ ├── layouts
│ │ └── qss
│ ├── tablet
│ │ └── images
│ ├── tetrix
│ ├── tooltips
│ │ └── images
│ ├── validators
│ ├── wiggly
│ └── windowflags
└── windowcontainer
246 directories
And like this in Qt 6.2.4:
$ cd ~/Qt/Examples; tree -d -L 3 Qt-6.2.4/widgets
Qt-6.2.4/widgets
├── animation
│ └── easing
│ └── images
├── desktop
│ ├── screenshot
│ └── systray
│ ├── doc
│ └── images
├── dialogs
│ ├── classwizard
│ │ └── images
│ ├── extension
│ ├── findfiles
│ ├── licensewizard
│ │ └── images
│ ├── standarddialogs
│ ├── tabdialog
│ └── trivialwizard
├── doc
│ ├── images
│ └── src
├── draganddrop
│ ├── draggableicons
│ │ └── images
│ ├── draggabletext
│ ├── dropsite
│ ├── fridgemagnets
│ └── puzzle
├── effects
│ ├── blurpicker
│ │ └── images
│ └── fademessage
├── gallery
├── gestures
│ └── imagegestures
│ └── doc
├── graphicsview
│ ├── anchorlayout
│ ├── basicgraphicslayouts
│ │ └── images
│ ├── chip
│ ├── collidingmice
│ │ └── images
│ ├── diagramscene
│ │ └── images
│ ├── dragdroprobot
│ │ └── images
│ ├── elasticnodes
│ ├── embeddeddialogs
│ ├── flowlayout
│ ├── simpleanchorlayout
│ └── weatheranchorlayout
│ └── images
├── itemviews
│ ├── addressbook
│ ├── basicsortfiltermodel
│ ├── chart
│ ├── coloreditorfactory
│ ├── combowidgetmapper
│ ├── customsortfiltermodel
│ │ └── images
│ ├── dirview
│ ├── editabletreemodel
│ ├── fetchmore
│ ├── flattreeview
│ ├── frozencolumn
│ ├── interview
│ │ └── images
│ ├── pixelator
│ │ └── images
│ ├── puzzle
│ ├── simpledommodel
│ ├── simpletreemodel
│ ├── simplewidgetmapper
│ ├── spinboxdelegate
│ ├── spreadsheet
│ │ └── images
│ ├── stardelegate
│ └── storageview
├── layouts
│ ├── basiclayouts
│ ├── borderlayout
│ ├── dynamiclayouts
│ └── flowlayout
├── mainwindows
│ ├── application
│ │ └── images
│ ├── dockwidgets
│ │ └── images
│ ├── mainwindow
│ ├── mdi
│ │ └── images
│ ├── menus
│ └── sdi
│ └── images
├── painting
│ ├── affine
│ ├── basicdrawing
│ │ └── images
│ ├── composition
│ ├── concentriccircles
│ ├── deform
│ ├── fontsampler
│ ├── gradients
│ ├── imagecomposition
│ │ └── images
│ ├── painterpaths
│ ├── pathstroke
│ ├── shared
│ │ └── images
│ └── transformations
├── qnx
│ └── foreignwindows
├── richtext
│ ├── calendar
│ ├── orderform
│ ├── syntaxhighlighter
│ └── textedit
│ └── images
├── scroller
│ └── graphicsview
├── tools
│ ├── completer
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── customcompleter
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── echoplugin
│ │ ├── echowindow
│ │ └── plugin
│ ├── i18n
│ │ └── translations
│ ├── plugandpaint
│ │ ├── app
│ │ └── plugins
│ ├── regularexpression
│ │ └── images
│ ├── settingseditor
│ │ └── inifiles
│ ├── styleplugin
│ │ ├── plugin
│ │ └── stylewindow
│ ├── treemodelcompleter
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── undo
│ │ └── icons
│ └── undoframework
│ └── images
├── touch
│ ├── dials
│ │ └── doc
│ ├── fingerpaint
│ │ └── doc
│ ├── knobs
│ │ └── doc
│ └── pinchzoom
│ ├── doc
│ └── images
├── tutorials
│ ├── addressbook
│ │ ├── part1
│ │ ├── part2
│ │ ├── part3
│ │ ├── part4
│ │ ├── part5
│ │ ├── part6
│ │ └── part7
│ ├── gettingStarted
│ │ └── gsQt
│ ├── modelview
│ │ ├── 1_readonly
│ │ ├── 2_formatting
│ │ ├── 3_changingmodel
│ │ ├── 4_headers
│ │ ├── 5_edit
│ │ ├── 6_treeview
│ │ └── 7_selections
│ ├── notepad
│ │ └── images
│ └── widgets
│ ├── childwidget
│ ├── nestedlayouts
│ ├── toplevel
│ └── windowlayout
├── widgets
│ ├── analogclock
│ ├── calculator
│ ├── calendarwidget
│ ├── charactermap
│ ├── codeeditor
│ ├── digitalclock
│ ├── elidedlabel
│ ├── groupbox
│ ├── icons
│ │ └── images
│ ├── imageviewer
│ ├── lineedits
│ ├── mousebuttons
│ ├── movie
│ ├── scribble
│ ├── shapedclock
│ ├── sliders
│ ├── spinboxes
│ ├── styles
│ │ └── images
│ ├── stylesheet
│ │ ├── images
│ │ ├── layouts
│ │ └── qss
│ ├── tablet
│ │ └── images
│ ├── tetrix
│ ├── tooltips
│ │ └── images
│ ├── validators
│ ├── wiggly
│ └── windowflags
└── windowcontainer
219 directories
Now looks like this in Qt 6.10.0rc1:
$ cd ~/Qt/Examples; tree -d -L 3 Qt-6.10.0/widgets
Qt-6.10.0/widgets
├── animation
│ └── easing
│ └── images
├── desktop
│ ├── screenshot
│ └── systray
│ ├── doc
│ └── images
├── dialogs
│ ├── licensewizard
│ │ └── images
│ ├── standarddialogs
│ ├── tabdialog
│ └── trivialwizard
├── doc
│ ├── images
│ └── src
├── draganddrop
│ ├── draggableicons
│ │ └── images
│ ├── draggabletext
│ └── dropsite
├── gallery
├── gestures
│ └── imagegestures
│ └── doc
├── graphicsview
│ ├── basicgraphicslayouts
│ │ └── images
│ ├── chip
│ ├── collidingmice
│ │ └── images
│ ├── diagramscene
│ │ └── images
│ ├── dragdroprobot
│ │ └── images
│ ├── elasticnodes
│ └── simpleanchorlayout
├── itemviews
│ ├── addressbook
│ ├── basicsortfiltermodel
│ ├── combowidgetmapper
│ ├── customsortfiltermodel
│ │ └── images
│ ├── editabletreemodel
│ ├── fetchmore
│ ├── frozencolumn
│ ├── simpletreemodel
│ ├── spreadsheet
│ │ └── images
│ └── stardelegate
├── layouts
│ ├── basiclayouts
│ └── flowlayout
├── mainwindows
│ └── menus
├── painting
│ ├── affine
│ ├── basicdrawing
│ │ └── images
│ ├── composition
│ ├── deform
│ ├── gradients
│ ├── imagecomposition
│ │ └── images
│ ├── painterpaths
│ ├── pathstroke
│ ├── shared
│ │ └── images
│ └── transformations
├── qnx
│ └── foreignwindows
├── rhi
│ ├── cuberhiwidget
│ │ ├── shader_assets
│ │ └── shaders
│ └── simplerhiwidget
│ ├── shader_assets
│ └── shaders
├── richtext
│ ├── orderform
│ └── syntaxhighlighter
├── tools
│ ├── completer
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── customcompleter
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ └── resources
│ ├── regularexpression
│ │ └── images
│ ├── treemodelcompleter
│ │ └── resources
│ └── undoframework
│ └── icons
├── touch
│ └── knobs
│ └── doc
├── tutorials
│ ├── modelview
│ │ ├── 1_readonly
│ │ ├── 2_formatting
│ │ ├── 3_changingmodel
│ │ ├── 4_headers
│ │ ├── 5_edit
│ │ ├── 6_treeview
│ │ └── 7_selections
│ ├── notepad
│ │ └── images
│ └── widgets
│ ├── childwidget
│ ├── nestedlayouts
│ ├── toplevel
│ └── windowlayout
└── widgets
├── analogclock
├── calculator
├── calendarwidget
├── lineedits
├── scribble
├── shapedclock
├── shortcuteditor
├── sliders
├── spinboxes
├── tablet
│ └── images
└── windowflags
127 directories
Among the conspicuously absent:
ALL of the mainwindow examples except for menu
No application
No dockwidgets
No mdi
No sdi
Half of the dialogs examples
Half of the draganddrop examples
1/3 of the graphicsview examples
OVER half of the itemviews examples
Half of the layouts examples (though that only takes it down from 4 to 2, as that category was always lacking anyway)
tools and touch have both been gutted
widgets is down from 26 examples to 12
Granted, this is offset slightly by other categories that have been shored up. The quick/ tree went from 238 directories (6.2.4) to 254 directories (6.10.0rc1), quick3d 124 -> 223, and quickcontrols 83 -> 92. wayland/ gained 16 directories, up from 51 to 67, and corelib/ gained 8 (44->52). linguist/ is up from 8 to 14. And multimedia/ went from 43 -> 60, though I assume that's due to it subsuming most or all of the now-absent multimediawidgets/ tree (previously 21 directories).
(I say "directories" instead of "examples" here, because some examples contain asset folders like doc, resources, images which my recursive directory listing counted separately. In the previous bulleted list, I was careful to count only top-level example directories.)
The example-pocalypse is significant, in my view, because every example lost is a Qt feature that users no longer have a complete, working project to learn from and emulate. The "manual test" examples' code being embedded in the API documentation is not, in my mind, the same thing as a complete, working example project.