I don't understand why something so essential is such a mystery. The documentation page presents a sample fise:
[code]
<RCC>
<qresource prefix="/">
<file>images/copy.png</file>
<file>images/cut.png</file>
<file>images/new.png</file>
<file>images/open.png</file>
<file>images/paste.png</file>
<file>images/save.png</file>
</qresource>
</RCC>
[/code]
It then proceeds to say, one would assume with reference to the above:
The Qt Resource System
The Qt resource system is a platform-independent mechanism for shipping resource files in an application. Use it if your application always needs a certain set of files (like icons, translation files, images), and you don't want to use system-specific means to package and locate these resources.
Most commonly, the resource files are embedded into your application executable, or in libraries and plugins that are loaded by the application executable. Alternatively, the resource files can also be stored in an external resource file.
The resource system is based on tight cooperation between Qt's rcc resource compiler, the build system, and the Qt runtime API.
Note: Currently, the Qt resource system does not make use of any system-specific capabilities for handling resources, such as the ones on Windows, macOS, and iOS. This might change in a future Qt release.
The Qt Resource Compiler (rcc)
The Resource Compiler (rcc) command line tool reads resource files and generates either a C++ or Python source file, or an .rcc file.
The list of files and related metadata is passed to rcc in the form of a Qt Resource Collection File.
By default, rcc will generate C++ source code that is then compiled as part of an executable or library. The -g python option generates Python source code instead. The -binary option generates a binary archive that is by convention saved in an .rcc file and can be loaded at runtime.
Note: While it is possible to run rcc from the command line, this is typically best left to a build system. See also the sections about qmake and CMake below.
Qt Resource Collection File (.qrc)
A .qrc file is an XML document that enumerates local files to be included as runtime resources. It serves as input to rcc.
Here's an example .qrc file:
<RCC>
<qresource prefix="/">
<file>images/copy.png</file>
<file>images/cut.png</file>
<file>images/new.png</file>
<file>images/open.png</file>
<file>images/paste.png</file>
<file>images/save.png</file>
</qresource>
</RCC>
Each <file> element in the XML identifies a file in the application's source tree. The path is resolved relative to the directory containing the .qrc file.
[quote]
The path is also used by default to identify the file's content at runtime. That is, the file titlebarLeft.png will be available in the resource system as :/res/titlebarLeft.png or qrc:/res/titlebarLeft.png. To override this default run-time name, see Prefixes and Aliases.
[/quote]
titlebarLeft.png is not in the file example, I know it's nitpicky but it does not instill confidence.
Further it is not made clear which instructions are being given for the QT creator IDE where one would assume that lots of setup is done for you, that is the point of an IDE as well as presumably for use of the library on it's own in whatever environment the programmer chooses.