How to distribute Qt 5.4.2 app on Mint 17.x?

davidb

I don't know much about Linux, but I'm maintaining an app that needs to run on Mint 17.x. I run this to set up a build machine on Mint 17.3:

sudo apt-get install g++ subversion build-essential devscripts debhelper libicu-dev qtbase5-dev qt5-default libqt5svg5-dev libqt5xmlpatterns5-dev qttools5-dev-tools

Unfortunately, that gets Qt version 5.2.1. My app requires at least Qt 5.4.2.

I assume to build, I should simply download and install Qt 5.5.1, and point my build script to use the Qt 5.5.1 qmake, and that should do it? Or do I need to do something with qt-chooser or anything else?

Then, what should I put in the control file (or somewhere else?) so that when my users install my app, the necessary Qt 5.5.1 libraries get installed?

Thanks,
David

SGaist

Hi,

If you plan to make your application run on distributions that doesn't provide the minimal Qt version you need then you will have to ship the Qt libraries along with your application. That also mean that you will have to install it in a folder where your version of Qt will not clash with the system installed Qt.

davidb

Thanks. Another thought: would it work to build my app with static linking to the Qt libraries? Can I do that with the free version of Qt?

SGaist

Yes it should. That depends whether you are ready to provide the sources of your application.

davidb

So I can link it statically with the free version of Qt, if I make my app's source code freely available? I've never done anything like that, but it's not out of the question. Where would you suggest I start reading on what the specific requirements are, and how to do it?

SGaist

See the Qt license files to see which one you would like to follow.