What's the difference between a Desktop Qt 4.8.1 build and a Qt in PATH build

[GoDonkeys]

When creating a project I am given the choice of whether to use a Desktop Qt 4.8.1 for GCC (Qt SDK) build or a Qt in PATH build. What are the differences between these two build types.

I'm just looking to make a console application with no GUI.

[SGaist]

Hi,

Might be the same or two different versions of Qt depending on how Qt Creator was setup.

Generally the Qt found in PATH is the one installed by your distribution. Since you have not particular needs, use the system version

[tobias.hunger]

The first is the Qt that was installed by the Qt SDK. The second is a different Qt that was installed on your machine before (most likely by your linux distribution). Go to Tools>Options>Build & Run>Qt Versions to check the exact data (hover over the Qt version to get a tooltip with the most important information).

The distribution's Qt often contains code that was added by your distribution. E.g. ubuntu most likely ships a Qt version with code to integrate it into their unity environment. If that is what you want, then go with the distribution provided Qt. If you want to write good bug reports, then please use the Qt version from the SDK instead: That has no distribution specific patches and that makes bug-hunting much simpler for us.