.a file was built instead of .lib on windows

Ndgt

I want to build qtbase module from git on Windows.

git clone https://github.com/qt/qtbase.git
git switch 6.5.3
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja
cd build 
ninja
cmake --install .

I noticed that .a libaries were installed instead of .lib libraries in C:/Qt/Qt-6.5.3/lib.
Are the .a libraries files installed by default?

Christian Ehrlicher

@Ndgt said in .a file was built instead of .lib on windows:

Are the .a libraries files installed by default?

When you use MinGW, yes.
MSVC creates .lib as import libs.

btw: Why do you want to compile such an old Qt verison?

Ndgt

Is there any way to build .lib file when using Ninja & MinGW ?
When I set Visual Studio 17 2022 as Generator, the build failed.

I want to create a plugin for animation software that requires Qt 6.5.3.

jsulm

@Ndgt said in .a file was built instead of .lib on windows:

Is there any way to build .lib file

Why do you need .lib files if you're using MinGW?!
.a is all you need...

Ndgt

I thought .a files are specific to Linux so I misunderstood that because the compiler did not link .lib the following error occurs.

The procedure entry point _ZN10QArayData10deallocateEPS_xx could not be located in the dynamic link library C:\Qt\Qt-6.5.3\dev\example\build\childwidget.exe.

Why does this error happen?

Christian Ehrlicher

@Ndgt said in .a file was built instead of .lib on windows:

Why does this error happen?

Because you can not mix MSVC and MinGW c++ libraries.

hskoglund

Maybe you get more problems because the entry point is called "_ZN10QArrayData10deallocateEPS_xx" and not "_ZN10QArayData10deallocateEPS_xx"

Christian Ehrlicher

@Ndgt said in .a file was built instead of .lib on windows:

I thought .a files are specific to Linux so I misunderstood that because the compiler did not link .lib the following error occurs.

When does this happen and what are you trying? Why do you need to compile Qt6 by yourself in the first place?

Ndgt

It seems that I simply forgot to place the necessary libraries in the build directory.
After I put Qt6Core.dll, Qt6Gui.dll, Qt6Widgets.dll, Qt6PrintSupport, and the plugins folder into the build directory, I successfully executed the notepad example.

SGaist

Hi,

If you meant that you started your application outside of Qt Creator, then that's normal because you need to "deploy" your application as if you would make it usable on a different computer. That's what windeployqt does for you.