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  4. Is it expected that new maintenance tool removes old Qt versions automatically when doing changes?
Forum Update on Monday, May 27th 2025

Is it expected that new maintenance tool removes old Qt versions automatically when doing changes?

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  • D Offline
    D Offline
    dldd
    wrote on last edited by dldd
    #1

    When running new [1] maintenance tool on Windows to install new versions, after downloading the chosen new packages the tool would start uninstalling old/unsupported Qt installations as there were not selected - but as far as I see there's no way to select them. So the question is that is it really so that one can't use maintenance tool to install new Qt versions without having to uninstall old/unsupported ones or is there something wrong in my setup? Maintenance tool already broke at least one of the old Qt kits from Qt Creator (clicked cancel when noticing what it was doing, but tool had already removed some stuff from old Qt installations) and for the time being I don't dare to use it as don't want to uninstall/reinstall old versions.

    [1] Couldn't find version of the maintenance version: no version in the .exe file when run couldn't see version mention anywhere in the UI, but I think the problem emerged within a couple of weeks or so and is likely related to the update mentioned in https://blog.qt.io/blog/2019/04/11/updated-qt-installer-released/

    aha_1980A 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • D dldd

      When running new [1] maintenance tool on Windows to install new versions, after downloading the chosen new packages the tool would start uninstalling old/unsupported Qt installations as there were not selected - but as far as I see there's no way to select them. So the question is that is it really so that one can't use maintenance tool to install new Qt versions without having to uninstall old/unsupported ones or is there something wrong in my setup? Maintenance tool already broke at least one of the old Qt kits from Qt Creator (clicked cancel when noticing what it was doing, but tool had already removed some stuff from old Qt installations) and for the time being I don't dare to use it as don't want to uninstall/reinstall old versions.

      [1] Couldn't find version of the maintenance version: no version in the .exe file when run couldn't see version mention anywhere in the UI, but I think the problem emerged within a couple of weeks or so and is likely related to the update mentioned in https://blog.qt.io/blog/2019/04/11/updated-qt-installer-released/

      aha_1980A Offline
      aha_1980A Offline
      aha_1980
      Lifetime Qt Champion
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      @dldd

      So the question is that is it really so that one can't use maintenance tool to install new Qt versions without having to uninstall old/unsupported ones or is there something wrong in my setup?

      I have not come across this, but it would be a bug. Have you already searched bugreports.qt.io for similar reports?

      Which Qt version did you have installed that is missing now?

      Qt has to stay free or it will die.

      D 1 Reply Last reply
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      • aha_1980A aha_1980

        @dldd

        So the question is that is it really so that one can't use maintenance tool to install new Qt versions without having to uninstall old/unsupported ones or is there something wrong in my setup?

        I have not come across this, but it would be a bug. Have you already searched bugreports.qt.io for similar reports?

        Which Qt version did you have installed that is missing now?

        D Offline
        D Offline
        dldd
        wrote on last edited by dldd
        #3

        @aha_1980 said in Is it expected that new maintenance tool removes old Qt versions automatically when doing changes?:

        I have not come across this, but it would be a bug. Have you already searched bugreports.qt.io for similar reports?

        Did a search now, but couldn't find anything related.

        Which Qt version did you have installed that is missing now?

        None are missing, which might be due to clicking cancel soon after the removal started - some miscellaneous files seems to have been removed, however. Tried it again to get some screenshots, in this case selected "MinGW 7.3.0 64-bit" and clicked "Next".
        0_1556460405896_unedited.png
        0_1556460883701_progress.png

        If no one else sees such problems, there might be a (pre-existing) corruption in my Qt installation setup that causes this.

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        • R Offline
          R Offline
          Roman80
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          I have this too. It automatically uninstall all previous Qt versions. The installer sucks

          jsulmJ 1 Reply Last reply
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          • R Roman80

            I have this too. It automatically uninstall all previous Qt versions. The installer sucks

            jsulmJ Online
            jsulmJ Online
            jsulm
            Lifetime Qt Champion
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            @Roman80 @dldd Please file a bug in Qt bug tracker

            https://forum.qt.io/topic/113070/qt-code-of-conduct

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            • D Offline
              D Offline
              dldd
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Started to create a bug report, but couldn't find out what is the right place for the issue (*). Given this and that the bug doesn't seem like a common or particularly serious bug in general, I won't be reporting it especially as simply creating another installation can in some cases be a sufficient workaround. For me Maintenance tool later on also broke Qt Creator installation on update (I think I had experienced this on a different computer as well), so created another installation anyway.

              [*] Some maintenance tool bugs seemed to be in QTBUG and some in QTIFW projects; to me neither seems suited: QTBUG requires Qt-version, but it can't be defined for maintenance tool. My understanding of relation between maintenance tool and QTIFW is that maintenance tool uses the framework and thus reporting the problem to QTIFW might be as reasonable as reporting bug to Qt if some application that (mis)uses Qt malfunctions.

              D 1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • D dldd

                Started to create a bug report, but couldn't find out what is the right place for the issue (*). Given this and that the bug doesn't seem like a common or particularly serious bug in general, I won't be reporting it especially as simply creating another installation can in some cases be a sufficient workaround. For me Maintenance tool later on also broke Qt Creator installation on update (I think I had experienced this on a different computer as well), so created another installation anyway.

                [*] Some maintenance tool bugs seemed to be in QTBUG and some in QTIFW projects; to me neither seems suited: QTBUG requires Qt-version, but it can't be defined for maintenance tool. My understanding of relation between maintenance tool and QTIFW is that maintenance tool uses the framework and thus reporting the problem to QTIFW might be as reasonable as reporting bug to Qt if some application that (mis)uses Qt malfunctions.

                D Offline
                D Offline
                DanielSeges
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                @dldd yeah, I encounter the same bug, It was almost disaster for me. I have come critical apps written in Qt 5.7, and older versions were sudennly completely removed without any warnings! Fortunately several moths ago I did disk clone, so I was able to recover Qt installation.

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                • J.HilkJ Online
                  J.HilkJ Online
                  J.Hilk
                  Moderators
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  This is not a bug,

                  With the newest maintenaince tool version, it was decided to only support the latest versions of Qt.

                  If you want access to older versions you have 2 options.

                  • Buy a license, commercial users have access to archived version
                  • Download them manually : http://download.qt.io/archive/qt/

                  relevant Bugreport:
                  https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTIFW-1353


                  Be aware of the Qt Code of Conduct, when posting : https://forum.qt.io/topic/113070/qt-code-of-conduct


                  Q: What's that?
                  A: It's blue light.
                  Q: What does it do?
                  A: It turns blue.

                  D 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • J.HilkJ J.Hilk

                    This is not a bug,

                    With the newest maintenaince tool version, it was decided to only support the latest versions of Qt.

                    If you want access to older versions you have 2 options.

                    • Buy a license, commercial users have access to archived version
                    • Download them manually : http://download.qt.io/archive/qt/

                    relevant Bugreport:
                    https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTIFW-1353

                    D Offline
                    D Offline
                    DanielSeges
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    @J.Hilk I understand that you want to support the latest versions of Qt. However deleting older versions without any warnings was a pain for me!

                    J.HilkJ 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • D DanielSeges

                      @J.Hilk I understand that you want to support the latest versions of Qt. However deleting older versions without any warnings was a pain for me!

                      J.HilkJ Online
                      J.HilkJ Online
                      J.Hilk
                      Moderators
                      wrote on last edited by J.Hilk
                      #10

                      @DanielSeges I agree, simply auto removing them is in my opinion the wrong way to do it. Hence my arguing in the bug report ;-)

                      But, far from my decision, as I'm not working for the QtCompany.

                      Filing complains and bug reports about the issue, may shine some light on the issue and it may change later on, because of this.

                      People got mingw32 precompiled libs back into the installer that way!
                      So not all hope is lost


                      Be aware of the Qt Code of Conduct, when posting : https://forum.qt.io/topic/113070/qt-code-of-conduct


                      Q: What's that?
                      A: It's blue light.
                      Q: What does it do?
                      A: It turns blue.

                      1 Reply Last reply
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