Compiling QT VS project cross platform

Mecanik

Hello,

Please accept my apologies for the newbie question; I never compiled any apps cross platform.

There is a project I am working on, setup using VS 2019 with QT integration. My question is how would I compile this for MAC/Linux for example? (everything written using QT 6 only, no other dependencies).

Do I need to create a separate project or can I use this existing one?

Please advise.

SGaist

Hi,

Currently you can't cross-compile to macOS, this requires a machine for it.

For Linux, might be able to leverage MinGW.

However with the current release of WSL, you might not need to do cross-compiling.

But in any case, you do not need several projects.

Mecanik

@SGaist said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

Hi,

Currently you can't cross-compile to macOS, this requires a machine for it.

For Linux, might be able to leverage MinGW.

However with the current release of WSL, you might not need to do cross-compiling.

But in any case, you do not need several projects.

Thank you, appreciate the feedback. I understand about macOS; that's fine. However for Linux, I do have WSL installed (using it for other stuff; no UI though).

You mention I can keep my existing VS project and compile with MinGW, do you have any tips/instructions that I could use?

SGaist

One thing to clear, are you using a VS project or a qmake/cmake based project to manage your application ?

If the former, then no, not directly. You should move to one of the larger taking into account that Qt has switched to cmake for its 6 series.

With that you will be able to build your application across different platforms.

Mecanik

@SGaist said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

One thing to clear, are you using a VS project or a qmake/cmake based project to manage your application ?

If the former, then no, not directly. You should move to one of the larger taking into account that Qt has switched to cmake for its 6 series.

With that you will be able to build your application across different platforms.

I am using a VS solution with QT addon and QT6. Do you think I can keep the VS solution and compile for Linux as well?

Christian Ehrlicher

@Mecanik said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

Do you think I can keep the VS solution and compile for Linux as well?

No, a .vcproj is MSVC specific. Use a proper build system like cmake or qmake to create the appropriate Makefiles (or VS solutions).

Mecanik

@Christian-Ehrlicher said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

@Mecanik said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

Do you think I can keep the VS solution and compile for Linux as well?

No, a .vcproj is MSVC specific. Use a proper build system like cmake or qmake to create the appropriate Makefiles (or VS solutions).

Thanks, that's what I imagined. So how about me using a QT project file instead? That would allow me to use MinGW and compile for both Windows/Linux, am I correct?

Christian Ehrlicher

@Mecanik said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

So how about me using a QT project file instead?

I don't know what you mean with 'QT project file' - if it's a .pro - file then you're using qmake which is fine (as I said above).

Mecanik

@Christian-Ehrlicher said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

@Mecanik said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

So how about me using a QT project file instead?

I don't know what you mean with 'QT project file' - if it's a .pro - file then you're using qmake which is fine (as I said above).

Yep, that's what I meant - qmake. Thanks!

I suppose same thing applies for macOS, I can install QT on my mac and compile using qmake?

jsulm

@Mecanik said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

I can install QT on my mac and compile using qmake?

Yes

Mecanik

@Mecanik said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

@Christian-Ehrlicher said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

@Mecanik said in Compiling QT VS project cross platform:

So how about me using a QT project file instead?

I don't know what you mean with 'QT project file' - if it's a .pro - file then you're using qmake which is fine (as I said above).

Yep, that's what I meant - qmake. Thanks!

I suppose same thing applies for macOS, I can install QT on my mac and compile using qmake?

Awesome, thank you all!