Building Qt 5.15.1 from source in a CMD script fails

Bart_Vandewoestyne

I am trying to write a (Windows 10 CMD) script that builds my Qt 5.15.1 from source. The (unmodified Qt 5.15.1) source code is located in C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt\5.15.1 and I have a build_qt.cmd script inside the C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt directory for doing an out-of-source build and that script looks as follows:

set qt_install_dir=C:\ThirdParty\install\Qt\5.15.1

mkdir build
cd build
..\5.15.1\configure -prefix "%qt_install_dir%" ^
             -opensource ^
             -confirm-license ^
             -force-debug-info ^
             -nomake examples ^
             -nomake tools ^
             -nomake tests ^
             -skip qt3d ^
             -skip qtactiveqt ^
             -skip qtandroidextras ^
             -skip qtcharts ^
             -skip qtconnectivity ^
             -skip qtdatavis3d ^
             -skip qtdeclarative ^
             -skip qtdoc ^
             -skip qtgamepad ^
             -skip qtgraphicaleffects ^
             -skip qtimageformats ^
             -skip qtlocation ^
             -skip qtlottie ^
             -skip qtmacextras ^
             -skip qtmultimedia ^
             -skip qtnetworkauth ^
             -skip qtpurchasing ^
             -skip qtquickcontrols ^
             -skip qtquickcontrols2 ^
             -skip qtremoteobjects ^
             -skip qtscript ^
             -skip qtscxml ^
             -skip qtsensors ^
             -skip qtserialbus ^
             -skip qtserialport ^
             -skip qtspeech ^
             -skip qtsvg ^
             -skip qttools ^
             -skip qttranslations ^
             -skip qtvirtualkeyboard ^
             -skip qtwayland ^
             -skip qtwebchannel ^
             -skip qtwebengine ^
             -skip qtwebglplugin ^
             -skip qtwebsockets ^
             -skip qtwebview ^
             -no-openssl ^
             -no-opengl ^
             -qt-libpng ^
             -skip qtx11extras ^
             -platform win32-msvc ^
             -debug-and-release ^
             -mp

@REM Why aren't these executed automatically ???
nmake
nmake install

I run this script inside an "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019" from inside the C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt directory:

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt>build_qt.cmd

As you can see from the comment at the end of the script, for some reason, the nmake commands do not start, as can be seen from the end of my output (no occurrence of nmake being started):

... more configure output ...

Qt Testlib:
  Tester for item models ................. yes
QtXmlPatterns:
  XML schema support ..................... yes

Qt is now configured for building. Just run 'nmake'.
Once everything is built, you must run 'nmake install'.
Qt will be installed into 'C:\ThirdParty\install\Qt\5.15.1'.

Prior to reconfiguration, make sure you remove any leftovers from
the previous build.


C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt\build>

When I comment out the configure command using @REM, they do get started:

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt>build_qt.cmd

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt>set qt_install_dir=C:\ThirdParty\install\Qt\5.15.1

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt>mkdir build

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt>cd build

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt\build>nmake

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility Version 14.29.30143.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

NMAKE : fatal error U1064: MAKEFILE not found and no target specified
Stop.

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt\build>nmake install

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility Version 14.29.30143.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

NMAKE : fatal error U1073: don't know how to make 'install'
Stop.

C:\ThirdParty\src\Qt\build>

so it is most likely the configure command that somehow puts my CMD shell in a weird state so that the nmake commands aren't started. However, I have no idea why and how to fix it.

Anyone?

Christian Ehrlicher

Basic batch-programming. Since configure is a batch file you have to use call ..\5.15.1\configure -prefix "%qt_install_dir%" ...

Bart_Vandewoestyne

Thanks, @Christian-Ehrlicher, using CALL indeed solved the problem!

My Windows CMD programming is a bit rusty. I tried using START, but that didn't do what I expected and since the configure script did not end in .bat or .cmd, I didn't immediately think of using CALL...