How to deploy to a Linux server without a Qt install ?

mdear · 2 Oct 2023, 02:09

Hi,

As a first-time Qt user, I've installed Qt Creator on a Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS VM and am deploying to a bare metal Linux Mint Victoria server where Qt is not installed.

I'm trying to understand Linux deployment options. I want to try deploying some of the examples, which are built in Qt 6.5.3, and I want to develop my own app in Qt 6.6.0 thereafter. The server is resource constrained so I'd prefer to install self-contained packages instead of doing Qt installations on the system itself, at least for now while I'm kicking the tires.

I first tried to execute the released AppImage, but this failed, and I'm not comfortable installing a glibc that is too old for my distro since that could wreak unnecessary havoc.

mdear@KhapMylesLinux:~/Downloads$ ./linuxdeployqt-continuous-x86_64.AppImage 

linuxdeployqt  (commit 6fcaf74), build 55 built on 2023-09-23 13:33:41 UTC

ERROR: The host system is too new.

Please run on a system with a glibc version no newer than what comes with the oldest

currently supported mainstream distribution (Ubuntu Focal Fossa), which is glibc 2.31.

This is so that the resulting bundle will work on most still-supported Linux distributions.

For more information, please see

https://github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt/issues/340

I then cloned https://github.com/probonopd/linuxdeployqt.git but am getting issues when I try to use the "qmake" command.

It appears that I'm missing software components, but I took a look at the maintenance tool and couldn't figure out what I might be missing since options weren't that granular.

help?

mdear@KhapMylesLinux:~/workspaces/git/linuxdeployqt$ which qmake

/home/mdear/Qt/6.5.3/gcc_64/bin//qmake

mdear@KhapMylesLinux:~/workspaces/git/linuxdeployqt$ qmake

/home/mdear/workspaces/git/linuxdeployqt/.qmake.conf:2: Cannot find feature qt_build_config

/home/mdear/workspaces/git/linuxdeployqt/.qmake.conf:2: Cannot find feature qt_build_config

/home/mdear/workspaces/git/linuxdeployqt/linuxdeployqt.pro:1: Cannot find feature qt_parts

Thanks !

ChrisW67 · M mdear 2 Oct 2023, 01:23

@mdear Have you read the documentation on deploying Qt applications? I have never found it that difficult that it needed a special utility to do it for me.

As for the build issue with the 3rd-party linuxdeployqt, there's this bug. Works fine with Qt 5 (although with compilation warnings).

Paul Colby · 2 Oct 2023, 03:41

Hi @mdear,

I'm trying to understand Linux deployment options.

As long as you're trying to understand the options, I use and recommend linuxdeploy, along with the linuxdeploy Qt plugin and the linuxdeploy AppImage plugin.

Cheers.

mdear · wrote on 2 Oct 2023, 03:10

When I deployed an example app to the bare metal target server it failed to launch, with the following errors (does anybody know how I can work around these?) :

./dice-x86_64.AppImage: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Qml.so.6: no version information available (required by ./dice-x86_64.AppImage)
./dice-x86_64.AppImage: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt6Core.so.6: version `Qt_6.5' not found (required by ./dice-x86_64.AppImage)

Since I control the OS of the build VM and the target bare metal server, I want to use AppImages, I just happened to have chosen the VM to be a modern version of Ubuntu (Jammy Jellyfish) and have coupled it with the target server running Mint (which is based on Jammy Jellyfish). I am using this strategy in a corporate environment and am not releasing to the public.

I used ldd to identify the shared libraries that my app required, and I bundled them into the AppDir (which is the input format required by the appimagetool) :

mdear@KhapMylesLinux:~/Downloads$ tree /home/mdear/Qt/Examples/Qt-6.5.3/demos/build-dice-Desktop_Qt_6_5_3_GCC_64bit-Release/dice.AppDir

/home/mdear/Qt/Examples/Qt-6.5.3/demos/build-dice-Desktop_Qt_6_5_3_GCC_64bit-Release/dice.AppDir

├── AppRun -> dice
├── dice
├── dice.desktop
├── dice.png
├── lib
│   └── x86_64-linux-gnu
│       ├── ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
│       ├── libbrotlicommon.so.1
│       ├── libbrotlidec.so.1
│       ├── libbsd.so.0
│       ├── libcap.so.2
│       ├── libcom_err.so.2
│       ├── libc.so.6
│       ├── libdbus-1.so.3
│       ├── libdl.so.2
│       ├── libEGL.so.1
│       ├── libexpat.so.1
│       ├── libfontconfig.so.1
│       ├── libfreetype.so.6
│       ├── libgcc_s.so.1
│       ├── libgcrypt.so.20
│       ├── libGLdispatch.so.0
│       ├── libglib-2.0.so.0
│       ├── libGL.so.1
│       ├── libGLX.so.0
│       ├── libgpg-error.so.0
│       ├── libgssapi_krb5.so.2
│       ├── libgthread-2.0.so.0
│       ├── libicudata.so.56
│       ├── libicui18n.so.56
│       ├── libicuuc.so.56
│       ├── libk5crypto.so.3
│       ├── libkeyutils.so.1
│       ├── libkrb5.so.3
│       ├── libkrb5support.so.0
│       ├── liblz4.so.1
│       ├── liblzma.so.5
│       ├── libmd.so.0
│       ├── libm.so.6
│       ├── libOpenGL.so.0
│       ├── libpcre.so.3
│       ├── libpng16.so.16
│       ├── libpthread.so.0
│       ├── libQt6Core.so.6
│       ├── libQt6Core.so.6.5 -> libQt6Core.so.6
│       ├── libQt6Core.so.6.5.3 -> libQt6Core.so.6
│       ├── libQt6DBus.so.6
│       ├── libQt6Gui.so.6
│       ├── libQt6Network.so.6
│       ├── libQt6Qml.so.6
│       ├── libQt6Qml.so.6.5 -> libQt6Qml.so.6
│       ├── libQt6Qml.so.6.5.3 -> libQt6Qml.so.6
│       ├── libresolv.so.2
│       ├── librt.so.1
│       ├── libstdc++.so.6
│       ├── libsystemd.so.0
│       ├── libuuid.so.1
│       ├── libX11.so.6
│       ├── libXau.so.6
│       ├── libxcb.so.1
│       ├── libXdmcp.so.6
│       ├── libxkbcommon.so.0
│       ├── libz.so.1
│       └── libzstd.so.1
└── TGIF



3 directories, 62 files

mdear · wrote on 2 Oct 2023, 03:41

@Paul-Colby Thanks for the pointer! I'll check this out.

mdear · 2 Oct 2023, 05:16

Ok, I tried using the linuxdeploy with its AppImage plugin on my Ubuntu build VM:

  ./linuxdeploy-static-x86_64.AppImage  --desktop-file /home/mdear/Qt/Examples/Qt-6.5.3/demos/build-dice-Desktop_Qt_6_5_3_GCC_64bit-Release/dice.desktop --appdir /home/mdear/Qt/Examples/Qt-6.5.3/demos/build-dice-Desktop_Qt_6_5_3_GCC_64bit-Release/dice.AppDir --executable /home/mdear/Qt/Examples/Qt-6.5.3/demos/build-dice-Desktop_Qt_6_5_3_GCC_64bit-Release/dice --icon-file /home/mdear/Qt/Examples/Qt-6.5.3/demos/build-dice-Desktop_Qt_6_5_3_GCC_64bit-Release/dice.png --output appimage

... but I'm now getting new errors on my Linux Mint target (I introduced some softlinks into the package under usr/lib/Qt and usr/lib/Qt/plugin just to see if that would fix it, but no go).

vcuadmin@vcuproject2030:~/Downloads$ sudo ./dice-x86_64.AppImage 
qt.qpa.plugin: Could not find the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in ""
This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

mdear@KhapMylesLinux:~/Qt/Examples/Qt-6.5.3/demos/build-dice-Desktop_Qt_6_5_3_GCC_64bit-Release/dice.AppDir$ tree .

.
├── AppRun -> usr/bin/dice
├── dice.desktop -> usr/share/applications/dice.desktop
├── dice.png -> usr/share/icons/hicolor/160x160/apps/dice.png
└── usr
    ├── bin
    │   └── dice
    ├── lib
    │   ├── libbrotlicommon.so.1
    │   ├── libbrotlidec.so.1
    │   ├── libbsd.so.0
    │   ├── libcap.so.2
    │   ├── libdbus-1.so.3
    │   ├── libgcrypt.so.20
    │   ├── libglib-2.0.so.0
    │   ├── libgssapi_krb5.so.2
    │   ├── libgthread-2.0.so.0
    │   ├── libicudata.so.56
    │   ├── libicui18n.so.56
    │   ├── libicuuc.so.56
    │   ├── libk5crypto.so.3
    │   ├── libkeyutils.so.1
    │   ├── libkrb5.so.3
    │   ├── libkrb5support.so.0
    │   ├── liblz4.so.1
    │   ├── liblzma.so.5
    │   ├── libmd.so.0
    │   ├── libpcre.so.3
    │   ├── libpng16.so.16
    │   ├── libQt6Core.so.6
    │   ├── libQt6DBus.so.6
    │   ├── libQt6Gui.so.6
    │   ├── libQt6Network.so.6
    │   ├── libQt6Qml.so.6
    │   ├── libsystemd.so.0
    │   ├── libXau.so.6
    │   ├── libxcb.so.1
    │   ├── libXdmcp.so.6
    │   ├── libxkbcommon.so.0
    │   ├── libzstd.so.1
    │   └── Qt
    │       ├── libQt6Core.so.6 -> ../libQt6Core.so.6
    │       ├── libQt6DBus.so.6 -> ../libQt6DBus.so.6
    │       ├── libQt6Gui.so.6 -> ../libQt6Gui.so.6
    │       ├── libQt6Network.so.6 -> ../libQt6Network.so.6
    │       ├── libQt6Qml.so.6 -> ../libQt6Qml.so.6
    │       └── plugins
    │           └── libxcb.so.1 -> ../../libxcb.so.1
    └── share
        ├── applications
        │   └── dice.desktop
        ├── doc
        │   ├── libbrotli1
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libbsd0
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libgcrypt20
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libglib2.0-0
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libgssapi-krb5-2
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libk5crypto3
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libkrb5-3
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libkrb5support0
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── liblz4-1
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libmd0
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libpng16-16
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libsystemd0
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libxau6f
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libxdmcp6
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   ├── libxkbcommon0
        │   │   └── copyright
        │   └── libzstd1
        │       └── copyright
        └── icons
            └── hicolor
                ├── 128x128
                │   └── apps
                ├── 160x160
                │   └── apps
                │       └── dice.png
                ├── 16x16
                │   └── apps
                ├── 256x256
                │   └── apps
                ├── 32x32
                │   └── apps
                ├── 64x64
                │   └── apps
                └── scalable
                    └── apps



40 directories, 60 files

Paul Colby · 2 Oct 2023, 05:32

Hi @mdear, your ./linuxdeploy-static-x86_64.AppImage invocation should include a --plugin qt option too.

Cheers.

mdear · 9 Oct 2023, 20:34

@Paul-Colby, I should have mentioned that both the original app (obviously) and the AppImage created solely by the appimagetool ran as expected on the build VM but not on the target.

I included the qt plugin, as you indicated, and ended up with an AppImage that ran neither on the build VM nor on the target, but at least both platforms are giving consistent errors so I must be missing something obvious. Any ideas? I really appreciate the assist today!

mdear@KhapMylesLinux:~/Downloads$ ./dice-x86_64.AppImage

qt.qpa.plugin: Could not find the Qt platform plugin "wayland" in ""

QQmlApplicationEngine failed to load component

qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed

qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed

mdear@KhapMylesLinux:~/Downloads$

The output on the target:

vcuadmin@vcuproject2030:~/Downloads$ sudo ./dice-x86_64.AppImage 
QQmlApplicationEngine failed to load component
qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:9:1: module "QtQuick.Layouts" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.Controls.Material" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:7:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:6:1: module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.WorkerScript" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml: module "QtQml.Models" is not installed
qrc:/main.qml:4:1: module "QtQuick" is not installed
vcuadmin@vcuproject2030:~/Downloads$

mdear · M mdear 2 Oct 2023, 05:32

I opened a ticket against the LinuxDeploy Qt plugin:

https://github.com/linuxdeploy/linuxdeploy-plugin-qt/issues/149