Development for Symbian^3 on Linux
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This has been asked before, but here we go again.. I guess this question will become more and more popular with the inclusion of Qt framework on Nokia phones, so bear with me.
I use Linux & OSX for development, but I've got no experience of developing for Symbian, and I have no idea what TRK files are ;)
What I'd like to do is to run those nice Qt examples bundled in with Qt Creator on the N8 device. I guess this is where most people would start. I installed the latest version (2.0.1) on Ubuntu, and got the simulator running (this was easy). What I should do next, then, is a bit unclear. I found lots of old information (saying it's not possible or it requires lots of hacking with the gnupoc-package). I also believe that I don't need to deploy Qt on the target device as it (N8) already ships with Qt 4.6.
My question now is, should I read through the various sources of information (see below) and learn more of the compilation / deployment process, or is there a magical one-click installer that does all of this automatically? I'm ok with using a proprietary ARM compiler (if it's free as in 0€), but I'd prefer an open source compiler if available.
Here are the best starting points I could find:
http://labs.qt.nokia.com/2010/04/21/symbian-development-using-linux/
http://lizardo.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/qt-4-7-0-for-symbian-on-linux-now-with-qt-creator-support/
http://labs.danilocesar.com/blog/2010/05/05/symbian-development-using-linux-on-real-life/They are quite recent so I'm afraid it'll take a while before having a functional development environment on Linux.. :/
I just thought to ask before diving in.. Thanks for your kind answers. -
[quote author="lamikae" date="1290370256"]This has been asked before, but here we go again.. I guess this question will become more and more popular with the inclusion of Qt4.7 on Nokia phones, so bear with me.[/quote]
Totally agree! Very good question! Also waiting for answers.
And thank you for links in you post.
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I haven't used the Symbian side of things, but the Nokia Qt SDK for Windows with N900 is absolutely painless to use. Basically: start a new mobile project (or open one of the examples) and tick the relevant Symbian/Maemo/whatever project compile options; tell it about your N900 device in the Options/Projects/Maemo Device Configuration dialog of Qt Creator; set the Projects/Maemo/Run tab to point to your device (it should happen automatically); run. And it Just Works. Granted Symbian seems to be more complex to do anything on, but all setup parameters are there so I imagine you just need to put them in like you do for the N900.
I would imagine that the Linux version of the Nokia SDK from here would be similarly simple, but I've only used the windows version: http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/e920da1a-5b18-42df-82c3-907413e525fb/Nokia_Qt_SDK.html
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The Symbian development toolchain has a long legacy of being Windows-only, and I guess there hasn't been (or will be?) much interest in porting it to other platforms. Maybe one of those things that tells you how much Symbian is oriented towards the independent 3rd party developers...
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I have actually created an app using the "Remote Compiler" on Linux. After you have remote compiled your application you can simple transfer the .sis file to the phone and install it by selecting it in the phone's filebrowser.
You need to activate the "Remote Compiler" plugin in the Nokia SDK. Oh, you also need an account on forum nokia.
I'm very pleased with the remote compiler, now it starts to be a pain to transfer the file the the phone :) I'm using the Simulator a quite a lot before transfering the file.
Hope this help to try out compiling an app quickly on Linux and Mac.
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[quote author="teukkam" date="1290412043"]The Symbian development toolchain has a long legacy of being Windows-only, and I guess there hasn't been (or will be?) much interest in porting it to other platforms. Maybe one of those things that tells you how much Symbian is oriented towards the independent 3rd party developers...[/quote]
Do you know the Windows-code that should be ported is Open-Source or not?
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[quote author="blex" date="1290414628"]
[quote author="teukkam" date="1290412043"]The Symbian development toolchain has a long legacy of being Windows-only, and I guess there hasn't been (or will be?) much interest in porting it to other platforms. Maybe one of those things that tells you how much Symbian is oriented towards the independent 3rd party developers...[/quote]Do you know the Windows-code that should be ported is Open-Source or not?
[/quote]
I am not really an expert in this, but AFAIK there are dependencies to precompiled Windows libraries that are closed-source only.
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[quote author="Patrick Burke" date="1290408951"]I haven't used the Symbian side of things, but the Nokia Qt SDK for Windows with N900 is absolutely painless to use
[/quote]I know, I have an N900 that works even with the Mac version of Nokia Qt Creator, after installing the MADDE package on host and the target device and configuring the project settings.
After reading up those links I pasted to the first post, it seems that deploying to Symbian^3 kinda works on Linux but requires a fair amount of black magic..
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[quote author="teukkam" date="1290419378"]there are dependencies to precompiled Windows libraries that are closed-source only.[/quote]
What do you mean: "precompiled Windows libraries"? Is it Windows system libraries from Microsoft or Nokia closed-source libraries?
In other words: is it possible even theoretically to port this code to Linux by community efforts? Or it may be done only by Nokia because of closed-source modules?