Simple change in *.pro file and libraries no longer get found

Tapsa

The only thing I changed was

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/../../../Boost/include
DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/../../../Boost/include

to this

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/../../../Boost/include/boost_1_60
DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/../../../Boost/include/boost_1_60

and I start getting these:
cannot find -llibgenieutils.dll
cannot find -llibboost... etc
error: ld returned 1 exit status

If I undo my changes to the pro file, nothing changes. How can I make Qt Creator work again? If I add those libraries again, I will get 100 % same code to Boost include paths. But as soon as I edit something, even if I change it back, the libraries get lost. I had this error before too, but I don't want to use the "Add Library..." wizard every time from mouse right-click.

Am I not supposed to touch the pro file myself? I even deleted my build folders, but the problem persists.

EDIT: I confirmed that this is a bug in qmake or whatever is responsible for finding the libraries, as I changed and changed the pro file trying to make it work, but eventually I changed it back to ...include/boost_1_60 etc and it suddenly works (only for debug this time). So 100 % same pro file works sometimes and sometimes not. It also varies whether it works for both release and debug builds or only one of them.

EDIT2: Apparently I managed to do debug build only once, then Qt Creator refused to find the libraries again.

mrjj

hi
when u have changed the pro file.
you should run qmake from the menu.
If its still funky, you can try to clean the build folder.

Also, are you 100% sure its the only place that Boost is mentioned?
there is not a LIBS += line or something like that?

Tapsa

Thanks :) looks like running qmake solves this... or not (only for debug build it did). I am getting program exited with code 0 in release build and then cannot find again. I ran clean/qmake/rebuild multiple times, still no luck.

There is LIBS += but it worked before and I did not touch it at all.

win32:CONFIG(release, debug|release): LIBS += -L$$PWD/../genieutils-build/release/ -llibgenieutils.dll
else:win32:CONFIG(debug, debug|release): LIBS += -L$$PWD/../genieutils-build/debug/ -llibgenieutils.dll

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/../genieutils/include
DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/../genieutils/include

win32:CONFIG(release, debug|release): LIBS += -L$$PWD/../../../Boost/lib/ -llibboost_iostreams-mgw49-mt-1_60.dll
else:win32:CONFIG(debug, debug|release): LIBS += -L$$PWD/../../../Boost/lib/ -llibboost_iostreams-mgw49-mt-d-1_60.dll

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/../../../Boost/include/boost_1_60
DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/../../../Boost/include/boost_1_60

mrjj

Hmm
debug and release do look very much alike to me.
So both should work.

kshegunov

@Tapsa
Hello,

win32:CONFIG(release, debug|release): LIBS += -L$PWD/../genieutils-build/release/ -llibgenieutils.dll

Do you have a file that's called liblibgenieutils.dll.lib, if not then you're using the flags wrong.
qmake's -l flag will add the appropriate prefixes and suffixes for your platform, so you should use it accordingly:

win32:CONFIG(release, debug|release): LIBS += -L$PWD/../genieutils-build/release/ -lgenieutils

Kind regards.

Tapsa

Thank you, kshegunov.
Removing "lib" and ".dll" seems to work for both release and debug builds now. Those were added by the "Add Library..." method of Qt Creator.

kshegunov

@Tapsa

Those were added by the "Add Library..." method of Qt Creator.

This seems very improbable. To be sure however, I've used the "Add library" wizard for a chosen external library from another project and QtCreator generates the following for the .pro file:

win32:CONFIG(release, debug|release): LIBS += -L$$PWD/../../ag/bin-debug/release/ -lagcore
else:win32:CONFIG(debug, debug|release): LIBS += -L$$PWD/../../ag/bin-debug/debug/ -lagcore
else:unix: LIBS += -L$$PWD/../../ag/bin-debug/ -lagcore

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/../../ag/bin-debug
DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/../../ag/bin-debug

As you can see there's neither "lib" prefix, nor ".so" extension in the generated code. Additionally notice that PWD is used with double dollar symbols, and not as $PWD. Either there's a bug in your creator, or you'd changed the generated code and forgot about it.

Kind regards.

Tapsa

I did not change those LIB lines and add library (external) only allowed me to choose *.A files. Thanks for pointing out that double dollar glitch too (phew, it was caused by this forum formatting). I am 100 % sure of this since I tried to use that add library multiple times and the result was same. I have static *.A and shared *.DLL.A and *.DLL I chose the *.DLL.A and got that -llibname.dll line.

kshegunov

@Tapsa
.a files are static libraries and additional instructions to qmake are needed to link them, but in any case I wouldn't wish to stray in that direction.