How to command line build a proper dmg from a Qt app

Nelson_Piquet

I have Qt app lets say MyApp with a list of libraries it links to. Note that all libraries are linked statically linked. I have a master project file called MyMasterProjectFile.pro which loads all of these into QtCreator and yes the whole code builds well from QtCreator. I am using Qt 5.9.4 commercial version.

I want to build my app+libraries command line into a dmg for MacOS High Sierra. I am doing this support CI builds on my build system.

So, following is what my script does:

// MyBuildScript.sh
BuildDMGForMacOS() {

    /path/to/qmake MyMasterProjectFile.pro -spec macx-clang CONFIG+=Release CONFIG+=x86_64 $EXTRA_SETTINGS CONFIG+=qml_debug
    make -j2

    // Go inside the directory where my main app build folder is created
    /path/to/macdeployqt MyApp.app -verbose=2 -dmg
}

Issue:
The dmg that is generated is not correct. But this is because if I double click and try to run the .app that is generated, I get the following error

You can’t open the application “MyApp.app” because it is not
supported on this type of Mac.

Question:
Looking at my script above, what am I missing in the method BuildDMGForMacOS to build a dmg for OSX?

Note:
Note that the dmg will be installed on OSX machines which wont have Qt installed on them.

SGaist

Hi,

macdeployqt uses system tools to build the .dmg. These tools depending on the macOS version you have as well as your root file system will not generate the same .dmg content. There's now an option in the more recent versions of macdeployqt that allows to set the filesystem used to build the .dmg and uses a sensible default that is backward compatible.

Nelson_Piquet

@SGaist Is there an example I can get on how to use the new way in macdeployqt to get a proper dmg?

SGaist

Just use a recent version of macdeployqt. The option is -fs.

Nelson_Piquet

@SGaist

Looks like -fs did somthing with filestystem. I can see it logged the follwing extra thing. But its still the same issue

Log: Image will use "HFS+"

But, If I open MyApp/MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp then it complains the following on console and gives up with a crash

QQmlApplicationEngine failed to load component
qrc:/qml/main.qml:1 module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:4 module "QtWebView" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:2 module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:3 module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:1 module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:4 module "QtWebView" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:2 module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:3 module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:1 module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:4 module "QtWebView" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:2 module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:3 module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:1 module "QtQuick" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:4 module "QtWebView" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:2 module "QtQuick.Window" is not installed
qrc:/qml/main.qml:3 module "QtQuick.Controls" is not installed

[1]    57951 segmentation fault  /Volumes/MyApp/MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp

SGaist

You did not use the qmldir option when running macdeployqt.

Nelson_Piquet

@SGaist
Ah superb ! This made a difference. Now if I doubled clicked on the dmg and opened MyApp/MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp that is inside it. It works and I am able to launch my app.

Thanks a lot till here.

But I am still curious why just double clicking on MyApp dies not work? Why do I have to run MyApp/MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/MyApp instead of just MyApp ?

SGaist

Do you have any error message ?

Nelson_Piquet

@SGaist
The error message says following with a pop up

You can’t open the application “MyApp.app” because it is not
supported on this type of Mac.

SGaist

Are you using a pre-built version of Qt to build your application ?

By the way, why not use a more recent version of 5.9 ?

Nelson_Piquet

@SGaist

Do you mean 5.9.6 ? I am using 5.9.4 but this error occurs even if I build with 5.11.2.

SGaist

Can you show your .pro file ?

Nelson_Piquet

@SGaist

My .pro file has so many things which is due to multiple stuff and it would not make much sense to share it here. But I have set QMAKE_MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET = 10.12 and QML_IMPORT_PATH is set to nothing. Plus, following are some more settings I have in my .pro which might be relevant to this question

CONFIG += c++14
CONFIG -= bitcode

I am marking this Topic as solved. Do let me know if have a suggestion on this last error.