Slow building of a Symbian Qt Project in Qt Creator. Takes over 20 minutes

Question

I'm trying to build a moderately sized Symbian Qt project (around 100 files) using the latest released Nokia Qt SDK (Qt 4.6.3 and Qt Mobility 1.0.2).

The build for the simulator finishes in under 3 minutes, but when I build for the device, the build takes well over 20 minutes! I can forget trying to debug on the device. It is very frustrating!

My machine specs are the following: Windows 7 32-bit 3.24GB RAM Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz

The compiler has been stuck here for over 10 minutes:

Running build steps for project AppName...
Starting: "c:/nokiaqtsdk/symbian/sdk/bin/qmake.exe" C:/QtProjects/AppName/AppName.pro -r -spec symbian-abld -after OBJECTS_DIR=obj MOC_DIR=moc UI_DIR=ui RCC_DIR=rcc CONFIG+=release
The process "c:/nokiaqtsdk/symbian/sdk/bin/qmake.exe" exited normally.
Starting: "C:/NokiaQtSDK/Symbian/SDK/epoc32/tools/make.exe" release-gcce -w
C:\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\tools\make.exe: Entering directory `C:/QtProjects/AppName'

bldmake bldfiles

ABLD.BAT build gcce urel

make -r -f "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\EPOC32\BUILD\QtProjects\AppName\EXPORT.make" EXPORT VERBOSE=-s

make[1]: Entering directory `C:/QtProjects/AppName'

Nothing to do

make[1]: Leaving directory `C:/QtProjects/AppName'

make -r -f "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\EPOC32\BUILD\QtProjects\AppName\GCCE.make" MAKEFILE VERBOSE=-s

make[1]: Entering directory `C:/QtProjects/AppName'

make -s -C \QtProjects\AppName-f "MAKEFILE_0Xe001827C.MK" TO_ROOT=..\.. EPOCBLD=\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\EPOC32\BUILD\MAKEFILE_0Xe001827C\GCCE TO_BLDINF=..\..\QtProjects\AppNamePLATFORM=GCCE MAKMAKE

perl -S makmake.pl -D \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C GCCE 

WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(65) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\osextensions\stdapis\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(66) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\osextensions\stdapis\sys\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(69) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\oem\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(72) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\osextensions\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(73) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\domain\osextensions\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(74) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\domain\osextensions\loc\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(76) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\domain\osextensions\loc\sc\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(77) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\domain\middleware\loc\sc\" not found



WARNING: \QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP(82) : SYSTEMINCLUDE path "\NokiaQtSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\include\osextensions\stdapis\stlport\" not found





MMPFILE "\QtProjects\AppName\APPNAME_0Xe001827C .MMP"

Answer 1

So cool page, the slow building speed in qt creator make me very very very frustrating, I nearly give up the Qt 4.6.3 and 4.7.3, after add the system variable 'SYMBIANBUILD_DEPENDENCYOFF = 1', it is really amazing, speed back, So thanks!

By the way, there is no speed problem in qt 4.7.4 and the compiler use the sbs not the perl any more.

Answer 2

The solution to set the environment variable 'SYMBIANBUILD_DEPENDENCYOFF = 1' as mentioned above also works for us and can result in much quicker Target (GCCE) build times.

However, be aware that you may often need to perform a full (cleaned) re-build of the source if you have modified header files, and specifically added/removed functions for classes and therefore amended the class interface. This is because using this environment variable prevents the Symbian build tools from scanning your include files for changes.

Manually deleting the relevant *.o object files from your QTSDK\Symbian\SDK\epoc32\BUILD_yourfolder_ is a way to prevent the need for a full rebuild but also ensure that affected code is rebuilt.

I believe the slow speed of the Symbian GCCE builds is due to the legacy ABLD build tools, which should be replaced by the Symbian Build System (SBS v2) soon.

Answer 3

I solved the slow compilation problem as indicated by this thread http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/forum/showthread.php?196650-Selective-compiling&p=720040&viewfull=1#post720040

I added

SYMBIANBUILD_DEPENDENCYOFF = 1

to the project environment variables (or it could be added to Windows environment variables), and the project compilation was back to speed again.

Answer 4

I've had trouble with very slow builds due to ZoneAlarm - switching it off resulting in builds 10x quicker... Worth a try if you have an OS firewall installed.