CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++qtstatic-librariesdll
user99545
user99545

Reputation: 1173

Compiling a static QT application on Windows

I am new to QT and I am enjoying the experience except for the fact I cannot manage to statically link the QT library to the output binaries. When I run the output file outside of the QT directory, I get The program can't start beacuse QtCored4.dll is missing. Obviously QT is dynamically linking their libraries and requesting a .dll I do not have. Is there a way to statically compile QT's libraries into a static binary so none of QT's dlls are required? I ask this because I am already up to 11 .dlls for my project, and I would really like to cut down the amount of files that have to be distributed with my software. Size is not a problem for me. Thanks.

I have tried adding CONFIG += static to the .pro file, but to no avail.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1918

Answers (2)

Liam M
Liam M

Reputation: 5432

First off, you can't statically link Qt unless you've bought a commercial license. To do so would put you in violation of the LGPL license under which the non-commercial version is distributed. I feel your pain, I've got many, many DLL's to go with my software.

Thankfully, you probably do have the DLL's if you used the installer: you don't need to build from source, that should have been done automatically. You'll find them in Qt\Version\bin, where Qt is the directory you installed Qt, and version is the version of Qt you installed. For example, mine is found in G:\Libraries\Qt\4.7.1\bin.

I did, however, have some issues with not having one of the DLL's built - one for working with OpenGL - and performed a rebuild to do so. I've also done so when I've switched versions of Visual Studio. I think it's handy to be able to do so, it's easy, Open a terminal in the Qt directory, and execute:

configure.exe -platform XXX'

Where XXX denotes the type of build you want to perform. Valid options include win32-msvc2005, win32-msvc2008, win32-msvc2010. So I use:

configure.exe -platform win32-msvc2010'

Other options are detailed here. These instructions apply if you've downloaded the source code, however you might have to add the current directory to the path variable like so:

set PATH=%cd%\bin;%PATH%

The whole procedure should take about an hour.

Upvotes: 2

David Feurle
David Feurle

Reputation: 2787

You need to download the source packet of QT and compile it. It takes some time but is not really complicated.

  • Download and unzip QT source
  • Start a compiler shell (Visual Studio or mingw)
  • Execute configure in the QT source directory - add a flag for static compile here
  • execute make (Visual Studio nmake)
  • Wait some hours depending on the speed of your machine

Upvotes: 2

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