The fundamental behavior of qmake is influenced by variable declarations that define the build process of each project. Some of these declare resources, such as headers and source files, that are common to each platform. Others are used to customize the behavior of compilers and linkers on specific platforms.
Platform-specific variables follow the naming pattern of the variables which they extend or modify, but include the name of the relevant platform in their name. For example, QMAKE_LIBS can be used to specify a
list of libraries that a project needs to link against, and QMAKE_LIBS_X11 can be used to extend or override this list.
Specifies project configuration and compiler options. The values are recognized internally by qmake and have special meaning.
The following CONFIG values control compilation flags:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| release | The project is to be built in release mode. If debug is also specified, the last one takes effect. |
| debug | The project is to be built in debug mode. |
| debug_and_release | The project is prepared to be built in both debug and release modes. |
| debug_and_release_target | This option is set by default. If debug_and_release is also set, the debug and release builds end up in separate debug and release directories. |
| build_all | If debug_and_release is specified, the project is built in both debug and release modes by default. |
| autogen_precompile_source | Automatically generates a .cpp file that includes the precompiled header file specified in the .pro file. |
| ordered | When using the subdirs template, this option specifies that the directories listed should be processed in the order in which they are given. |
| precompile_header | Enables support for the use of precompiled headers in projects. |
| precompile_header_c (MSVC only) | Enables support for the use of precompiled headers for C files. |
| warn_on | The compiler should output as many warnings as possible. If warn_off is also specified, the last one takes effect. |
| warn_off | The compiler should output as few warnings as possible. |
| exceptions | Exception support is enabled. Set by default. |
| exceptions_off | Exception support is disabled. |
| rtti | RTTI support is enabled. By default, the compiler default is used. |
| rtti_off | RTTI support is disabled. By default, the compiler default is used. |
| stl | STL support is enabled. By default, the compiler default is used. |
| stl_off | STL support is disabled. By default, the compiler default is used. |
| thread | Thread support is enabled. This is enabled when CONFIG includes qt, which is the default. |
| c++11 | C++11 support is enabled. This option has no effect if the compiler does not support C++11. By default, support is disabled. |
| c++14 | C++14 support is enabled. This option has no effect if the compiler does not support C++14. By default, support is disabled. |
| depend_includepath | Appending the value of INCLUDEPATH to DEPENDPATH is enabled. Set by default. |
When you use the debug_and_release option (which is the default under Windows), the project will be processed three times: one time to produce a "meta" Makefile, and two more times to produce a Makefile.Debug
and a Makefile.Release.
During the latter passes, build_pass and the respective debug or release option is appended to CONFIG. This makes it possible to perform build-specific tasks. For
example:
build_pass:CONFIG(debug, debug|release) {
unix: TARGET = $$join(TARGET,,,_debug)
else: TARGET = $$join(TARGET,,,d)
}
As an alternative to manually writing build type conditionals, some variables offer build-specific variants, for example QMAKE_LFLAGS_RELEASE in addition to the general QMAKE_LFLAGS. These should be used when available.
The meta Makefile makes the sub-builds invokable via the debug and release targets, and a combined build via the all target. When the build_all CONFIG option
is used, the combined build is the default. Otherwise, the last specified CONFIG option from the set (debug, release) determines the default. In this case, you can explicitly invoke the
all target to build both configurations at once:
make all
Note: The details are slightly different when producing Visual Studio and Xcode projects.
When linking a library, qmake relies on the underlying platform to know what other libraries this library links against. However, if linking statically, qmake will not get this information unless we use the following
CONFIG options:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| create_prl |
This option enables qmake to track these dependencies. When this option is enabled, qmake will create a file with the extension .prl which will save meta-information about the library (see Library Dependencies for more info).
|
| link_prl | When this option is enabled, qmake will process all libraries linked to by the application and find their meta-information (see Library Dependencies for more info). |
Note: The create_prl option is required when building a static library, while link_prl is required when using a static library.
The following options define the application or library type:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| qt | The target is a Qt application or library and requires the Qt library and header files. The proper include and library paths for the Qt library will automatically be added to the project. This is defined by default,
and can be fine-tuned with the \l{#qt}{QT} variable. |
| x11 | The target is an X11 application or library. The proper include paths and libraries will automatically be added to the project. |
| testcase | The target is an automated test. A check target will be added to the generated Makefile to run the test. Only relevant when generating Makefiles. |
| insignificant_test | The exit code of the automated test will be ignored. Only relevant if testcase is also set. |
| windows | The target is a Win32 window application (app only). The proper include paths, compiler flags and libraries will automatically be added to the project. |
| console | The target is a Win32 console application (app only). The proper include paths, compiler flags and libraries will automatically be added to the project. |
| shared | The target is a shared object/DLL. The proper include paths, compiler flags and libraries will automatically be added to the project. Note that dll can also be used on all platforms; a shared
library file with the appropriate suffix for the target platform (.dll or .so) will be created. |
| dll | |
| static | The target is a static library (lib only). The proper compiler flags will automatically be added to the project. |
| staticlib | |
| plugin | The target is a plugin (lib only). This enables dll as well. |
| designer | The target is a plugin for Qt Designer. |
| no_lflags_merge | Ensures that the list of libraries stored in the LIBS variable is not reduced to a list of unique values before it is used. |
These options define specific features on Windows only:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| flat | When using the vcapp template this will put all the source files into the source group and the header files into the header group regardless of what directory they reside in. Turning this option off will group the files within the source/header group depending on the directory they reside. This is turned on by default. |
| embed_manifest_dll | Embeds a manifest file in the DLL created as part of a library project. |
| embed_manifest_exe | Embeds a manifest file in the EXE created as part of an application project. |
See Platform Notes for more information about the options for embedding manifest files.
The following options take an effect only on macOS:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| app_bundle | Puts the executable into a bundle (this is the default). |
| lib_bundle | Puts the library into a library bundle. |
The build process for bundles is also influenced by the contents of the QMAKE_BUNDLE_DATA variable.
The following options take an effect only on Linux/Unix platforms:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| largefile | Includes support for large files. |
| separate_debug_info | Puts debugging information for libraries in separate files. |
The CONFIG variable will also be checked when resolving scopes. You may assign anything to this variable.
For example:
CONFIG += console newstuff
...
newstuff {
SOURCES += new.cpp
HEADERS += new.h
}
qmake adds the values of this variable as compiler C preprocessor macros (-D option).
For example:
DEFINES += USE_MY_STUFF
Note: This variable is used only on Windows when using the app template.
Specifies a .def file to be included in the project.
Specifies a list of all directories to look in to resolve dependencies. This variable is used when crawling through included files.
Specifies where to put the target file.
For example:
DESTDIR = ../../lib
Specifies a list of files to be included in the dist target. This feature is supported by UnixMake specs only.
For example:
DISTFILES += ../program.txt
Note: This variable applies only to Windows targets.
Specifies where to copy the target dll.
Specifies the UI files (see Qt Designer Manual) to be processed by uic before compiling. All dependencies, headers and source files required to build these UI files will
automatically be added to the project.
For example:
FORMS = mydialog.ui \
mywidget.ui \
myconfig.ui
Specifies the GUID that is set inside a .vcproj file. The GUID is usually randomly determined. However, should you require a fixed GUID, it can be set using this variable.
This variable is specific to .vcproj files only; it is ignored otherwise.
Defines the header files for the project.
qmake automatically detects whether moc is required by the classes in the headers, and adds the appropriate dependencies and files to the project for generating and linking the moc files.
For example:
HEADERS = myclass.h \
login.h \
mainwindow.h
See also SOURCES.
This variable is used only on Mac OS to set the application icon. Please see the application icon documentation for more information.
This variable is used only on Windows for the Visual Studio project generation to put the specified files in the Generated Files folder.
Specifies the #include directories which should be searched when compiling the project.
For example:
INCLUDEPATH = c:/msdev/include d:/stl/include
To specify a path containing spaces, quote the path using the technique described in Whitespace.
win32:INCLUDEPATH += "C:/mylibs/extra headers" unix:INCLUDEPATH += "/home/user/extra headers"
Specifies a list of resources that will be installed when make install or a similar installation procedure is executed. Each item in the list is typically defined with attributes that provide information about
where it will be installed.
For example, the following target.path definition describes where the build target will be installed, and the INSTALLS assignment adds the build target to the list of existing resources to be
installed:
target.path += $$[QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS]/imageformats INSTALLS += target
For more information, see Installing Files.
This variable is also used to specify which additional files will be deployed to embedded devices.
Specifies a list of Lex implementation files. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the names of intermediate Lex object files. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies a list of Lex source files. All dependencies, headers and source files will automatically be added to the project for building these lex files.
For example:
LEXSOURCES = lexer.l
Specifies a list of libraries to be linked into the project. If you use the Unix -l (library) and -L (library path) flags, qmake handles the libraries correctly on Windows (that is, passes the full path of the
library to the linker). The library must exist for qmake to find the directory where a -l lib is located.
For example:
unix:LIBS += -L/usr/local/lib -lmath win32:LIBS += c:/mylibs/math.lib
To specify a path containing spaces, quote the path using the technique described in Whitespace.
win32:LIBS += "C:/mylibs/extra libs/extra.lib" unix:LIBS += "-L/home/user/extra libs" -lextra
By default, the list of libraries stored in LIBS is reduced to a list of unique names before it is used. To change this behavior, add the no_lflags_merge option to the CONFIG variable:
CONFIG += no_lflags_merge
This variable is used whenever a literal hash character (#) is needed in a variable declaration, perhaps as part of a file name or in a string passed to some external application.
For example:
# To include a literal hash character, use the $$LITERAL_HASH variable: urlPieces = http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtextdocument.html pageCount message($$join(urlPieces, $$LITERAL_HASH))
By using LITERAL_HASH in this way, the # character can be used to construct a URL for the message() function to print to the console.
Specifies the name of the generated Makefile. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the name of the Makefile generator to use when generating a Makefile. The value of this variable is typically handled internally by qmake and rarely needs to be modified.
These variables are handled internally by qmake and should not be modified or utilized.
Specifies the directory where all intermediate moc files should be placed.
For example:
unix:MOC_DIR = ../myproject/tmp win32:MOC_DIR = c:/myproject/tmp
Defines the Objective-C++ header files for the project.
qmake automatically detects whether moc is required by the classes in the headers, and adds the appropriate dependencies and files to the project for generating and linking the moc files.
This is similar to the HEADERS variable, but will let the generated moc files be compiled with the Objective-C++ compiler.
See also OBJECTIVE_SOURCES.
Specifies the names of all Objective-C/C++ source files in the project.
This variable is now obsolete, Objective-C/C++ files (.m and .mm) can be added to the SOURCES variable.
See also OBJECTIVE_HEADERS.
This variable is automatically populated from the SOURCES variable. The extension of each source file is replaced by .o (Unix) or .obj (Win32). You can add objects to the list.
Specifies the directory where all intermediate objects should be placed.
For example:
unix:OBJECTS_DIR = ../myproject/tmp win32:OBJECTS_DIR = c:/myproject/tmp
Lists the libraries that the target depends on. Some backends, such as the generators for Visual Studio and Xcode project files, do not support this variable. Generally, this variable is supported internally by these build tools, and it is useful for explicitly listing dependent static libraries.
This list is placed after all builtin (and $$PRE_TARGETDEPS) dependencies.
Lists libraries that the target depends on. Some backends, such as the generators for Visual Studio and Xcode project files, do not support this variable. Generally, this variable is supported internally by these build tools, and it is useful for explicitly listing dependent static libraries.
This list is placed before all builtin dependencies.
Indicates the header file for creating a precompiled header file, to increase the compilation speed of a project. Precompiled headers are currently only supported on some platforms (Windows - all MSVC project types, Apple - Xcode, Makefile, Unix - gcc 3.3 and up).
Specifies the full path leading to the directory containing the current file being parsed. This can be useful to refer to files within the source tree when writing project files to support shadow builds.
See also _PRO_FILE_PWD_.
Note: Do not attempt to overwrite the value of this variable.
Specifies the full path leading to the directory where qmake places the generated Makefile.
Note: Do not attempt to overwrite the value of this variable.
Specifies the name of the qmake program itself and is placed in generated Makefiles. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
A system variable that contains the full path of the qmake configuration that is used when generating Makefiles. The value of this variable is automatically computed.
Note: Do not attempt to overwrite the value of this variable.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies the command to execute when creating a shared library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS only.
Specifies the data that will be installed with a library bundle, and is often used to specify a collection of header files.
For example, the following lines add path/to/header_one.h and path/to/header_two.h to a group containing information about the headers supplied with the framework:
FRAMEWORK_HEADERS.version = Versions FRAMEWORK_HEADERS.files = path/to/header_one.h path/to/header_two.h FRAMEWORK_HEADERS.path = Headers QMAKE_BUNDLE_DATA += FRAMEWORK_HEADERS
The last line adds the information about the headers to the collection of resources that will be installed with the library bundle.
Library bundles are created when the lib_bundle option is added to the CONFIG variable.
See Platform Notes for more information about creating library bundles.
Note: This variable is used on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS only.
Specifies the extension to be used for library bundles. This allows frameworks to be created with custom extensions instead of the standard .framework directory name extension.
For example, the following definition will result in a framework with the .myframework extension:
QMAKE_BUNDLE_EXTENSION = .myframework
Specifies the C compiler that will be used when building projects containing C source code. Only the file name of the compiler executable needs to be specified as long as it is on a path contained in the PATH
variable when the Makefile is processed.
Specifies the C compiler flags for building a project. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified. The
flags specific to debug and release modes can be adjusted by modifying the QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG and QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE variables, respectively.
Specifies the C compiler flags for debug builds. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the C compiler flags for release builds. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies the compiler flags for creating a shared library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the compiler flags for creating a multi-threaded application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
This variable is used only when the warn_off CONFIG option is set. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
This variable is used only when the warn_on CONFIG option is set. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies a list of generated files (by moc and uic, for example) and object files to be removed by make clean.
Specifies the C++ compiler that will be used when building projects containing C++ source code. Only the file name of the compiler executable needs to be specified as long as it is on a path contained in the
PATH variable when the Makefile is processed.
Specifies the C++ compiler flags for building a project. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified. The
flags specific to debug and release modes can be adjusted by modifying the QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_DEBUG and QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE variables, respectively.
Specifies the C++ compiler flags for debug builds. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the C++ compiler flags for release builds. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the C++ compiler flags for creating a shared library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the C++ compiler flags for creating a multi-threaded application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the C++ compiler flags for suppressing compiler warnings. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies C++ compiler flags for generating compiler warnings. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS only.
The identifier of a development team to use for signing certificates and provisioning profiles.
Specifies a list of files to be removed by make distclean.
Contains the extension for shared libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: Platform-specific variables that change the extension override the contents of this variable.
Contains the extension for shared static libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Contains the extension used on included moc files.
See also File Extensions.
Contains the extension used on Qt Designer UI files.
See also File Extensions.
Contains the extension used on created PRL files.
See also File Extensions, Library Dependencies.
Contains the extension used on files given to Lex.
See also File Extensions, LEXSOURCES.
Contains the extension used on files given to Yacc.
See also File Extensions, YACCSOURCES.
Contains the extension used on generated object files.
See also File Extensions.
Contains suffixes for files that should be interpreted as C++ source code.
See also File Extensions.
Contains suffixes for files which should be interpreted as C header files.
See also File Extensions.
Specifies a list of additional compilers or preprocessors.
See also Adding Compilers.
Specifies a list of additional qmake targets.
See also Adding Custom Targets.
Contains the list of failed requirements. The value of this variable is set by qmake and cannot be modified.
See also requires() and REQUIRES.
Note: This variable is used on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS only.
In a framework project, this variable contains the name to be used for the framework that is built.
By default, this variable contains the same value as the TARGET variable.
See Creating Frameworks for more information about creating frameworks and library bundles.
Note: This variable is used on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS only.
For projects where the build target is a macOS, iOS, tvOS, or watchOS framework, this variable is used to specify the version number that will be applied to the framework that is built.
By default, this variable contains the same value as the VERSION variable.
See Creating Frameworks for more information about creating frameworks.
Provides information about the host machine running qmake. For example, you can retrieve the host machine architecture from QMAKE_HOST.arch.
| Keys | Values |
|---|---|
| .arch | Host architecture |
| .os | Host OS |
| .cpu_count | Number of available cpus |
| .name | Host computer name |
| .version | Host OS version number |
| .version_string | Host OS version string |
win32-g++:contains(QMAKE_HOST.arch, x86_64):{
message("Host is 64bit")
...
}
Specifies the list of system header paths that are appended to INCLUDEPATH. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the location of EGL header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building a target with OpenGL/ES or OpenVG support. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the location of OpenGL header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building a target with OpenGL support. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If the OpenGL implementation uses EGL (most OpenGL/ES systems), then QMAKE_INCDIR_EGL may also need to be set.
This variable specifies the location of OpenGL header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building a target with OpenGL ES 2 support.
The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If the OpenGL implementation uses EGL (most OpenGL/ES systems), then QMAKE_INCDIR_EGL may also need to be set.
Specifies the location of OpenVG header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building a target with OpenVG support. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If the OpenVG implementation uses EGL then QMAKE_INCDIR_EGL may also need to be set.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies the location of X11 header file paths to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building an X11 target. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS platforms only.
Specifies the name of the property list file, .plist, you would like to include in your macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS application bundle.
In the .plist file, you can define some variables which qmake will replace with the relevant values:
| Placeholder(s) | Effect |
|---|---|
${PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER}, @BUNDLEIDENTIFIER@ |
Expands to the target bundle's bundle identifier string, for example: com.example.myapp. Determined by concatenating the values of QMAKE_TARGET_BUNDLE_PREFIX and QMAKE_BUNDLE, separated by a full stop
(.). |
${EXECUTABLE_NAME}, @EXECUTABLE@, @LIBRARY@ |
Equivalent to the value of QMAKE_APPLICATION_BUNDLE_NAME, QMAKE_PLUGIN_BUNDLE_NAME, or QMAKE_FRAMEWORK_BUNDLE_NAME (depending on the type of target being created), or TARGET if none of the previous values are set. |
${ASSETCATALOG_COMPILER_APPICON_NAME}, @ICON@ |
Expands to the value of ICON. |
${QMAKE_PKGINFO_TYPEINFO}, @TYPEINFO@ |
Expands to the value of QMAKE_PKGINFO_TYPEINFO. |
${QMAKE_FULL_VERSION}, @FULL_VERSION@ |
Expands to the value of VERSION expressed with three version components. |
${QMAKE_SHORT_VERSION}, @SHORT_VERSION@ |
Expands to the value of VERSION expressed with two version components. |
${MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET} |
Expands to the value of QMAKE_MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET. |
${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET} |
Expands to the value of QMAKE_IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET. |
${TVOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET} |
Expands to the value of QMAKE_TVOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET. |
${WATCHOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET} |
Expands to the value of QMAKE_WATCHOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET. |
Note: When using the Xcode generator, the above ${var}-style placeholders are replaced directly by the Xcode build system and are not handled by qmake. The @var@ style placeholders work only
with the qmake Makefile generators and not with the Xcode generator.
If building for iOS, and the .plist file contains the key NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription, qmake will include an additional plugin to the build that adds photo access support (to, e.g., QFile/QFileDialog). See Info.plist documentation from Apple for more information regarding this key.
Note: Most of the time, the default Info.plist is good enough.
Note: This variable is used on the iOS platform only.
Specifies the hard minimum version of iOS that the application supports.
For more information, see Expressing Supported iOS Versions.
Specifies a general set of flags that are passed to the linker. If you need to change the flags used for a particular platform or type of project, use one of the specialized variables for that purpose instead of this variable.
Note: This variable is used on Windows only.
Specifies the linker flags for building console programs. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags for debug builds. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags for building plugins. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies the linker flags needed to use the values from QMAKE_RPATHDIR.
The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags needed to enable relative paths in QMAKE_RPATHDIR.
The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the string the dynamic linker understands to be the location of the referring executable or library.
The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags needed to use the values from QMAKE_RPATHLINKDIR.
The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags for release builds. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags for building applications. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags used for building shared libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags for setting the name of shared objects, such as .so or .dll. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the linker flags for building multi-threaded projects. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on Windows only.
Specifies the linker flags for building Windows GUI projects (that is, non-console applications). The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies a list of system library paths. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies the location of all library directories with -L prefixed. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the location of the EGL library directory, when EGL is used with OpenGL/ES or OpenVG. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the location of the OpenGL library directory. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If the OpenGL implementation uses EGL (most OpenGL/ES systems), then QMAKE_LIBDIR_EGL may also need to be set.
Specifies the location of the OpenVG library directory. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If the OpenVG implementation uses EGL, then QMAKE_LIBDIR_EGL may also need to be set.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies the location of the X11 library directory. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies all project libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies all EGL libraries when building Qt with OpenGL/ES or OpenVG. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified. The usual value is -lEGL.
Specifies all OpenGL libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If the OpenGL implementation uses EGL (most OpenGL/ES systems), then QMAKE_LIBS_EGL may also need to be set.
These variables specify all the OpenGL libraries for OpenGL ES 1 and OpenGL ES 2.
The value of these variables is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If the OpenGL implementation uses EGL (most OpenGL/ES systems), then QMAKE_LIBS_EGL may also need to be set.
Specifies all OpenVG libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf
and rarely needs to be modified. The usual value is -lOpenVG.
Some OpenVG engines are implemented on top of OpenGL. This will be detected at configure time and QMAKE_LIBS_OPENGL will be implicitly added to QMAKE_LIBS_OPENVG wherever the OpenVG libraries are linked.
If the OpenVG implementation uses EGL, then QMAKE_LIBS_EGL may also need to be set.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies all libraries that need to be linked against when building a multi-threaded target. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies all X11 libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
This variable is not empty if the lib template is specified. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to
be modified.
Specifies the linker that will be used when building application based projects. Only the file name of the linker executable needs to be specified as long as it is on a path contained in the PATH variable when
the Makefile is processed. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the command to execute when creating a shared library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the command to execute when creating a link to a shared library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the Objective C/C++ compiler flags for building a project. These flags are used in addition to QMAKE_CFLAGS and QMAKE_CXXFLAGS.
Specifies the command to execute after linking the TARGET together. This variable is normally empty and therefore nothing is executed.
Note: This variable takes no effect on Xcode projects.
Specifies the command to execute before linking the TARGET together. This variable is normally empty and therefore nothing is executed.
Note: This variable takes no effect on Xcode projects.
Note: This variable is used for Visual Studio project files only.
Determines the name of the project when generating project files for IDEs. The default value is the target name. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake and rarely needs to be modified.
Note: This variable is used on macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS only.
The UUID of a valid provisioning profile. Use in conjunction with QMAKE_DEVELOPMENT_TEAM to specify the provisioning profile.
Note: Specifying the provisioning profile disables the automatically managed signing.
This variable is used on macOS when building universal binaries.
Note: This variable is used on the macOS platform only.
Specifies the hard minimum version of macOS that the application supports.
For more information, see macOS Version Dependencies.
Specifies the name of the Makefile to create. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Contains the absolute path of the qmake executable.
Note: Do not attempt to overwrite the value of this variable.
This variable is used to customize the list of options passed to the Resource Compiler in each of the build rules where it is used. For example, the following line ensures that the
-threshold and -compress options are used with particular values each time that rcc is invoked:
QMAKE_RESOURCE_FLAGS += -threshold 0 -compress 9
Note: This variable is used on Unix platforms only.
Specifies a list of library paths that are added to the executable at link time so that the paths will be preferentially searched at runtime.
When relative paths are specified, qmake will mangle them into a form understood by the dynamic linker to be relative to the location of the referring executable or library. This is supported only by some platforms (currently Linux and Darwin-based ones) and is detectable by checking whether QMAKE_REL_RPATH_BASE is set.
Specifies a list of library paths for the static linker to search for implicit dependencies of shared libraries. For more information, see the manual page for ld(1).
Specifies the individual rule needed to build an object. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the individual rule needed to build an object. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the individual rule needed to build an object. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the individual rule needed to build an object. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
If defined, the value of this variable is used as a path to be prepended to the built shared library's SONAME identifier. The SONAME is the identifier that the dynamic linker will later use to
reference the library. In general, this reference may be a library name or full library path. On macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS, the path may be specified relatively using the
following placeholders:
| Placeholder | Effect |
|---|---|
| @rpath | Expands to paths defined by LC_RPATH mach-o commands in the current process executable or the referring libraries. |
| @executable_path | Expands to the current process executable location. |
| @loader_path | Expands to the referring executable or library location. |
In most cases, using @rpath is sufficient and recommended:
# <project root>/project.pro QMAKE_SONAME_PREFIX = @rpath
However, the prefix may be also specified using different placeholders, or an absolute path, such as one of the following:
# <project root>/project.pro QMAKE_SONAME_PREFIX = @executable_path/../Frameworks QMAKE_SONAME_PREFIX = @loader_path/Frameworks QMAKE_SONAME_PREFIX = /Library/Frameworks
For more information, see dyld documentation on dynamic library install names.
Specifies the name of the project target. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Windows only. Specifies the company for the project target; this is used where applicable for putting the company name in the application's properties. This is only utilized if the VERSION or RC_ICONS variable is set and the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variables are not set.
Windows only. Specifies the description for the project target; this is used where applicable for putting the description in the application's properties. This is only utilized if the VERSION or RC_ICONS variable is set and the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variables are not set.
Windows only. Specifies the copyright information for the project target; this is used where applicable for putting the copyright information in the application's properties. This is only utilized if the VERSION or RC_ICONS variable is set and the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variables are not set.
Windows only. Specifies the product for the project target; this is used where applicable for putting the product in the application's properties. This is only utilized if the VERSION or RC_ICONS variable is set and the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variables are not set.
Note: This variable is used on the tvOS platform only.
Specifies the hard minimum version of tvOS that the application supports.
For more information, see Expressing Supported iOS Versions.
This variable is used to customize the list of options passed to the User Interface Compiler in each of the build rules where it is used. For example, -no-stringliteral can be passed
to use QLatin1String instead of QStringLiteral in generated code (which is the default for dynamic libraries).
Note: This variable is used on the watchOS platform only.
Specifies the hard minimum version of watchOS that the application supports.
For more information, see Expressing Supported iOS Versions.
Specifies the Qt modules that are used by your project. For the value to add for each module, see the module documentation.
At the C++ implementation level, using a Qt module makes its headers available for inclusion and causes it to be linked to the binary.
By default, QT contains core and gui, ensuring that standard GUI applications can be built without further configuration.
If you want to build a project without the Qt GUI module, you need to exclude the gui value with the "-=" operator. The following line will result in a minimal Qt
project being built:
QT -= gui # Only the core module is used.
If your project is a Qt Designer plugin, use the value uiplugin to specify that the project is to be built as a library, but with specific plugin support for Qt Designer. For more information, see
Building and Installing the Plugin.
Specifies a list of names of static Qt plugins that are to be linked with an application so that they are available as built-in resources.
qmake automatically adds the plugins that are typically needed by the used Qt modules (see QT). The defaults are tuned towards an optimal out-of-the-box experience. See Static Plugins for a list of available plugins, and ways to override the automatic linking.
This variable currently has no effect when linking against a shared/dynamic build of Qt, or when linking libraries. It may be used for deployment of dynamic plugins at a later time.
Contains the current version of Qt.
Contains the current major version of Qt.
Contains the current minor version of Qt.
Contains the current patch version of Qt.
Specifies the name of the resource file for the application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Windows only. Specifies the codepage that should be specified in a generated .rc file. This is only utilized if the VERSION or RC_ICONS variable is set and the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variables are not set.
Windows only. qmake adds the values of this variable as RC preprocessor macros (/d option). If this variable is not set, the DEFINES variable is used instead.
RC_DEFINES += USE_MY_STUFF
Windows only. Specifies the icons that should be included into a generated .rc file. This is only utilized if the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variable are not set. More details about the generation of .rc files can be found in the Platform Notes.
Windows only. Specifies the language that should be specified in a generated .rc file. This is only utilized if the VERSION or RC_ICONS variable is set and the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variables are not set.
Specifies include paths that are passed to the Windows Resource Compiler.
Specifies the directory for Qt Resource Compiler output files.
For example:
unix:RCC_DIR = ../myproject/resources win32:RCC_DIR = c:/myproject/resources
Specifies a list of values that are evaluated as conditions. If any of the conditions is false, qmake skips this project (and its SUBDIRS) when building.
Note: We recommend using the requires() function instead if you want to skip projects or subprojects when building.
Specifies the name of the resource collection files (qrc) for the target. For more information about the resource collection file, see The Qt Resource System.
Specifies the name of the compiled Windows resource file for the target. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the names of all source files in the project.
For example:
SOURCES = myclass.cpp \
login.cpp \
mainwindow.cpp
See also HEADERS.
This variable, when used with the subdirs template specifies the names of all subdirectories or project files that contain parts of the project that need
to be built. Each subdirectory specified using this variable must contain its own project file.
It is recommended that the project file in each subdirectory has the same base name as the subdirectory itself, because that makes it possible to omit the file name. For example, if the subdirectory is called
myapp, the project file in that directory should be called myapp.pro.
Alternatively, you can specify a relative path to a .pro file in any directory. It is strongly recommended that you specify only paths in the current project's parent directory or its subdirectories.
For example:
SUBDIRS = kernel \
tools \
myapp
If you need to ensure that the subdirectories are built in the order in which they are specified, update the CONFIG variable to include the ordered
option:
CONFIG += ordered
It is possible to modify this default behavior of SUBDIRS by giving additional modifiers to SUBDIRS elements. Supported modifiers are:
| Modifier | Effect |
|---|---|
| .subdir | Use the specified subdirectory instead of SUBDIRS value. |
| .file | Specify the subproject pro file explicitly. Cannot be used in conjunction with .subdir modifier. |
| .depends | This subproject depends on specified subproject. |
| .makefile | The makefile of subproject. Available only on platforms that use makefiles. |
| .target | Base string used for makefile targets related to this subproject. Available only on platforms that use makefiles. |
For example, define two subdirectories, both of which reside in a different directory than the SUBDIRS value, and one of the subdirectories must be built before the other:
SUBDIRS += my_executable my_library my_executable.subdir = app my_executable.depends = my_library my_library.subdir = lib
Specifies the name of the target file. Contains the base name of the project file by default.
For example:
TEMPLATE = app TARGET = myapp SOURCES = main.cpp
The project file above would produce an executable named myapp on unix and myapp.exe on Windows.
Specifies the extension of TARGET. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.
Specifies the extension of TARGET with a major version number. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to
be modified.
Specifies the extension of TARGET with a version number. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be
modified.
Specifies the name of the template to use when generating the project. The allowed values are:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| app | Creates a Makefile for building applications (the default). See Building an Application for more information. |
| lib | Creates a Makefile for building libraries. See Building a Library for more information. |
| subdirs | Creates a Makefile for building targets in subdirectories. The subdirectories are specified using the SUBDIRS variable. |
| aux |
Creates a Makefile for not building anything. Use this if no compiler needs to be invoked to create the target; for instance, because your project is written in an interpreted language.
Note: This template type is only available for Makefile-based generators. In particular, it will not work with the vcxproj and Xcode generators. |
| vcapp | Windows only. Creates an application project for Visual Studio. See Creating Visual Studio Project Files for more information. |
| vclib | Windows only. Creates a library project for Visual Studio. |
For example:
TEMPLATE = lib SOURCES = main.cpp TARGET = mylib
The template can be overridden by specifying a new template type with the -t command line option. This overrides the template type after the .pro file has been processed. With .pro files that use the
template type to determine how the project is built, it is necessary to declare TEMPLATE on the command line rather than use the -t option.
Specifies a list of translation (.ts) files that contain translations of the user interface text into non-native languages.
See the Qt Linguist Manual for more information about internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n) with Qt.
Specifies the directory where all intermediate files from uic should be placed.
For example:
unix:UI_DIR = ../myproject/ui win32:UI_DIR = c:/myproject/ui
Specifies the version number of the application if the app template is specified or the version number of the library if the lib template is
specified.
On Windows, triggers auto-generation of an .rc file if the RC_FILE and RES_FILE variables are not set. The generated .rc file will have the FILEVERSION and PRODUCTVERSION entries filled with major, minor, patch level, and build number. Each number must be in the range from 0 to 65535. More details about the generation of .rc files can be found in the Platform Notes.
For example:
win32:VERSION = 1.2.3.4 # major.minor.patch.build else:VERSION = 1.2.3 # major.minor.patch
Windows only. Specifies the version number, that the Windows linker puts into the header of the .exe or .dll file via the /VERSION option. Only a major and minor version may be specified. If VERSION_PE_HEADER is not set, it falls back to the major and minor version from VERSION (if set).
VERSION_PE_HEADER = 1.2
Specifies the major version number of the library if the lib template is specified.
Specifies the minor version number of the library if the lib template is specified.
Specifies the patch version number of the library if the lib template is specified.
Tells qmake where to search for files it cannot open. For example, if qmake looks for SOURCES and finds an entry that it cannot open, it looks through the entire VPATH list to see if it can find the file on its
own.
See also DEPENDPATH.
Specifies parameters to be passed to the application manifest on Windows Runtime. The allowed values are:
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| architecture | The target architecture. Defaults to VCPROJ_ARCH. |
| background | Tile background color. Defaults to green. |
| capabilities | Specifies capabilities to add to the capability list. |
| capabilities_device | Specifies device capabilities to add to the capability list (location, webcam, and so on). |
| CONFIG | Specifies additional flags for processing the input manifest file. Currently, verbatim is the only available option. |
| default_language | The default language code of the application. Defaults to "en". |
| dependencies | Specifies dependencies required by the package. |
| description | Package description. Defaults to Default package description. |
| foreground | Tile foreground (text) color. Defaults to light. This option is only available for Windows Store apps on Windows 8 and Windows RT. |
| iconic_tile_icon | Image file for the iconic tile template icon. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| iconic_tile_small | Image file for the small iconic tile template logo. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| identity | The unique ID of the app. Defaults to reusing the existing generated manifest's UUID, or generates a new UUID if none is present. |
| logo_30x30 | Logo image file of size 30x30 pixels. This is not supported on Windows Phone. |
| logo_41x41 | Logo image file of size 41x41 pixels. This is only supported on Windows Phone. |
| logo_70x70 | Logo image file of size 70x70 pixels. This is not supported on Windows Phone. |
| logo_71x71 | Logo image file of size 71x71 pixels. This is only supported on Windows Phone. |
| logo_150x150 | Logo image file of size 150x150 pixels. This is supported on all Windows Store App platforms. |
| logo_310x150 | Logo image file of size 310x150 pixels. This is supported on all Windows Store App platforms. |
| logo_310x310 | Logo image file of size 310x310 pixels. This is supported on all Windows Store App platforms. |
| logo_620x300 | Splash screen image file of size 620x300 pixels. This is not supported on Windows Phone. |
| logo_480x800 | Splash screen image file of size 480x800 pixels. This is only supported on Windows Phone. |
| logo_large | Large logo image file. This has to be 150x150 pixels. Supported on all Windows Store App platforms. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| logo_medium | Medium logo image file. For Windows Phone the image must have a pixel size of 71x71, for other Windows Store App platforms 70x70. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| logo_small | Small logo image file. For Windows Phone the image must have a pixel size of 44x44, for other Windows Store App platforms 30x30. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| logo_splash | Splash screen image file. For Windows Phone the image must have a pixel size of 480x800, for other Windows Store App platforms 620x300. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| logo_store | Logo image file for Windows Store. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| logo_wide | Wide logo image file. This has to be 310x150 pixels. Supported on all Windows Store App platforms. Default provided by the mkspec. |
| name | The name of the package as displayed to the user. Defaults to TARGET. |
| phone_product_id | The GUID of the product. Defaults to the value of WINRT_MANIFEST.identity. (Windows Phone only) |
| phone_publisher_id | The GUID of the publisher. Defaults to an invalid GUID. (Windows Phone only) |
| publisher | Display name of the publisher. Defaults to Default publisher display name. |
| publisher_id | The publisher's distinguished name (default: CN=MyCN). |
| target | The name of the target (.exe). Defaults to TARGET. |
| version | The version number of the package. Defaults to 1.0.0.0. |
| minVersion | The minimum required Windows version to run the package. Defaults to the environment variable UCRTVersion. |
| maxVersionTested | The maximum Windows version the package has been tested against. Defaults to WINRT_MANIFEST.minVersion |
You can use any combination of those values.
For example:
WINRT_MANIFEST.publisher = MyCompany WINRT_MANIFEST.logo_store = someImage.png WINRT_MANIFEST.capabilities += internetClient WINRT_MANIFEST.capabilities_device += location
Additionally, an input manifest file can be specified by using WINRT_MANIFEST.
For example:
WINRT_MANIFEST = someManifest.xml.in
In case the input manifest file should not be processed and only copied to the target directory, the verbatim configuration needs to be set.
WINRT_MANIFEST = someManifest.xml.in WINRT_MANIFEST.CONFIG += verbatim
Note: The required image sizes of logo_small, logo_medium, and logo_large depend on the target platform. The general descriptions are overwritten if a description that specifies the size is provided.
Specifies a list of Yacc source files to be included in the project. All dependencies, headers and source files will automatically be included in the project.
For example:
YACCSOURCES = moc.y
Contains the path to the project file in use.
For example, the following line causes the location of the project file to be written to the console:
message($$_PRO_FILE_)
Note: Do not attempt to overwrite the value of this variable.
Contains the path to the directory containing the project file in use.
For example, the following line causes the location of the directory containing the project file to be written to the console:
message($$_PRO_FILE_PWD_)
Note: Do not attempt to overwrite the value of this variable.
