qmake Variable Reference

qmake's fundamental behavior 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.

BACKUP_REGISTRATION_FILE_MAEMO

This is only used on the Maemo platform.

This variable is used to specify the backup registration file to use with enable_backup CONFIG value for Maemo platform. The default value is: $$_PRO_FILE_PWD_/backup_registration/maemo/$$basename(TARGET).conf.

Unfortunately it is not possible to have a common registration file for Maemo like there is for Symbian, so the developer must always provide one if the platform default backup support is not sufficient.

For documentation about how to create backup registration files and how the device backup works in general, see: (Using Backup Application)

BACKUP_REGISTRATION_FILE_SYMBIAN

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

This variable is used to specify the backup registration file to use with enable_backup CONFIG value for Symbian platform. The default value is determined as follows:

If a custom registration file $$_PRO_FILE_PWD_/backup_registration/symbian/backup_registration.xml exists, it is used. Otherwise, the common registration file $$[QT_INSTALL_DATA]/mkspecs/common/symbian/backup_registration.xml is used. This common registration file will define backing up of application binaries, resources, and all files under application private directory. Also note that C:/Data contents are backed up by default on Symbian devices, so no registration is needed for any files found there.

BLD_INF_RULES

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Generic bld.inf file content can be specified with BLD_INF_RULES variables. The section of bld.inf file where each rule goes is appended to BLD_INF_RULES with a dot.

For example:

my_exports = \
    "foo.h /epoc32/include/mylib/foo.h" \
    "bar.h /epoc32/include/mylib/bar.h"
BLD_INF_RULES.prj_exports += my_exports

This will add the specified statements to the prj_exports section of the generated bld.inf file.

It is also possible to add multiple rows in a single block. Each double quoted string will be placed on a new row in the generated bld.inf file.

For example:

myextension = \
    "start extension myextension" \
    "$${LITERAL_HASH}if defined(WINSCW)" \
    "option MYOPTION foo" \
    "$${LITERAL_HASH}endif" \
    "option MYOPTION bar" \
    "end"
BLD_INF_RULES.prj_extensions += myextension

Any rules you define will be added after automatically generated rules in each section.

Note: Content specified using BLD_INF_RULES is inserted as-is into the bld.inf file, so any rules that specify host side paths may not work correctly when doing a shadow build.

CONFIG

The CONFIG variable specifies project configuration and compiler options. The values will be recognized internally by qmake and have special meaning. They are as follows.

These CONFIG values control compilation flags:

OptionDescription
releaseThe project is to be built in release mode. This is ignored if debug is also specified.
debugThe project is to be built in debug mode.
debug_and_releaseThe project is built in both debug and release modes. This can have some unexpected side effects (see below for more information).
build_allIf debug_and_release is specified, the project is built in both debug and release modes by default.
orderedWhen using the subdirs template, this option specifies that the directories listed should be processed in the order in which they are given.
precompile_headerEnables support for the use of precompiled headers in projects.
warn_onThe compiler should output as many warnings as possible. This is ignored if warn_off is specified.
warn_offThe compiler should output as few warnings as possible.

Since the debug option overrides the release option when both are defined in the CONFIG variable, it is necessary to use the debug_and_release option if you want to allow both debug and release versions of a project to be built. In such a case, the Makefile that qmake generates includes a rule that builds both versions, and this can be invoked in the following way:

make all

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:

OptionDescription
create_prlThis option enables qmake to track these dependencies. When this option is enabled, qmake will create a file ending in .prl which will save meta-information about the library (see Library Dependencies for more info).
link_prlWhen this is enabled, qmake will process all libraries linked to by the application and find their meta-information(see Library Dependencies for more info).

Please note that create_prl is required when building a static library, while link_prl is required when using a static library.

On Windows (or if Qt is configured with -debug_and_release, adding the build_all option to the CONFIG variable makes this rule the default when building the project, and installation targets will be created for both debug and release builds.

Additionally, adding debug_and_release to the CONFIG variable will cause both debug and release to be defined in the contents of CONFIG. When the project file is processed, the scopes that test for each value will be processed for both debug and release modes. The build_pass variable will be set for each of these mode, and you can test for this to perform build-specific tasks. For example:

build_pass:CONFIG(debug, debug|release) {
    unix: TARGET = $$join(TARGET,,,_debug)
    else: TARGET = $$join(TARGET,,,d)
}

As a result, it may be useful to define mode-specific variables, such as QMAKE_LFLAGS_RELEASE, instead of general variables, such as QMAKE_LFLAGS, where possible.

The following options define the application/library type:

OptionDescription
qtThe target is a Qt application/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.
threadThe target is a multi-threaded application or library. The proper defines and compiler flags will automatically be added to the project.
x11The target is a X11 application or library. The proper include paths and libraries will automatically be added to the project.
windowsThe target is a Win32 window application (app only). The proper include paths, compiler flags and libraries will automatically be added to the project.
consoleThe target is a Win32 console application (app only). The proper include paths, compiler flags and libraries will automatically be added to the project.
sharedThe 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, so, dylib) will be created.
dll
dylib
staticThe target is a static library (lib only). The proper compiler flags will automatically be added to the project.
staticlib
pluginThe target is a plugin (lib only). This enables dll as well.
designerThe target is a plugin for Qt Designer.
uic3Configures qmake to run uic3 on the content of FORMS3 if defined; otherwise the contents of FORMS will be processed instead.
no_lflags_mergeEnsures that the list of libraries stored in the LIBS variable is not reduced to a list of unique values before it is used.
resourcesConfigures qmake to run rcc on the content of RESOURCES if defined.

These options are used to set the compiler flags:

OptionDescription
3dnowAMD 3DNow! instruction support is enabled.
exceptionsException support is enabled.
mmxIntel MMX instruction support is enabled.
rttiRTTI support is enabled.
stlSTL support is enabled.
sseSSE support is enabled.
sse2SSE2 support is enabled.

These options define specific features on Windows only:

OptionDescription
flatWhen 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_dllEmbeds a manifest file in the DLL created as part of a library project.
embed_manifest_exeEmbeds a manifest file in the DLL created as part of an application project.
incrementalUsed to enable or disable incremental linking in Visual C++, depending on whether this feature is enabled or disabled by default.

See qmake Platform Notes for more information on the options for embedding manifest files.

These options only have an effect on Mac OS X:

OptionDescription
ppcBuilds a PowerPC binary.
x86Builds an i386 compatible binary.
app_bundlePuts the executable into a bundle (this is the default).
lib_bundlePuts the library into a library bundle.

The build process for bundles is also influenced by the contents of the QMAKE_BUNDLE_DATA variable.

These options only have an effect on the Symbian platform:

OptionDescription
stdbinaryBuilds an Open C binary (i.e. STDDLL, STDEXE, or STDLIB, depending on the target binary type.)
no_iconDoesn't generate resources needed for displaying an icon for executable in application menu (app only).
symbian_testPlaces mmp files and extension makefiles under test sections in generated bld.inf instead of their regular sections. Note that this only affects automatically generated bld.inf content; the content added via BLD_INF_RULES variable is not affected.
localize_deploymentMakes lupdate tool add fields for application captions and package file names into generated .ts files. Qmake generates properly localized .loc and .pkg files based on available translations. Translation file name bodies must end with underscore and the language code for deployment localization to work. E.g. myapp_en.ts. Note: All languages supported by Qt are not supported by Symbian, so some .ts files may be ignored by qmake.

These options only have an effect on Symbian and Maemo platforms:

OptionDescription
enable_backupGenerates deployment for backup registration file to enable backing up the application during device backup. See BACKUP_REGISTRATION_FILE_MAEMO and BACKUP_REGISTRATION_FILE_SYMBIAN for more information about backup.

These options have an effect on Linux/Unix platforms:

OptionDescription
largefileIncludes support for large files.
separate_debug_infoPuts 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 += qt console newstuff
...
newstuff {
    SOURCES += new.cpp
    HEADERS += new.h
}

DEFINES

qmake adds the values of this variable as compiler C preprocessor macros (-D option).

For example:

DEFINES += USE_MY_STUFF QT_DLL

DEF_FILE

This is only used on Windows when using the app template, and on Symbian when building a shared DLL.

Specifies a .def file to be included in the project. On Symbian a directory may be specified instead, in which case the real files will be located under the standard Symbian directories bwins and eabi.

DEPENDPATH

This variable contains the list of all directories to look in to resolve dependencies. This will be used when crawling through included files.

DEPLOYMENT

This is only used on Windows CE and the Symbian platform.

Specifies which additional files will be deployed. Deployment means the transfer of files from the development system to the target device or emulator.

Files can be deployed by either creating a Visual Studio project or using the cetest executable.

For example:

myFiles.files = path\*.png
DEPLOYMENT += myFiles

This will upload all PNG images in path to the same directory your build target will be deployed to.

The default deployment target path for Windows CE is %CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES%\target, which usually gets expanded to \Program Files\target. For the Symbian platform, the default target is the application private directory on the drive it is installed to.

It is also possible to specify multiple sources to be deployed on target paths. In addition, different variables can be used for deployment to different directories.

For example:

myFiles.files = path\file1.ext1 path2\file2.ext1 path3\*
myFiles.path = \some\path\on\device
someother.files = C:\additional\files\*
someother.path = \myFiles\path2
DEPLOYMENT += myFiles someother

Note: In Windows CE all linked Qt libraries will be deployed to the path specified by myFiles.path. On Symbian platform all libraries and executables will always be deployed to the \sys\bin of the installation drive.

Since the Symbian platform build system automatically moves binaries to certain directories under the epoc32 directory, custom plugins, executables or dynamically loadable libraries need special handling. When deploying extra executables or dynamically loadable libraries, the target path must specify \sys\bin. For plugins, the target path must specify the location where the plugin stub will be deployed to (see the How to Create Qt Plugins document for more information about plugins). If the binary cannot be found from the indicated source path, the directory Symbian build process moves the executables to is searched, e.g. \epoc32\release\armv5\urel.

For example:

customplugin.files = customimageplugin.dll
customplugin.files += c:\myplugins\othercustomimageplugin.dll
customplugin.path = imageformats
dynamiclibrary.files = mylib.dll helper.exe
dynamiclibrary.path = \sys\bin
globalplugin.files = someglobalimageplugin.dll
globalplugin.path = \resource\qt\plugins\imageformats
DEPLOYMENT += customplugin dynamiclibrary globalplugin

On the Symbian platform, generic PKG file content can also be specified with this variable. You can use either pkg_prerules or pkg_postrules to pass raw data to PKG file. The strings in pkg_prerules are added before package-body and pkg_postrules after. pkg_prerules is used for defining vendor information, dependencies, custom package headers, and the like, while pkg_postrules is used for custom file deployment and embedded sis directives. The strings defined in pkg_postrules or pkg_prerules are not parsed by qmake, so they should be in a format understood by Symbian package generation tools. Please consult the Symbian platform documentation for correct syntax.

For example, to deploy DLL and add a new dependency:

somelib.files = somelib.dll
somelib.path = \sys\bin
somelib.pkg_prerules = "(0x12345678), 2, 2, 0, {\"Some Package\"}" \
                  "(0x87654321), 1, *, * ~ 2, 2, 0, {\"Some Other Package\"}"
justdep.pkg_prerules = "(0xAAAABBBB), 0, 2, 0, {\"My Framework\"}"
DEPLOYMENT += somelib justdep

Please note that pkg_prerules can also replace default statements in pkg file. If no pkg_prerules is defined, qmake makes sure that PKG file syntax is correct and it contains all mandatory statements such as:

  • languages, for example
    &EN,FR
  • package-header, for example
    #{"MyApp-EN", "MyApp-FR"}, (0x1000001F), 1, 2, 3, TYPE=SA
  • localized and unique vendor, for example
    %{"Vendor-EN", ..., "Vendor-FR"} :"Unique vendor name"

If you decide to override any of these statements, you need to pay attention that also other statements stay valid. For example if you override languages statement, you must override also package-header statement and all other statements which are language specific.

Note: Custom deployments specified using pkg_postrules are inserted as-is into the PKG file, so any rules that specify host side paths may not work correctly when doing a shadow build.

On the Symbian platform, three separate PKG files are generated:

  • <app>_template.pkg - For application SIS file. Rules suffix: .main
  • <app>_installer.pkg - For smart installer SIS file. Rules suffix: .installer
  • <app>_stub.pkg - For ROM stubs. Rules suffix: .stub

pkg_prerules and pkg_postrules given without rules suffix will intelligently apply to each of these files, but rules can also be targeted to only one of above files by appending listed rules suffix to the variable name:

my_note.pkg_postrules.installer = "\"myinstallnote.txt\" - \"\", FILETEXT, TEXTCONTINUE"
DEPLOYMENT += my_note

On the Symbian platform, the default_deployment item specifies default platform and package dependencies. Those dependencies can be selectively disabled if alternative dependencies need to be defined - e.g. if a specific device is required to run the application or more languages need to be supported by the package file. The supported default_deployment rules that can be disabled are:

  • pkg_depends_qt
  • pkg_depends_webkit
  • pkg_platform_dependencies

For example:

default_deployment.pkg_prerules -= pkg_platform_dependencies
my_deployment.pkg_prerules = "[0x11223344],0,0,0,{\"SomeSpecificDeviceID\"}"
DEPLOYMENT += my_deployment

On the Symbian platform, a default deployment is generated for all application projects. You can modify the autogenerated default deployment via following DEPLOYMENT variable values:

  • default_bin_deployment - Application executable
  • default_resource_deployment - Application resources, including icon
  • default_reg_deployment - Application registration file

For example:

DEPLOYMENT -= default_bin_deployment default_resource_deployment default_reg_deployment

This will entirely remove the default application deployment.

On the Symbian platform, you can specify file specific install options with .flags modifier. Please consult the Symbian platform documentation for supported options.

For example:

default_bin_deployment.flags += FILERUN RUNINSTALL
dep_note.files = install_note.txt
dep_note.flags = FILETEXT TEXTEXIT
DEPLOYMENT += dep_note

This will show a message box that gives user an option to cancel the installation and then automatically runs the application after installation is complete.

Note: Automatically running the applications after install may require signing the package with better than self-signed certificate, depending on the phone model. Additionally, some tools such as Runonphone may not work properly with sis packages that automatically run the application upon install.

On the Symbian platform, the default package name and the default name that appears in application menu is derived from the TARGET variable. Often the default is not optimal for displaying to end user. To set a better display name for these purposes, use DEPLOYMENT.display_name variable:

DEPLOYMENT.display_name = My Qt App

On the Symbian platform, you can use DEPLOYMENT.installer_header variable to generate smart installer wrapper for your application. If you specify just UID of the installer package as the value, then installer package name and version will be autogenerated:

DEPLOYMENT.installer_header = 0x12345678

If autogenerated values are not suitable, you can also specify the sis header yourself using this variable:

DEPLOYMENT.installer_header = "$${LITERAL_HASH}{\"My Application Installer\"},(0x12345678),1,0,0"

DEPLOYMENT_PLUGIN

This is only used on Windows CE and the Symbian platform.

This variable specifies the Qt plugins that will be deployed. All plugins available in Qt can be explicitly deployed to the device. See Static Plugins for a complete list.

Note: In Windows CE, No plugins will be deployed automatically. If the application depends on plugins, these plugins have to be specified manually.

Note: On the Symbian platform, all plugins supported by this variable will be deployed by default with Qt libraries, so generally using this variable is not needed.

For example:

DEPLOYMENT_PLUGIN += qjpeg

This will upload the jpeg imageformat plugin to the plugins directory on the Windows CE device.

DESTDIR

Specifies where to put the target file.

For example:

DESTDIR = ../../lib

DESTDIR_TARGET

This variable is set internally by qmake, which is basically the DESTDIR variable with the TARGET variable appened at the end. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

DLLDESTDIR

Specifies where to copy the target dll.

DISTFILES

This variable contains a list of files to be included in the dist target. This feature is supported by UnixMake specs only.

For example:

DISTFILES += ../program.txt

DSP_TEMPLATE

This variable is set internally by qmake, which specifies where the dsp template file for basing generated dsp files is stored. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

FORMS

This variable specifies the UI files (see Qt Designer) to be processed through 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

If FORMS3 is defined in your project, then this variable must contain forms for uic, and not uic3. If CONFIG contains uic3, and FORMS3 is not defined, the this variable must contain only uic3 type forms.

FORMS3

This variable specifies the old style UI files to be processed through uic3 before compiling, when CONFIG contains uic3. All dependencies, headers and source files required to build these UI files will automatically be added to the project.

For example:

FORMS3 = my_uic3_dialog.ui \
     my_uic3_widget.ui \
         my_uic3_config.ui

GUID

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.

HEADERS

Defines the header files for the project.

qmake will generate dependency information (unless -nodepend is specified on the command line) for the specified headers. qmake will also automatically detect if moc is required by the classes in these headers, and add 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.

ICON

This variable is used only in MAC and the Symbian platform to set the application icon. Please see the application icon documentation for more information.

INCLUDEPATH

This variable 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 mentioned in the qmake Project Files document.

win32:INCLUDEPATH += "C:/mylibs/extra headers"
unix:INCLUDEPATH += "/home/user/extra headers"

INSTALLS

This variable contains 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

Note that qmake will skip files that are executable. If you need to install executable files, you can unset the files' executable flags.

Note that qmake will skip files that are executable. If you need to install executable files, you can unset the files' executable flags.

LEXIMPLS

This variable contains 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.

LEXOBJECTS

This variable contains the names of intermediate lex object files.The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake and rarely needs to be modified.

LEXSOURCES

This variable contains 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

LIBS

This variable contains a list of libraries to be linked into the project. You can use the Unix -l (library) and -L (library path) flags and qmake will do the correct thing with these libraries on Windows and the Symbian platform (namely this means passing the full path of the library to the linker). The only limitation to this is the library must exist, for qmake to find which directory a -l lib lives in.

For example:

unix:LIBS += -L/usr/local/lib -lmath
win32:LIBS += c:/mylibs/math.lib

Note: On Windows, specifying libraries with the -l option will cause the library with the highest version number to be used. For example, math2.lib could potentially be used instead of math.lib. To avoid this ambiguity, we recommend that you explicitly specify the library to be used by including the .lib file name suffix, as in the example above.

To specify a path containing spaces, quote the path using the technique mentioned in the qmake Project Files document.

win32:LIBS += "C:/mylibs/extra libs/extra.lib"
unix:LIBS += "-L/home/user/extra libs" -lextra

Note: On the Symbian platform, the build system makes a distinction between shared and static libraries. In most cases, qmake will figure out which library you are refering to, but in some cases you may have to specify it explicitly to get the expected behavior. This typically happens if you are building a library and using it in the same project. To specify that the library is either shared or static, add a ".dll" or ".lib" suffix, respectively, to the library name.

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

LITERAL_HASH

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 $$LITERAL_HASH variable:
urlPieces = http://qt.nokia.com/doc/4.0/qtextdocument.html pageCount
message($$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.

MAKEFILE

This variable specifies the name of the Makefile which qmake should use when outputting the dependency information for building a project. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

Note: On the Symbian platform, this variable is ignored.

Note: On the Symbian platform, this variable is ignored.

MAKEFILE_GENERATOR

This variable contains 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.

MMP_RULES

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Generic MMP file content can be specified with this variable.

For example:

MMP_RULES += "DEFFILE hello.def"

This will add the specified statement to the end of the generated MMP file.

It is also possible to add multiple rows in a single block. Each double quoted string will be placed on a new row in the generated MMP file.

For example:

myBlock = \
"START RESOURCE foo.rss" \
"TARGET bar" \
"TARGETPATH private\10001234" \
"HEADER" \
"LANG 01" \
"UID 0x10002345 0x10003456" \
"END"

MMP_RULES += myBlock

If you need to include a hash (#) character inside the MMP_RULES statement, it can be done with the variable LITERAL_HASH as follows:

myIfdefBlock = \
"$${LITERAL_HASH}ifdef WINSCW" \
"DEFFILE hello_winscw.def" \
"$${LITERAL_HASH}endif"

MMP_RULES += myIfdefBlock

There is also a convenience function for adding conditional rules called addMMPRules. Suppose you need certain functionality to require different library depending on architecture. This can be specified with addMMPRules as follows:

# Set conditional libraries
LIB.MARM = "LIBRARY myarm.lib"
LIB.WINSCW = "LIBRARY mywinscw.lib"
LIB.default = "LIBRARY mydefault.lib"

# Add the conditional MMP rules
MYCONDITIONS = MARM WINSCW
MYVARIABLES = LIB

addMMPRules(MYCONDITIONS, MYVARIABLES)

Note: You should not use this variable to add MMP statements that are explicitly supported by their own variables, such as TARGET.EPOCSTACKSIZE. Doing so could result in duplicate statements in the MMP file.

Note: Content specified using MMP_RULES is inserted as-is into the MMP file, so any rules that specify host side paths may not work correctly when doing a shadow build.

MOC_DIR

This variable specifies the directory where all intermediate moc files should be placed.

For example:

unix:MOC_DIR = ../myproject/tmp
win32:MOC_DIR = c:/myproject/tmp

OBJECTS

This variable is generated from the SOURCES variable. The extension of each source file will have been replaced by .o (Unix) or .obj (Win32). The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

OBJECTS_DIR

This variable specifies the directory where all intermediate objects should be placed.

For example:

unix:OBJECTS_DIR = ../myproject/tmp
win32:OBJECTS_DIR = c:/myproject/tmp

OBJMOC

This variable is set by qmake if files can be found that contain the Q_OBJECT macro. OBJMOC contains the name of all intermediate moc object files. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

POST_TARGETDEPS

All libraries that the target depends on can be listed in this variable. Some backends do not support this, these include MSVC Dsp, and ProjectBuilder .pbproj files. Generally this is supported internally by these build tools, this is useful for explicitly listing dependant static libraries.

This list will go after all builtin (and $$PRE_TARGETDEPS) dependencies.

PRE_TARGETDEPS

All libraries that the target depends on can be listed in this variable. Some backends do not support this, these include MSVC Dsp, and ProjectBuilder .pbproj files. Generally this is supported internally by these build tools, this is useful for explicitly listing dependant static libraries.

This list will go before all builtin dependencies.

PRECOMPILED_HEADER

This variable 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, Mac OS X - Xcode, Makefile, Unix - gcc 3.3 and up).

On other platforms, this variable has different meaning, as noted below.

This variable contains a list of header files that require some sort of pre-compilation step (such as with moc). The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

PWD

The PWD variable 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: IN_PWD is an alias for PWD.

Note: Function calls have no effect on the value of PWD. PWD will refer to the path of the calling file.

OUT_PWD

This variable contains the full path leading to the directory where qmake places the generated Makefile.

QMAKE

This variable contains 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.

QMAKESPEC

This variable contains the name of the qmake configuration to use when generating Makefiles. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake and rarely needs to be modified.

Use the QMAKESPEC environment variable to override the qmake configuration. Note that, due to the way qmake reads project files, setting the QMAKESPEC environment variable from within a project file will have no effect.

QMAKE_APP_FLAG

This variable is empty unless the app TEMPLATE is specified. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified. Use the following instead:

app {
    # Conditional code for 'app' template here
}

QMAKE_APP_OR_DLL

This variable is empty unless the app or dll TEMPLATE is specified. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_AR_CMD

This is used on Unix platforms only.

This variable contains the command for invoking the program which creates, modifies and extracts archives. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_BUNDLE_DATA

This variable is used to hold 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 qmake Platform Notes for more information about creating library bundles.

This is used on Mac OS X only.

QMAKE_BUNDLE_EXTENSION

This variable defines 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

This is used on Mac OS X only.

QMAKE_CC

This variable 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.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG

This variable contains the flags for the C compiler in debug mode. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_MT

This variable contains the compiler flags for creating a multi-threaded application or when the version of Qt that you link against is a multi-threaded statically linked library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_MT_DBG

This variable contains the compiler flags for creating a debuggable multi-threaded application or when the version of Qt that you link against is a debuggable multi-threaded statically linked library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_MT_DLL

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains the compiler flags for creating a multi-threaded dll or when the version of Qt that you link against is a multi-threaded dll. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_MT_DLLDBG

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains the compiler flags for creating a debuggable multi-threaded dll or when the version of Qt that you link against is a debuggable multi-threaded statically linked library. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE

This variable contains the compiler flags for creating a non-debuggable application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_SHLIB

This is used on Unix platforms only.

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_THREAD

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_OFF

This variable is not empty if the warn_off CONFIG option is specified. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_ON

This variable is not empty if the warn_on CONFIG option is specified. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CLEAN

This variable contains any files which are not generated files (such as moc and uic generated files) and object files that should be removed when using "make clean".

QMAKE_CXX

This variable 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.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS

This variable contains the C++ compiler flags that are used when 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.

Note: On the Symbian platform, this variable can be used to pass architecture specific options to each compiler in the Symbian build system. For example:

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS.CW += -O2
QMAKE_CXXFLAGS.ARMCC += -O0

For more information, see qmake Platform Notes.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_DEBUG

This variable contains the C++ compiler flags for creating a debuggable application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_MT

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_MT_DBG

This variable contains the C++ compiler flags for creating a debuggable multi-threaded application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmakeor qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_MT_DLL

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains the C++ compiler flags for creating a multi-threaded dll. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_MT_DLLDBG

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains the C++ compiler flags for creating a multi-threaded debuggable dll. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE

This variable contains the C++ compiler flags for creating an application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_SHLIB

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_THREAD

This variable contains the C++ compiler flags for creating a multi-threaded application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmakeor qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_WARN_OFF

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_WARN_ON

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_DISTCLEAN

This variable removes extra files upon the invocation of make distclean.

QMAKE_EXTENSION_SHLIB

This variable contains the extention for shared libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

Note that platform-specific variables that change the extension will override the contents of this variable.

QMAKE_EXT_MOC

This variable changes the extention used on included moc files.

See also File Extensions.

QMAKE_EXT_UI

This variable changes the extention used on /e Designer UI files.

See also File Extensions.

QMAKE_EXT_PRL

This variable changes the extention used on created PRL files.

See also File Extensions, Library Dependencies.

QMAKE_EXT_LEX

This variable changes the extention used on files given to lex.

See also File Extensions, LEXSOURCES.

QMAKE_EXT_YACC

This variable changes the extention used on files given to yacc.

See also File Extensions, YACCSOURCES.

QMAKE_EXT_OBJ

This variable changes the extention used on generated object files.

See also File Extensions.

QMAKE_EXT_CPP

This variable changes the interpretation of all suffixes in this list of values as files of type C++ source code.

See also File Extensions.

QMAKE_EXT_H

This variable changes the interpretation of all suffixes in this list of values as files of type C header files.

See also File Extensions.

QMAKE_EXTRA_COMPILERS

This variable contains the extra compilers/preprocessors that have been added

See also Customizing Makefile Output

QMAKE_EXTRA_TARGETS

This variable contains the extra targets that have been added

See also Customizing Makefile Output

QMAKE_FAILED_REQUIREMENTS

This variable contains the list of requirements that were failed to be met when qmake was used. For example, the sql module is needed and wasn't compiled into Qt. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_FILETAGS

This variable contains the file tags needed to be entered into the Makefile, such as SOURCES and HEADERS. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_FRAMEWORK_BUNDLE_NAME

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 qmake Platform Notes for more information about creating frameworks and library bundles.

This is used on Mac OS X only.

QMAKE_FRAMEWORK_VERSION

For projects where the build target is a Mac OS X 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 qmake Platform Notes for more information about creating frameworks.

This is used on Mac OS X only.

QMAKE_INCDIR

This variable contains the location of all known header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building an application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_INCDIR_EGL

This variable contains the location of EGL header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building an application 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.

QMAKE_INCDIR_OPENGL

This variable contains the location of OpenGL header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building an application 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.

QMAKE_INCDIR_OPENGL_ES1, QMAKE_INCDIR_OPENGL_ES2

These variables contain the location of OpenGL headers files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building an application with OpenGL ES 1 or OpenGL ES 2 support respectively.

The value of this variable is typically handled by l{qmake Manual#qmake}{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.

QMAKE_INCDIR_OPENVG

This variable contains the location of OpenVG header files to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building an application 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.

QMAKE_INCDIR_QT

This variable contains the location of all known header file paths to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building a Qt application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_INCDIR_THREAD

This variable contains the location of all known header file paths to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building a multi-threaded application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_INCDIR_X11

This is used on Unix platforms only.

This variable contains the location of X11 header file paths to be added to INCLUDEPATH when building a X11 application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_INFO_PLIST

This is used on Mac OS X platforms only.

This variable contains the name of the property list file, .plist, you would like to include in your Mac OS X application bundle.

In the .plist file, you can define some variables, e.g., @EXECUTABLE@, which qmake will replace with the actual executable name. Other variables include @ICON@, @TYPEINFO@, @LIBRARY@, and @SHORT_VERSION@.

Note: Most of the time, the default Info.plist is good enough.

QMAKE_LFLAGS

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_CONSOLE

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains link flags when building console programs. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_CONSOLE_DLL

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains link flags when building console dlls. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_DEBUG

This variable contains link flags when building debuggable applications. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_PLUGIN

This variable contains link flags when building plugins. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_RPATH

This is used on Unix platforms only.

Library paths in this definition are added to the executable at link time so that the added paths will be preferentially searched at runtime.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_QT_DLL

This variable contains link flags when building programs that use the Qt library built as a dll. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_RELEASE

This variable contains link flags when building applications for release. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_SHAPP

This variable contains link flags when building applications which are using the app template. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_SHLIB

This variable contains link flags when building shared libraries The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_SONAME

This variable specifies the link flags to set 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.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_THREAD

This variable contains link flags when building multi-threaded projects. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_WINDOWS

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains link flags when building Windows GUI projects (i.e. non-console applications). The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LFLAGS_WINDOWS_DLL

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains link flags when building Windows DLL projects. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBDIR

This variable contains the location of all known library directories. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBDIR_FLAGS

This is used on Unix platforms only.

This variable contains the location of all library directory with -L prefixed. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBDIR_EGL

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LIBDIR_OPENGL

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LIBDIR_OPENVG

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LIBDIR_QT

This variable contains the location of the Qt library directory. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBDIR_X11

This is used on Unix platforms only.

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LIBS

This variable contains all project libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_CONSOLE

This Windows-specific variable is no longer used.

Prior to Qt 4.2, this variable was used to list the libraries that should be linked against when building a console application project on Windows. QMAKE_LIBS_WINDOW should now be used instead.

QMAKE_LIBS_EGL

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LIBS_OPENGL

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LIBS_OPENGL_QT

This variable contains all OpenGL Qt libraries.The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_OPENGL_ES1, QMAKE_LIBS_OPENGL_ES2

These variables contain 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.

QMAKE_LIBS_OPENVG

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LIBS_QT

This variable contains all Qt libraries.The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_QT_DLL

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains all Qt libraries when Qt is built as a dll. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_QT_OPENGL

This variable contains all the libraries needed to link against if OpenGL support is turned on. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_QT_THREAD

This variable contains all the libraries needed to link against if thread support is turned on. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_RT

This is used with Borland compilers only.

This variable contains the runtime library needed to link against when building an application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_RTMT

This is used with Borland compilers only.

This variable contains the runtime library needed to link against when building a multi-threaded application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_THREAD

This is used on Unix and Symbian platforms only.

This variable contains all libraries that need to be linked against when building a multi-threaded application. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_WINDOWS

This is used on Windows only.

This variable contains all windows libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_X11

This is used on Unix platforms only.

This variable contains all X11 libraries.The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIBS_X11SM

This is used on Unix platforms only.

This variable contains all X11 session management libraries. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_LIB_FLAG

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.

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_LN_SHLIB

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_POST_LINK

This variable contains the command to execute after linking the TARGET together. This variable is normally empty and therefore nothing is executed, additionally some backends will not support this - mostly only Makefile backends.

This variable contains the command to execute before linking the TARGET together. This variable is normally empty and therefore nothing is executed, additionally some backends will not support this - mostly only Makefile backends.

QMAKE_PROJECT_NAME

This is used for Visual Studio project files only.

This variable 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.

QMAKE_MAC_SDK

This variable is used on Mac OS X when building universal binaries. This process is described in more detail in the Deploying an Application on Mac OS X document.

QMAKE_MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET

This variable only has an effect when building on Mac OS X. On that platform, the variable will be forwarded to the MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET environment variable, which is interpreted by the compiler or linker. For more information, see the Deploying an Application on Mac OS X document.

QMAKE_MAKEFILE

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_MOC_SRC

This variable contains the names of all moc source files to generate and include in the project. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_QMAKE

This variable contains the location of qmake if it is not in the path. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_QT_DLL

This variable is not empty if Qt was built as a dll. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

QMAKE_RESOURCE_FLAGS

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

QMAKE_RPATH

This is used on Unix platforms only.

Is equivalent to QMAKE_LFLAGS_RPATH.

QMAKE_RPATHDIR

This is used on Unix platforms only.

A list of library directory paths, these paths are added to the executable at link time so that the paths will be preferentially searched at runtime.

QMAKE_RUN_CC

This variable 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.

QMAKE_RUN_CC_IMP

This variable 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.

QMAKE_RUN_CXX

This variable 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.

QMAKE_RUN_CXX_IMP

This variable 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.

QMAKE_TARGET

This variable contains 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.

QMAKE_UIC

This variable contains the location of uic if it is not in the path. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

It can be used to specify arguments to uic as well, such as additional plugin paths. For example:

QMAKE_UIC = uic -L /path/to/plugin

QT

The values stored in the QT variable control which of the Qt modules are used by your project.

The table below shows the options that can be used with the QT variable and the features that are associated with each of them:

OptionFeatures
core (included by default)QtCore module
gui (included by default)QtGui module
networkQtNetwork module
openglQtOpenGL module
phononPhonon Multimedia Framework
sqlQtSql module
svgQtSvg module
xmlQtXml module
webkitWebKit integration
qt3supportQt3Support module

By default, QT contains both core and gui, ensuring that standard GUI applications can be built without further configuration.

If you want to build a project without the QtGui 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.

Note that adding the opengl option to the QT variable automatically causes the equivalent option to be added to the CONFIG variable. Therefore, for Qt applications, it is not necessary to add the opengl option to both CONFIG and QT.

QTPLUGIN

This variable contains a list of names of static plugins that are to be compiled with an application so that they are available as built-in resources.

QT_VERSION

This variable contains the current version of Qt.

QT_MAJOR_VERSION

This variable contains the current major version of Qt.

QT_MINOR_VERSION

This variable contains the current minor version of Qt.

QT_PATCH_VERSION

This variable contains the current patch version of Qt.

RC_FILE

This variable contains 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.

RCC_DIR

This variable specifies the directory where all intermediate resource files should be placed.

For example:

unix:RCC_DIR = ../myproject/resources
win32:RCC_DIR = c:/myproject/resources

REQUIRES

This is a special variable processed by qmake. If the contents of this variable do not appear in CONFIG by the time this variable is assigned, then a minimal Makefile will be generated that states what dependencies (the values assigned to REQUIRES) are missing.

This is mainly used in Qt's build system for building the examples.

RESOURCES

This variable contains the name of the resource collection file (qrc) for the application. Further information about the resource collection file can be found at The Qt Resource System.

RES_FILE

This variable contains 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.

RSS_RULES

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Generic RSS file content can be specified with this variable. The syntax is similar to MMP_RULES and BLD_INF_RULES.

For example:

RSS_RULES += "hidden = KAppIsHidden;"

This will add the specified statement to the end of the APP_REGISTRATION_INFO resource struct in the generated registration resource file. As an impact of this statement, the application will not be visible in application shell.

It is also possible to add multiple rows in a single block. Each double quoted string will be placed on a new row in the registration resource file.

For example:

myrssrules = \
    "hidden = KAppIsHidden;" \
    "launch = KAppLaunchInBackground;" \
RSS_RULES += myrssrules

This example will install the application to MyFolder in the Symbian platform application shell. In addition it will make the application to be launched in background.

From S60 version 5.4 onwards, you can specify graphics_memory value using RSS_RULES to specify the graphics memory quota for the application. The value is in kilobytes and defaults to 24576 (i.e. 24MB) for applications that link against QtGui. The default for all other applications is zero.

The graphics memory quota tells the operating system how much graphics memory the application is likely to need so that it can free up enough graphics memory prior to application launch. If the value is too small, it can cause random slowdowns later when the memory is freed on on-demand basis. On the other hand, too large values can delay the application launch unnecessarily.

For example:

RSS_RULES += "graphics_memory=12288;"

This example sets the graphics memory quota to 12MB.

For detailed list of possible APP_REGISTRATION_INFO statements, please refer to the Symbian platform help.

Note: You should not use RSS_RULES variable to set the following RSS statements: app_file, localisable_resource_file, and localisable_resource_id.

These statements are internally handled by qmake.

There is a number of special modifiers you can attach to RSS_RULES to specify where in the application registration file the rule will be written:

ModifierLocation of the rule
<no modifier>Inside APP_REGISTRATION_INFO resource struct.
.headerBefore APP_REGISTRATION_INFO resource struct.
.footerAfter APP_REGISTRATION_INFO resource struct.
.service_listInside a SERVICE_INFO item in the service_list of APP_REGISTRATION_INFO
.file_ownership_listInside a FILE_OWNERSHIP_INFO item in the file_ownership_list of APP_REGISTRATION_INFO
.datatype_listInside a DATATYPE item in the datatype_list of APP_REGISTRATION_INFO

For example:

RSS_RULES.service_list += "uid = 0x12345678; datatype_list = \{\}; opaque_data = r_my_icon;"
RSS_RULES.footer +="RESOURCE CAPTION_AND_ICON_INFO r_my_icon \{ icon_file =\"$$PWD/my_icon.svg\"; \}"

This example will define service information for a fictional service that requires an icon to be supplied via the opaque_data of the service information.

S60_VERSION

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Contains the version number of the underlying S60 SDK; e.g. "5.0".

SIGNATURE_FILE

This is only used on Windows CE.

Specifies which signature file should be used to sign the project target.

Note: This variable will overwrite the setting you have specified in configure, with the -signature option.

SOURCES

This variable contains the name of all source files in the project.

For example:

SOURCES = myclass.cpp \
      login.cpp \
      mainwindow.cpp

See also HEADERS

SRCMOC

This variable is set by qmake if files can be found that contain the Q_OBJECT macro. SRCMOC contains the name of all the generated moc files. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

SUBDIRS

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:

ModifierEffect
.subdirUse the specified subdirectory instead of SUBDIRS value.
.fileSpecify the subproject pro file explicitly. Cannot be used in conjunction with .subdir modifier.
.conditionSpecifies a bld.inf define that must be true for subproject to be built. Available only on Symbian platform.
.dependsThis subproject depends on specified subproject. Available only on platforms that use makefiles.
.makefileThe makefile of subproject. Available only on platforms that use makefiles.
.targetBase 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

For example, define a subdirectory that is only build for emulator builds in Qt for Symbian:

symbian {
    SUBDIRS += emulator_dll
    emulator_dll.condition = WINSCW
}

Ordered Targets and Visual Studio Solution Files

The ordered option is not supported for Visual Studio. The following list describes how you can get around without it--dependencies are generated automatically if:

  • 1a) There is a Lib/DLL project of which TARGET (the .lib is used and not the .dll) is used on the link line of another project in your solution (you can modify the link line with LIBS).
  • 1b) There is an Exe project of which TARGET is used in a custom build-step of another project in your solution.
  • 2) You don't use paths in the TARGET variable (use DESTDIR/DLLDESTDIR for that), e.g, TARGET=$(SOME_VARIABLE)/myLib, won't work.
  • 3) If you have a special location for your libs, you specify the -Lmy/library/path and LIBS += mylib, instead of just using LIBS += my/library/path/mylib
  • 4) The leaf projects are created before you generate the solution file. (You can use the recursive flag for qmake to do this, like "qmake -tp vc -r [yourproject.pro]"

SYMBIAN_VERSION

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Contains the version number of the underlying Symbian SDK; e.g. "9.2" or "Symbian3".

TARGET

This specifies the name of the target file.

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.

TARGET.CAPABILITY

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies which platform capabilities the application should have. These include the following basic capabilities, but others are also available for signed applications.

CapabilityDescription
LocalServicesThe ability to use local services running on the phone or device, including those which provide local connectivity to other devices.
LocationAccess to the service that provides information about the user's location, from GPS, phone network, or other sources.
NetworkServicesUse of services that access the phone network, such as dialling a phone number, sending an SMS, or other operations that result in network traffic.
ReadUserDataAccess to the user's private data, such as contact information.
UserEnvironmentThe ability to use services that provide from the user's physical environment, such as the camera or microphone.
WriteUserDataThe ability to write or modify the user's private data.

For more information, and a comprehensive list of capabilities, please refer to the Symbian SDK documentation or the Symbian Capabilities page of the Forum Nokia Wiki.

TARGET.EPOCALLOWDLLDATA

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies whether static data should be allowed in the application. Symbian disallows this by default in order to save memory. To use it, set this to 1.

TARGET.EPOCHEAPSIZE

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies the minimum and maximum heap size of the application. The program will refuse to run if the minimum size is not available when it starts. For example:

TARGET.EPOCHEAPSIZE = 10000 10000000

TARGET.EPOCSTACKSIZE

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies the maximum stack size of the application. For example:

TARGET.EPOCSTACKSIZE = 0x8000

TARGET.SID

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies which secure identifier to use for the target application or library. For more information, see the Symbian SDK documentation.

TARGET.UID2

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies which unique identifier 2 to use for the target application or library. If this variable is not specified, it defaults to the same value as TARGET.UID3. For more information, see the Symbian SDK documentation.

TARGET.UID3

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies which unique identifier 3 to use for the target application or library. If this variable is not specified, a UID3 suitable for development and debugging will be generated automatically. However, applications being released should always define this variable. For more information, see the Symbian SDK documentation.

TARGET.VID

This is only used on the Symbian platform.

Specifies which vendor identifier to use for the target application or library. For more information, see the Symbian SDK documentation.

TARGET_EXT

This variable specifies the target's extension. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

TARGET_x

This variable specifies the target's extension with a major version number. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

TARGET_x.y.z

This variable specifies the target's extension with version number. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

TEMPLATE

This variable contains the name of the template to use when generating the project. The allowed values are:

OptionDescription
appCreates a Makefile for building applications (the default). (See qmake Common Projects for more information.)
libCreates a Makefile for building libraries. (See qmake Common Projects for more information.)
subdirsCreates a Makefile for building targets in subdirectories. The subdirectories are specified using the SUBDIRS variable.
vcappWindows only Creates an application project for Visual Studio. (See qmake Platform Notes for more information.)
vclibWindows only Creates a library project for Visual Studio. (See qmake Platform Notes for more information.)

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.

TRANSLATIONS

This variable contains 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.

UICIMPLS

This variable contains a list of the generated implementation files by UIC. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

UICOBJECTS

This variable is generated from the UICIMPLS variable. The extension of each file will have been replaced by .o (Unix) or .obj (Win32). The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

UI_DIR

This variable specifies the directory where all intermediate files from uic should be placed. This variable overrides both UI_SOURCES_DIR and UI_HEADERS_DIR.

For example:

unix:UI_DIR = ../myproject/ui
win32:UI_DIR = c:/myproject/ui

UI_HEADERS_DIR

This variable specifies the directory where all declaration files (as generated by uic) should be placed.

For example:

unix:UI_HEADERS_DIR = ../myproject/ui/include
win32:UI_HEADERS_DIR = c:/myproject/ui/include

UI_SOURCES_DIR

This variable specifies the directory where all implementation files (as generated by uic) should be placed.

For example:

unix:UI_SOURCES_DIR = ../myproject/ui/src
win32:UI_SOURCES_DIR = c:/myproject/ui/src

VERSION

This variable contains the version number of the application or library if either the app TEMPLATE or the lib TEMPLATE is specified.

For example:

VERSION = 1.2.3

VER_MAJ

This variable contains the major version number of the library, if the lib template is specified.

VER_MIN

This variable contains the minor version number of the library, if the lib template is specified.

VER_PAT

This variable contains the patch version number of the library, if the lib template is specified.

VPATH

This variable tells qmake where to search for files it cannot open. With this you may tell qmake where it may look for things like SOURCES, and if it finds an entry in SOURCES that cannot be opened it will look through the entire VPATH list to see if it can find the file on its own.

See also DEPENDPATH.

YACCIMPLS

This variable contains a list of yacc source files. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

YACCOBJECTS

This variable contains a list of yacc object files. The value of this variable is typically handled by qmake or qmake.conf and rarely needs to be modified.

YACCSOURCES

This variable contains 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

_PRO_FILE_

This variable 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_)

_PRO_FILE_PWD_

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_)

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