C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4

B. Building Qt Applications

• Using qmake
• Using Third-Party Build Tools

Building Qt applications is greatly simplified by the use of a build tool. Three options are open to us: We can use the qmake tool supplied with Qt, we can use a third-party build tool, or we can use an integrated development environment (IDE).

The qmake tool generates a platform-specific makefile from a platform-neutral .pro file. The tool has the necessary logic to invoke Qt’s code-generating tools (moc, uic, and rcc) built-in. We have used qmake for all the examples in the book, in most cases using relatively simple .pro files. In fact, qmake provides a rich range of features including the ability to create makefiles that recursively invoke other makefiles and to switch ...