Qt static linking and deployment

by

I wrote a guide to static linking

and
How to build Qt static with multiple compilers and keep it small

(because it can get pretty big, especially for simple programs).
You may also want to check out the BitRock installer, which is free for open source projects.

In short, it turns out to be a little more complex if you are using anything Qt thinks of as a plugin, such as support for most image types (JPEG, GIF) or databases.
For example, if you want to include support for Oracle DBMS and GIF images for your icons, you add the following to your .PRO file:

QTPLUGIN += qsqloci qgif
CONFIG += static

You will then need to:

#include <QtPlugin>

in your project, and import any plugins used. You need to change these settings back order to get it to compile with dynamic linking again (like when debugging or adding features), though this can be easily automated. There are also considerations when building the Qt libraries for use with static linking, though the Qt instructions will at least get you started.

More Related Contents:

  1. Deploying Qt 5 App on Windows
  2. Hide console of Windows Application
  3. How to deploy a Qt application on Windows?
  4. Automatic rescaling of an application on high-dpi Windows platform?
  5. Qt 5.0 program runs in QtCreator but not outside
  6. Should I redistribute msvcrt.dll with my application?
  7. How to show another window from mainwindow in QT
  8. Why does my Qt 4.5 app open a console window under Windows?
  9. How to install Qt on Windows after building?
  10. OpenSSL and multi-threads
  11. Is there a command to refresh environment variables from the command prompt in Windows?
  12. Can Windows’ built-in ZIP compression be scripted?
  13. Faking an RS232 Serial Port
  14. Prerequisites for learning MFC programming [closed]
  15. Run Windows 10 Universal Apps on Windows 8.1
  16. Hosting Git Repository in Windows
  17. What is the smallest possible Windows (PE) executable?
  18. Register Windows program with the mailto protocol programmatically
  19. ^M at the end of every line in vim
  20. Delete files or folder recursively on Windows CMD
  21. How do I install just the client tools for PostgreSQL on Windows?
  22. Delete all files and folders in a directory
  23. Access a localhost running in Windows from inside WSL2? [closed]
  24. Accessing a single file with multiple threads
  25. Powershell script does not run via Scheduled Tasks
  26. Foolproof way to check for nonzero (error) return code in windows batch file
  27. ERRORLEVEL vs %ERRORLEVEL% vs exclamation mark ERRORLEVEL exclamation mark
  28. Create a list or an array and print each item in Windows Batch
  29. What are these strange environment variables?
  30. WSL run linux from windows without spawning a cmd-window

Leave a Comment