Qt for Linux/X11 - Building from Source

You can download the Qt sources from the Downloads page. For more information, visit the Getting Started with Qt page.

Qt for X11 has some requirements that are given in more detail in the Qt for X11 Requirements document.

Distribution packagers can find information how to package Qt in the packaging recommendations.

Step 1: Unpacking the Archive

Unpack the archive if you have not done so already. For example, if you have the qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%.tar.gz package, type the following commands at a command line prompt:

 cd /tmp
 gunzip qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%.tar.gz        # uncompress the archive
 tar xvf qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%.tar          # unpack it

This creates the directory /tmp/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION% containing the files from the archive. We only support the GNU version of the tar archiving utility. Note that on some systems it is called gtar.

Step 2: Build the Qt Library

To configure the Qt library for your machine type, run the ./configure script in the package directory.

By default, Qt is configured for installation in the /usr/local/Qt-%VERSION% directory, but this can be changed by using the -prefix option.

The Configure Options page contains more information about the configure options.

 cd /tmp/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-%VERSION%
 ./configure

The Configure Options page contains more information about the configure options.

To create the library and compile all the examples, tools, and tutorials, type:

 cmake --build . --parallel

If -prefix is outside the build directory, you need to install the library, examples, tools, and tutorials in the appropriate place. To do this (as root if necessary), type:

 cmake --install .

Note that on some systems the make utility is named differently, like gmake. The configure script tells you which make utility to use.

Note: Later, if you need to reconfigure and rebuild Qt from the same location, ensure that all traces of the previous configuration are removed. To do so, from the build directory, type make confclean before running configure again.

Step 3: Set the Environment Variables

To use Qt, some environment variables need to be extended.

 PATH               - to locate qmake, moc and other Qt tools

This is done as follows:

In .profile (if your shell is bash, ksh, zsh or sh), add the following lines:

 PATH=/usr/local/Qt-%VERSION%/bin:$PATH
 export PATH

In .login (if your shell is csh or tcsh), add the following line:

 setenv PATH /usr/local/Qt-%VERSION%/bin:$PATH

If you use a different shell, modify your environment variables accordingly.

For compilers that do not support rpath you must also extend the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to include /usr/local/Qt-%VERSION%/lib. On Linux with GCC this step is not needed.