Usage: configure [options] [assignments]
Configure understands variable assignments like VAR=value on the command line.
Each uppercased library name (obtainable with -list-libraries) supports the
suffixes _INCDIR, _LIBDIR, _PREFIX (INCDIR=PREFIX/include, LIBDIR=PREFIX/lib),
_LIBS, and - on Windows and Darwin - _LIBS_DEBUG and _LIBS_RELEASE. E.g.,
ICU_PREFIX=/opt/icu42 ICU_LIBS="-licui18n -licuuc -licudata".
It is also possible to manipulate any QMAKE_* variable, to amend the values
from the mkspec for the build of Qt itself, e.g., QMAKE_CXXFLAGS+=-g3.
Note that the *_LIBS* and QMAKE_* assignments manipulate lists, so items
containing meta characters (spaces in particular) need to be quoted according
to qmake rules. On top of that, the assignments as a whole need to be quoted
according to shell rules. It is recommended to use single quotes for the inner
quoting and double quotes for the outer quoting.
Top-level installation directories:
-prefix
...... The deployment directory, as seen on the target device.
[/usr/local/Qt-$QT_VERSION; qtbase build directory if
-developer-build]
-extprefix ... The installation directory, as seen on the host machine.
[SYSROOT/PREFIX]
-hostprefix [dir] .. The installation directory for build tools running on
the host machine. If [dir] is not given, the current
build directory will be used. [EXTPREFIX]
-external-hostbindir ... Path to Qt tools built for this machine.
Use this when -platform does not match the current
system, i.e., to make a Canadian Cross Build.
Fine tuning of installation directory layout. Note that all directories
except -sysconfdir should be located under -prefix/-hostprefix:
-bindir ......... Executables [PREFIX/bin]
-headerdir ...... Header files [PREFIX/include]
-libdir ......... Libraries [PREFIX/lib]
-archdatadir .... Arch-dependent data [PREFIX]
-plugindir ...... Plugins [ARCHDATADIR/plugins]
-libexecdir ..... Helper programs [ARCHDATADIR/bin on Windows,
ARCHDATADIR/libexec otherwise]
-importdir ...... QML1 imports [ARCHDATADIR/imports]
-qmldir ......... QML2 imports [ARCHDATADIR/qml]
-datadir ........ Arch-independent data [PREFIX]
-docdir ......... Documentation [DATADIR/doc]
-translationdir . Translations [DATADIR/translations]
-sysconfdir ..... Settings used by Qt programs [PREFIX/etc/xdg]
-examplesdir .... Examples [PREFIX/examples]
-testsdir ....... Tests [PREFIX/tests]
-hostbindir ..... Host executables [HOSTPREFIX/bin]
-hostlibdir ..... Host libraries [HOSTPREFIX/lib]
-hostdatadir .... Data used by qmake [HOSTPREFIX]
Conventions for the remaining options: When an option's description is
followed by a list of values in brackets, the interpretation is as follows:
'yes' represents the bare option; all other values are possible prefixes to
the option, e.g., -no-gui. Alternatively, the value can be assigned, e.g.,
--gui=yes. Values are listed in the order they are tried if not specified;
'auto' is a shorthand for 'yes/no'. Solitary 'yes' and 'no' represent binary
options without auto-detection.
Configure meta:
-help, -h ............ Display this help screen
-verbose, -v ......... Print verbose messages during configuration
-continue ............ Continue configure despite errors
-redo ................ Re-configure with previously used options.
Additional options may be passed, but will not be
saved for later use by -redo.
-recheck [test,...] .. Discard cached negative configure test results.
Use this after installing missing dependencies.
Alternatively, if tests are specified, only their
results are discarded.
-recheck-all ......... Discard all cached configure test results.
-feature- ... Enable
-no-feature- Disable [none]
-list-features ....... List available features. Note that some features
have dedicated command line options as well.
-list-libraries ...... List possible external dependencies.
Build options:
-opensource .......... Build the Open-Source Edition of Qt
-commercial .......... Build the Commercial Edition of Qt
-confirm-license ..... Automatically acknowledge the license
-release ............. Build Qt with debugging turned off [yes]
-debug ............... Build Qt with debugging turned on [no]
-debug-and-release ... Build two versions of Qt, with and without
debugging turned on [yes] (Apple and Windows only)
-optimize-debug ...... Enable debug-friendly optimizations in debug builds
[auto] (Not supported with MSVC or Clang toolchains)
-optimize-size ....... Optimize release builds for size instead of speed [no]
-optimized-tools ..... Build optimized host tools even in debug build [no]
-force-debug-info .... Create symbol files for release builds [no]
-separate-debug-info . Split off debug information to separate files [no]
-gdb-index ........... Index the debug info to speed up GDB
[no; auto if -developer-build with debug info]
-strip ............... Strip release binaries of unneeded symbols [yes]
-gc-binaries ......... Place each function or data item into its own section
and enable linker garbage collection of unused
sections. [auto for static builds, otherwise no]
-force-asserts ....... Enable Q_ASSERT even in release builds [no]
-developer-build ..... Compile and link Qt for developing Qt itself
(exports for auto-tests, extra checks, etc.) [no]
-shared .............. Build shared Qt libraries [yes] (no for UIKit)
-static .............. Build static Qt libraries [no] (yes for UIKit)
-framework ........... Build Qt framework bundles [yes] (Apple only)
-platform ... Select host mkspec [detected]
-xplatform .. Select target mkspec when cross-compiling [PLATFORM]
-device ....... Cross-compile for device
-device-option ... Add option for the device mkspec
-appstore-compliant .. Disable code that is not allowed in platform app stores.
This is on by default for platforms which require distribution
through an app store by default, in particular Android,
iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and Universal Windows Platform. [auto]
-qtnamespace .. Wrap all Qt library code in 'namespace {...}'.
-qtlibinfix .. Rename all libQt5*.so to libQt5*.so.
-testcocoon .......... Instrument with the TestCocoon code coverage tool [no]
-gcov ................ Instrument with the GCov code coverage tool [no]
-trace [backend] ..... Enable instrumentation with tracepoints.
Currently supported backends are 'etw' (Windows) and
'lttng' (Linux), or 'yes' for auto-detection. [no]
-sanitize {address|thread|memory|undefined}
Instrument with the specified compiler sanitizer.
Note that some sanitizers cannot be combined;
for example, -sanitize address cannot be combined with
-sanitize thread.
-coverage {trace-pc-guard}
Add code coverage instrumentation (Clang only)
-c++std .... Select C++ standard [c++1z/c++14/c++11]
(Not supported with MSVC)
-sse2 ................ Use SSE2 instructions [auto]
-sse3/-ssse3/-sse4.1/-sse4.2/-avx/-avx2/-avx512
Enable use of particular x86 instructions [auto]
Enabled ones are still subject to runtime detection.
-mips_dsp/-mips_dspr2 Use MIPS DSP/rev2 instructions [auto]
-qreal ........ typedef qreal to the specified type. [double]
Note: this affects binary compatibility.
-R .......... Add an explicit runtime library path to the Qt
libraries. Supports paths relative to LIBDIR.
-rpath ............... Link Qt libraries and executables using the library
install path as a runtime library path. Similar to
-R LIBDIR. On Apple platforms, disabling this implies
using absolute install names (based in LIBDIR) for
dynamic libraries and frameworks. [auto]
-reduce-exports ...... Reduce amount of exported symbols [auto]
-reduce-relocations .. Reduce amount of relocations [auto] (Unix only)
-plugin-manifests .... Embed manifests into plugins [no] (Windows only)
-static-runtime ...... With -static, use static runtime [no] (Windows only)
-pch ................. Use precompiled headers [auto]
-ltcg ................ Use Link Time Code Generation [no]
-linker [bfd,gold,lld] Force use of the GNU ld, GNU gold or LLVM/LLD linker
instead of default one (GCC only)
-incredibuild-xge .... Use the IncrediBuild XGE [no] (Windows only)
-ccache .............. Use the ccache compiler cache [no] (Unix only)
-make-tool .... Use to build qmake [nmake] (Windows only)
-mp .................. Use multiple processors for compilation (MSVC only)
-warnings-are-errors . Treat warnings as errors [no; yes if -developer-build]
-silent .............. Reduce the build output so that warnings and errors
can be seen more easily
Build environment:
-sysroot ....... Set as the target sysroot
-gcc-sysroot ......... With -sysroot, pass --sysroot to the compiler [yes]
-pkg-config .......... Use pkg-config [auto] (Unix only)
-D .......... Pass additional preprocessor define
-I .......... Pass additional include path
-L .......... Pass additional library path
-F .......... Pass additional framework path (Apple only)
-sdk ........... Build Qt using Apple provided SDK . The argument
should be one of the available SDKs as listed by
'xcodebuild -showsdks'.
Note that the argument applies only to Qt libraries
and applications built using the target mkspec - not
host tools such as qmake, moc, rcc, etc.
-android-sdk path .... Set Android SDK root path [$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT]
-android-ndk path .... Set Android NDK root path [$ANDROID_NDK_ROOT]
-android-ndk-platform Set Android platform
-android-ndk-host .... Set Android NDK host (linux-x86, linux-x86_64, etc.)
[$ANDROID_NDK_HOST]
-android-arch ........ Set Android architecture (armeabi, armeabi-v7a,
arm64-v8a, x86, x86_64, mips, mips64)
-android-toolchain-version ... Set Android toolchain version
-android-style-assets Automatically extract style assets from the device at
run time. This option makes the Android style behave
correctly, but also makes the Android platform plugin
incompatible with the LGPL2.1. [yes]
Component selection:
-skip ......... Exclude an entire repository from the build.
-make ......... Add to the list of parts to be built.
Specifying this option clears the default list first.
[libs and examples, also tools if not cross-building,
also tests if -developer-build]
-nomake ....... Exclude from the list of parts to be built.
-compile-examples .... When unset, install only the sources of examples
[no on WebAssembly, otherwise yes]
-gui ................. Build the Qt GUI module and dependencies [yes]
-widgets ............. Build the Qt Widgets module and dependencies [yes]
-no-dbus ............. Do not build the Qt D-Bus module
[default on Android and Windows]
-dbus-linked ......... Build Qt D-Bus and link to libdbus-1 [auto]
-dbus-runtime ........ Build Qt D-Bus and dynamically load libdbus-1 [no]
-accessibility ....... Enable accessibility support [yes]
Note: Disabling accessibility is not recommended.
Qt comes with bundled copies of some 3rd party libraries. These are used
by default if auto-detection of the respective system library fails.
Core options:
-doubleconversion .... Select used double conversion library [system/qt/no]
No implies use of sscanf_l and snprintf_l (imprecise).
-glib ................ Enable Glib support [no; auto on Unix]
-eventfd ............. Enable eventfd support
-inotify ............. Enable inotify support
-iconv ............... Enable iconv(3) support [posix/sun/gnu/no] (Unix only)
-icu ................. Enable ICU support [auto]
-pcre ................ Select used libpcre2 [system/qt/no]
-pps ................. Enable PPS support [auto] (QNX only)
-zlib ................ Select used zlib [system/qt]
Logging backends:
-journald .......... Enable journald support [no] (Unix only)
-syslog ............ Enable syslog support [no] (Unix only)
-slog2 ............. Enable slog2 support [auto] (QNX only)
Network options:
-ssl ................. Enable either SSL support method [auto]
-no-openssl .......... Do not use OpenSSL [default on Apple and WinRT]
-openssl-linked ...... Use OpenSSL and link to libssl [no]
-openssl-runtime ..... Use OpenSSL and dynamically load libssl [auto]
-securetransport ..... Use SecureTransport [auto] (Apple only)
-sctp ................ Enable SCTP support [no]
-libproxy ............ Enable use of libproxy [no]
-system-proxies ...... Use system network proxies by default [yes]
Gui, printing, widget options:
-cups ................ Enable CUPS support [auto] (Unix only)
-fontconfig .......... Enable Fontconfig support [auto] (Unix only)
-freetype ............ Select used FreeType [system/qt/no]
-harfbuzz ............ Select used HarfBuzz-NG [system/qt/no]
(Not auto-detected on Apple and Windows)
-gtk ................. Enable GTK platform theme support [auto]
-lgmon ............... Enable lgmon support [auto] (QNX only)
-no-opengl ........... Disable OpenGL support
-opengl ........ Enable OpenGL support. Supported APIs:
es2 (default on Windows), desktop (default on Unix),
dynamic (Windows only)
-opengles3 ........... Enable OpenGL ES 3.x support instead of ES 2.x [auto]
-angle ............... Use bundled ANGLE to support OpenGL ES 2.0 [auto]
(Windows only)
-combined-angle-lib .. Merge LibEGL and LibGLESv2 into LibANGLE (Windows only)
-qpa .......... Select default QPA backend(s) (e.g., xcb, cocoa, windows)
A prioritized list separated by semi-colons.
-xcb-xlib............. Enable Xcb-Xlib support [auto]
Platform backends:
-direct2d .......... Enable Direct2D support [auto] (Windows only)
-directfb .......... Enable DirectFB support [no] (Unix only)
-eglfs ............. Enable EGLFS support [auto; no on Android and Windows]
-gbm ............... Enable backends for GBM [auto] (Linux only)
-kms ............... Enable backends for KMS [auto] (Linux only)
-linuxfb ........... Enable Linux Framebuffer support [auto] (Linux only)
-xcb ............... Enable X11 support. Select used xcb-* libraries [system/qt/no]
(-qt-xcb still uses system version of libxcb itself)
Input backends:
-libudev............ Enable udev support [auto]
-evdev ............. Enable evdev support [auto]
-imf ............... Enable IMF support [auto] (QNX only)
-libinput .......... Enable libinput support [auto]
-mtdev ............. Enable mtdev support [auto]
-tslib ............. Enable tslib support [auto]
-xcb-xinput ........ Enable XInput2 support [auto]
-xkbcommon ......... Enable key mapping support [auto]
Image formats:
-gif ............... Enable reading support for GIF [auto]
-ico ............... Enable support for ICO [yes]
-libpng ............ Select used libpng [system/qt/no]
-libjpeg ........... Select used libjpeg [system/qt/no]
Database options:
-sql- ........ Enable SQL plugin. Supported drivers:
db2 ibase mysql oci odbc psql sqlite2 sqlite tds
[all auto]
-sqlite .............. Select used sqlite3 [system/qt]