Dev-C++ 5 compiling instructions

This page gives you some instructions how to compile Qt3/Win Free with Dev-C++.

Requirements

• Windows NT, 2000 or XP (it has not been tested on Windows 9.x)
• MinGW
• Dev-C++ 5
• Qt-3/Win Free sources

Installing Dev-C++ already containing MinGW

• Download Dev-C++ 5 with Mingw/GCC (9.1MB only!) from www.bloodshed.net/dev/devcpp.html.
• Install Dev-C++ 5, do not enable 'Class Browsing', if you are ask for
• or disable 'Class Browsing' in the menu 'Tools/Editor Options'

Installing Dev-C++ and MinGW separate

• Download and install the latest full MinGW Package from http://www.mingw.org - currently this is MinGW-3.2.0-rc-3.exe.
  If you don't want to download 50MB, you need at least the binaries of gcc-core, gcc-g++, w32api, mingw-runtime, binutils, gdb, mingw32-make (7 files, 19MB)
• Download 'Dev-C++ 5 executable only' from www.bloodshed.net/dev/devcpp.html (2.1 MB).
• Install Dev-C++ 5, do not enable 'Class Browsing', if you are ask for
• or disable 'Class Browsing' in the menu 'Tools/Editor Options'.
• add your MinGW\bin path to Dev-C++ in 'Tools/Compiler Options/Directories' or add your MinGW\bin path to the PATH variable.

Get the Qt3/Win Free sources

• by downloading a Qt-3 source snapshot from the KDE-Cygwin snapshot area (13.8MB).
• or from the cvs repository:

  first connect to the cvs server

  C:\source> cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/kde-cygwin login

  enter empty password
  then checkout the sources with

  C:\source> cvs -z6 -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/kde-cygwin co -r QT_WIN32_3_3_BRANCH qt-3

  Later you can update the sources by

  C:\source\qt-3> cvs -z6 update

  or if you only want to update the 'src' directory (up is short for update)

  C:\source\qt-3\src> cvs -z6 up

Generating essential tools and files

• Open a cmd shell
• Setup Qt and MinGW environment, e.g. Qt in 'C:\source\qt-3', and MinGW in 'C:\Programs\MinGW' or C:\Program\Dev-Cpp (please adjust the paths to your needs)

   C:\source> set QTDIR=C:\source\qt-3
   C:\source> set MINGW=C:\Programs\MinGW
   C:\source> set PATH=%QTDIR%\bin;%MINGW%\bin;%PATH%
   

• Build essential tools by command line
  The script first creates link_includes.exe and configure.exe which are needed for bootstrap the build process. link_includes copies all relevant Qt-headers into the include-directory. configure.exe is the replacement for the ./configure-script under Unix/Linux. After that, qmake.exe and moc.exe is build.

  C:\source> cd C:\source\qt-3
  C:\source\qt-3> configure-mingw.bat -debug -static
  

  For a full list of options see bin\configure.exe -help.

• Stop the compilation if it has finished building 'qt-3\bin\qmake.exe'

• Generating Dev-C++ importable files
  Build *.dsp files which could be imported by Dev-C++ with

  C:\source\qt-3> set QMAKESPEC=win32-msvc 
  C:\source\qt-3> bin\configure.exe -debug -static

  and also generate Makefiles for the special Qt build process by calling again:

  C:\source\qt-3>configure-mingw.bat -debug -static

• Break if it has finished building moc and close the cmd shell.

Using Dev-C++

• Add the QTDIR variable to your environment in 'My Computer/Properties/Advanced/Environment Variables'
• Restart Dev-C++

For all Qt project use this procedure:

• Open Dev-C++ and import the *.dsp file by the menu function 'File/Import' (e.g. 'qt-3\examples\hello\hello.dsp')
• Enable 'Use custom Makefile' in 'Project/Project Options/Makefile' and choose 'Makefile' in the folder of your project (e.g. 'qt-3\examples\hello\Makefile').

Compiling the Qt libraries

• Compiling with Dev-C++ import both *.dsp files in the 'qt-3\src' folder (don't forget to select Makefile or Makefile.main).
• If you have time (one hour and more) you can also build everyting (uic, designer, assistant, examples, tutorials ...) by using the command line:

  C:\source> cd C:\source\qt-3
  C:\source\qt-3> configure-mingw.bat -debug -static
  

Dev-C++ 5 Notes

• MinGW does not work within a cygwin shell or with sh.exe in your search path. You must remove cygwin\bin from your PATH or temporary rename your cygwin folder.
• After closing Dev-C++, next time opening a project Dec-C++ can't find the Makefile any more, just select it once again.
• Use static linkage for much faster link processes.