How to specify different Debug Release output directories in QMake pro file

Question

I have a Qt project and I would like to output compilation files outside the source tree   I currently have the following directory structure        build    mylib      include      src      resources   Depending on the configuration  debug release   I will like to output the resulting files inside the build directory under build debug or build release directories   How can I do that using a  pro file

User · Answer

This is my Makefile for different debug release output directories  This Makefile was tested successfully on Ubuntu linux  It should work seamlessly on Windows provided that Mingw-w64 is installed correctly   ifeq    OS  Windows NT      ObjExt obj     mkdir CMD mkdir     rm CMD rmdir  S  Q else     ObjExt o     mkdir CMD mkdir -p     rm CMD rm -rf endif  CC      gcc CFLAGS  -Wall -ansi LD      gcc  OutRootDir   DebugDir   Debug ReleaseDir Release   INSTDIR    bin INCLUDE     SrcFiles   wildcard   c  EXEC main myapp  OBJ C Debug      patsubst   c     OutRootDir    DebugDir      ObjExt    SrcFiles   OBJ C Release    patsubst   c     OutRootDir    ReleaseDir      ObjExt    SrcFiles     PHONY  Release Debug cleanDebug cleanRelease clean    Target specific variables release  CFLAGS    -O -DNDEBUG debug    CFLAGS    -g                                                    Callable Targets release    OutRootDir    ReleaseDir    EXEC main  debug      OutRootDir    DebugDir    EXEC main   cleanDebug      -  rm CMD     OutRootDir    DebugDir        echo cleanDebug done  cleanRelease      -  rm CMD     OutRootDir    ReleaseDir        echo cleanRelease done  clean  cleanDebug cleanRelease                                                     Pattern Rules   Multiple targets cannot be used with pattern rules  https   www gnu org software make manual html node Multiple-Targets html    OutRootDir    ReleaseDir      ObjExt     c     OutRootDir    ReleaseDir        CC  -I  INCLUDE    CFLAGS  -c   lt  -o        OutRootDir    DebugDir      ObjExt       c     OutRootDir    DebugDir        CC  -I  INCLUDE    CFLAGS  -c   lt  -o        Create output directory   OutRootDir    ReleaseDir    OutRootDir    DebugDir    INSTDIR       -  mkdir CMD        Create the executable   Multiple targets  https   www gnu org software make manual html node Multiple-Targets html    OutRootDir    ReleaseDir    EXEC main     OBJ C Release    OutRootDir    DebugDir    EXEC main       OBJ C Debug    OutRootDir    ReleaseDir    EXEC main    OutRootDir    DebugDir    EXEC main         LD     -o

User · Answer

Old question  but still worth an up-to-date answer  Today it s common to do what Qt Creator does when shadow builds are used  they are enabled by default when opening a new project    For each different build target and type  the right qmake is run with right arguments in a different build directory  Then that is just built with simple make   So  imaginary directory structure might look like this        build-mylib-qt5-mingw32-debug    build-mylib-qt5-mingw32-release    build-mylib-qt4-msvc2010-debug    build-mylib-qt4-msvc2010-release    build-mylib-qt5-arm-debug    build-mylib-qt5-arm-release    mylib      include      src      resources   And the improtant thing is  a qmake is run in the build directory   cd build-mylib-XXXX  path to right qmake    mylib mylib pro CONFIG  buildtype       Then it generates makefiles in build directory  and then make will generate files under it too  There is no risk of different versions getting mixed up  as long as qmake is never run in the source directory  if it is  better clean it up well     And when done like this  the  pro file from currently accepted answer is even simpler   HEADERS    src dialogs h SOURCES    src main cpp              src dialogs cpp

User · Answer

1  Find Debug Release in CONFIG  Get the current  debug   release    specified configs   find CONFIG    b debug release  b   build subdir   last specified configs     May be multiple  so keep only last specified in the build    2  Set DESTDIR  Use it has the build subdir name  DESTDIR     PWD build   build subdir

User · Answer

To change the directory for target dll exe  use this in your pro file   CONFIG debug  debug release        DESTDIR   build debug   else       DESTDIR   build release     You might also want to change directories for other build targets like object files and moc files  check qmake variable reference for details or qmake CONFIG   function reference

User · Answer

The new version of Qt Creator also has a  profile  build option between debug and release   Here s how I m detecting that   CONFIG debug  debug release     DEFINES    DEBUG MODE   else CONFIG force debug info    DEFINES    PROFILE MODE   else                            DEFINES    RELEASE MODE

User · Answer

I have a more compact approach   release  DESTDIR   build release debug    DESTDIR   build debug  OBJECTS DIR     DESTDIR  obj MOC DIR     DESTDIR  moc RCC DIR     DESTDIR  qrc UI DIR     DESTDIR  ui

User · Answer

I use the same method suggested by chalup   ParentDirectory    lt your directory gt   RCC DIR      ParentDirectory Build RCCFiles  UI DIR      ParentDirectory Build UICFiles  MOC DIR      ParentDirectory Build MOCFiles  OBJECTS DIR      ParentDirectory Build ObjFiles   CONFIG debug  debug release         DESTDIR      ParentDirectory debug    CONFIG release  debug release         DESTDIR      ParentDirectory release

User · Answer

It s also useful to have a slightly different name for the output executable  You can t use something like   release  Target   ProgramName debug  Target   ProgramName d   Why it doesn t work is not clear  but it does not  But    CONFIG debug  debug release        TARGET   ProgramName   else       TARGET   ProgramName d     This does work as long as the CONFIG    line precedes it

User · Answer

The short answer is  you don t   You should run qmake followed by make in whatever build directory you want to build in  So  run it once in a debug directory  once in a release directory   That s how anyone building your project would expect it to work  and that s how Qt itself is set up to build  that s also how Qt Creator expects your  pro file to behave  it simply starts qmake and then make in the build folder for your target s chosen configuration   If you wish to create these folders and perform the two  or more  builds in them  you ll need a top-level makefile  possibly created from a top-level project file via qmake   It s not uncommon to have more than two build configurations  so you re unnecessarily committing yourself to only differentiating between a build and a release  you might have builds with different optimization levels  etc  The debug release dichotomy is best left to rest in peace

User · Answer

For my Qt project  I use this scheme in   pro file   HEADERS    src dialogs h SOURCES    src main cpp              src dialogs cpp  Release DESTDIR   release Release OBJECTS DIR   release  obj Release MOC DIR   release  moc Release RCC DIR   release  rcc Release UI DIR   release  ui  Debug DESTDIR   debug Debug OBJECTS DIR   debug  obj Debug MOC DIR   debug  moc Debug RCC DIR   debug  rcc Debug UI DIR   debug  ui   It s simple  but nice

User · Answer

The correct way to do this is the following  thanks QT Support Team    CONFIG debug  debug release        DESTDIR   build debug   CONFIG release  debug release        DESTDIR   build release    OBJECTS DIR     DESTDIR  obj MOC DIR     DESTDIR  moc RCC DIR     DESTDIR  qrc UI DIR     DESTDIR  u   More info here  https   wiki qt io Qt project org faq What does the syntax CONFIG 28debug 2Cdebug 7Crelease 29 mean  3F What does the 1st argument specify and similarly what is the 2nd  3F

[qt] How to specify different Debug/Release output directories in QMake .pro file

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