source: trunk/doc/src/emb-crosscompiling.qdoc@ 9

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/*!
    \page qt-embedded-crosscompiling.html

    \title Cross-Compiling Qt for Embedded Linux Applications
    \ingroup qt-embedded-linux

    Cross-compiling is the process of compiling an application on one
    machine, producing executable code for a different machine or
    device. To cross-compile a \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} application,
    use the following approach:

    \tableofcontents

    \note The cross-compiling procedure has the configuration
    process in common with the installation procedure; i.e., you might
    not necessarily have to perform all the mentioned actions
    depending on your current configuration.

    \section1 Step 1: Set the Cross-Compiler's Path

    Specify which cross-compiler to use by setting the \c PATH
    environment variable. For example, if the current shell is bash,
    ksh, zsh or sh:

    \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_emb-crosscompiling.qdoc 0

    \section1 Step 2: Create a Target Specific qmake Specification

    The qmake tool requires a platform and compiler specific \c
    qmake.conf file describing the various default values, to generate
    the appropriate Makefiles. The standard \l{Qt for Embedded Linux}
    distribution provides such files for several combinations of
    platforms and compilers. These files are located in the
    distribution's \c mkspecs/qws subdirectory.

    Each platform has a default specification. \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} will
    use the default specification for the current platform unless told
    otherwise. To override this behavior, you can use the \c configure
    script's \c -platform option to change the specification for the host
    platform (where compilation will take place).

    The \c configure script's \c -xplatform option is used to provide a
    specification for the target architecture (where the library will be
    deployed).

    For example, to cross-compile an application to run on a device with
    an ARM architecture, using the GCC toolchain, run the configure
    script at the command line in the following way:

    \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_emb-crosscompiling.qdoc 1

    If neither of the provided specifications fits your target device,
    you can create your own.  To create a custom \c qmake.conf file,
    just copy and customize an already existing file. For example:

    \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_emb-crosscompiling.qdoc 2

    \note When defining a mkspec for a Linux target, the directory must
    be prefixed with "linux-". We recommend that you copy the entire
    directory.

    Note also that when providing you own qmake specifcation, you must
    use the \c configure script's \c -xplatform option to make
    \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} aware of the custom \c qmake.conf file.

    \section1 Step 3: Provide Architecture Specific Files

    Starting with Qt 4, all of Qt's implicitly shared classes can
    safely be copied across threads like any other value classes,
    i.e., they are fully reentrant. This is accomplished by
    implementing reference counting operations using atomic hardware
    instructions on all the different platforms supported by Qt.

    To support a new architecture, it is important to ensure that
    these platform-specific atomic operations are implemented in a
    corresponding header file (\c qatomic_ARCH.h), and that this file
    is located in Qt's \c src/corelib/arch directory. For example, the
    Intel 80386 implementation is located in \c
    src/corelib/arch/qatomic_i386.h.

    See the \l {Implementing Atomic Operations} documentation for
    details.

    \section1 Step 4: Provide Hardware Drivers

    Without the proper mouse and keyboard drivers, you will not be
    able to give any input to your application when it is installed on
    the target device. You must also ensure that the appropriate
    screen driver is present to make the server process able to put
    the application's widgets on screen.

    \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} provides several ready-made mouse, keyboard and
    screen drivers, see the \l{Qt for Embedded Linux Pointer Handling}{pointer
    handling}, \l{Qt for Embedded Linux Character Input}{character input} and
    \l{Qt for Embedded Linux Display Management}{display management}
    documentation for details.

    In addition, custom drivers can be added by deriving from the
    QWSMouseHandler, QWSKeyboardHandler and QScreen classes
    respectively, and by creating corresponding plugins to make use of
    Qt's plugin mechanism (dynamically loading the drivers into the
    server application at runtime). Note that the plugins must be
    located in a location where Qt will look for plugins, e.g., the
    standard \c plugin directory.

    See the \l {How to Create Qt Plugins} documentation and the \l
    {tools/plugandpaint}{Plug & Paint} example for details.

    \section1 Step 5: Build the Target Specific Executable

    Before building the executable, you must specify the target
    architecture as well as the target specific hardware drivers by
    running the \c configure script:

    \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_emb-crosscompiling.qdoc 3

    It is also important to make sure that all the third party
    libraries that the application and the Qt libraries require, are
    present in the tool chain. In particular, if the zlib and jpeg
    libraries are not available, they must be included by running the
    \c configure script with the \c -L and \c -I options. For example:

    \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_emb-crosscompiling.qdoc 4

    The JPEG source can be downloaded from \l http://www.ijg.org/. The
    \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} distribution includes a version of the zlib source
    that can be compiled into the Qt for Embedded Linux library. If integrators
    wish to use a later version of the zlib library, it can be
    downloaded from the \l http://www.gzip.org/zlib/ website.

    Then build the executable:

    \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_emb-crosscompiling.qdoc 5

    That's all. Your target specific executable is ready for deployment.

    \table 100%
    \row
    \o \bold {See also:}

    \l{Qt for Embedded Linux Architecture} and \l{Deploying Qt for Embedded Linux
    Applications}.

    \row
    \o \bold{Third party resources:}

    \l{http://silmor.de/29}{Cross compiling Qt/Win Apps on Linux} covers the
    process of cross-compiling Windows applications on Linux.
    \endtable
*/