Why does Qt use its own make tool, qmake?

Trevor_Boyd_Smith_52074 0
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I just started using Qt and noticed that it uses its own make tool, qmake.

  • Why does Qt use its own make tool?
  • Is there something special that prevents it from using a standard make tool?
  • Does qmake call the GCC C++ compiler?
qmake qt cross-platform c++
6 Answers

In my opinnion qmake is cool for simple projects (you can just qmake -project; qmake; make), but horrible and not documented enough for largish projects. Especially the configure functionality of qmake is a joke.

The best build systems I know are CMake and Waf (Python -based). In my own Qt-projects I use CMake to do the job. Just like KDE-guys :)

user_2719240

By the way, this was true until Qt 5.x, included. Qt 6 is now switching to CMake instead. At least for building Qt itself, but it seems reasonable to expect that cmake will then be recommended for building Qt applications themselves rather than qmake. Especially since the lead qmake developer no longer work for the Qt Company. Finally an industry-standard tool instead of an in-house one :-)

user_7582880
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