Foreword
In the Linux environment, after developing a Qt program, it also needs to be made into an installation package or executable file for distribution. Here is an introduction to using linuxdeployqt to package Qt programs into .AppImage applications (similar to Windows’ green installation-free software)
Environment configuration
Configure Qt environment variables
This step is to enable the linuxdeployqt tool to recognize the Qt environment. Edit the bashrc file
vim ~/.bashrc
Add your own Qt environment after the last line
#QT ENV export QTDIR=/home/leo/Qt/5.15.2/gcc_64 export PATH=$QTDIR/bin:$PATH export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$QTDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH export QT_PLUGIN_PATH=$QTDIR/plugins:$QT_PLUGIN_PATH export QML2_PATH=$QTDIR/qml:$QML2_PATH
Effective immediately
source ~/.bashrc
verify
qmake -v
Configure linuxdeployqt
Go to linuxdeployqt to download the linuxdeployqt-continuous-x86_64.AppImage released by release
Then grant executable permissions, change the name to make it easier to use, and put it under the path /usr/local/bin for easy use anywhere.
chmod 777 linuxdeployqt-continuous-x86_64.AppImage mv linuxdeployqt-continuous-x86_64.AppImage linuxdeployqt sudo mv linuxdeployqt /usr/local/bin
have a test
linuxdelpoyqt --version
Configuring AppImageKit
Go to AppImageKit to download appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
Likewise, add execution permissions:
chmod 777 appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
Install patchelf
Just install patchelf directly with apt
sudo apt install patchelf
Packaging
Copy the application to the output directory and run the command (here, we take the QClipboard executable program as an example):
leo@leo-VirtualBox:~/Desktop/output$ linuxdeployqt QClipboard -appimage linuxdeployqt (commit 6fcaf74), build 55 built on 2023-09-23 13:33:41 UTC Not using FHS-like mode app-binary: "/home/leo/Desktop/output/QClipboard" appDirPath: "/home/leo/Desktop/output" relativeBinPath: "QClipboard" ERROR: Desktop file missing, creating a default one (you will probably want to edit it) ERROR: Icon file missing, creating a default one (you will probably want to edit it) qmakePath 3= "" appimagetool, continuous build (commit 8bbf694), build <local dev build> built on 2020-12-31 11:48:33 UTC fatal: not a git repository (or any parent directory): .git Failed to run 'git rev-parse --short HEAD: Child process exited with code 128 (code 128) Desktop file: /home/leo/Desktop/output/default.desktop Categories entry not found in desktop file .desktop file is missing a Categories= key
Then you can see that some files are generated in the output directory
lrwxrwxrwx 1 leo leo 10 November 3 21:31 AppRun -> QClipboard -rw-rw-r-- 1 leo leo 123 Nov 3 21:31 default.desktop -rw-rw-r-- 1 leo leo 0 November 3 21:31 default.png drwxrwxr-x 6 leo leo 4096 November 3 21:31 doc drwxrwxr-x 2 leo leo 4096 November 3 21:32 lib drwxrwxr-x 7 leo leo 4096 November 3 21:32 plugins -rwxrwxr-x 1 leo leo 157512 November 3 21:30 QClipboard -rw-rw-r-- 1 leo leo 145 Nov 3 21:32 qt.conf drwxrwxr-x 2 leo leo 4096 November 3 21:32 translations
Modify desktop files
We need to modify the default generated desktop file
leo@leo-VirtualBox :~/Desktop/output$ cat default. desktop [Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=Application Exec=AppRun %F icon=default Comment=Edit this default file Terminal=true
You can view the desktop file specifications for modification
Here, the default.desktop file is renamed to the QClipboard.desktop file and modified to the following content:
[Desktop Entry] Categories=System; Office; Type=Application Keywords=clip; clipboard; Name=QClipboard Exec=AppRun %F icon=logo Comment=A cross-platform clipboard tool that allows selecting items from clipboard history to paste. Terminal=true
Then deleted the redundant folders, and the final effect is as follows:
Generate appimage application
Use appimagetool to generate appimage applications.
Execute ./appimagetool-x 86_64. AppImage output/. The output after it is our output directory.
Note: Since the downloaded appimagetool-x 86_64. AppImage application is not placed in the /usr/local/bin path, it cannot be executed directly.
leo@leo-VirtualBox :~/Downloads$ ./appimagetool-x 86_64. AppImage ~/Desktop/output/
appimagetool, continuous build (commit 8 bbf 694), build <local dev build> built on 2020-12-31 11:48:33 UTC
/home/leo/Desktop/output/QClipboard. desktop: hint: value "System; Office;" for key "Categories" in group "Desktop Entry" contains more than one main category; application might appear more than once in the application menu
Using architecture x 86_64
/home/leo/Desktop/output should be packaged as QClipboard-x 86_64. AppImage
WARNING: AppStream upstream metadata is missing, please consider creating it
in usr/share/metainfo/QClipboard.appdata.xml
Please see https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/chap-Quickstart.html#sect-Quickstart-DesktopApps
for more information or use the generator at http://output.jsbin.com/qoqukof.
Generating squashfs...
Parallel mksquashfs: Using 6 processors
Creating 4.0 filesystem on QClipboard-x 86_64. AppImage, block size 131072.
[================================================== =======================/] 530/530 100%
Exportable Squashfs 4.0 filesystem, gzip compressed, data block size 131072
compressed data, compressed metadata, compressed fragments,
compressed xattrs, compressed ids
duplicates are removed
Filesystem size 25011.83 Kbytes (24.43 Mbytes)
39.56% of uncompressed filesystem size (63223.96 Kbytes)
Inode table size 2316 bytes (2.26 Kbytes)
55.20% of uncompressed inode table size (4196 bytes)
Directory table size 861 bytes (0.84 Kbytes)
52.25% of uncompressed directory table size (1648 bytes)
Number of duplicate files found 0
Number of inodes 69
Number of files 59
Number of fragments 12
Number of symbolic links 2
Number of device nodes 0
Number of fifo nodes 0
Number of socket nodes 0
Number of directories 8
Number of ids (unique uids + gids) 1
Number of uids 1
root (0)
Number of gids 1
root (0)
Embedding ELF...
Marking the AppImage as executable...
Embedding MD 5 digest
Success
Please consider submitting your AppImage to AppImageHub, the crowd-sourced
central directory of available AppImages, by opening a pull request
at https://github.com/AppImage/appimage.github.io
Then you can see the generated QClipboard-x 86_64. AppImage package in the same path as appimagetool-x 86_64. AppImage
Execute test
QClipboard application successfully executed
Note that when you distribute it to others, you need to add execution permissions to run it.
Summary
The above is the entire process of packaging Qt programs into AppImage programs under Linux systems.
At the same time, you are welcome to star the cross-platform clipboard tool: https://github.com/L-Super/QClipboard
https://blog.csdn.net/zyhse/article/details/106381937
https://www.cnblogs.com/linuxAndMcu/p/11016322.html
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