qt-creator/doc/src/projects/creator-projects-tool-chains.qdoc

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/*!
    \contentspage index.html
    \previouspage creator-project-qmake.html
    \page creator-tool-chains.html
    \nextpage creator-run-settings.html

    \title Adding Tool Chains

    A \e {tool chain} specifies a compiler and other necessary
    tools for building an application that is \l{glossary-development-target}
    {targeted} for a particular platform. \QC automatically detects the tool
    chains that are registered by your system or by \QSDK.

    You can add tool chains to build applications by using other compilers or
    with different versions of the automatically detected compilers:

    \list

        \o  GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a compiler for Linux and
            Mac OS X.

        \o  MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows) is a native software port of GCC
            and GNU Binutils for use in the development of native Microsoft
            Windows applications on Windows. MinGW is
            distributed together with \QC and Qt SDK for Windows.

        \o  Linux ICC (Intel C++ Compiler) is a group of C and C++ compilers
            for Linux.

        \o  Clang is a C, C++, Objective C, and Objective C++ front-end for the
            LLVM compiler for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
    \endlist

    To build an application using GCC, MinGW, or Clang, specify the paths
    to the directories where the compiler and debugger are located and select
    the application binary interface (ABI) version from the list of available
    versions. You can also create a custom ABI definition.

    You specify the tool chain to use for each \l{glossary-development-target}
    {target} in \gui Tools > \gui Options > \gui {Build & Run} > \gui Targets.

    To add tool chains:

    \list 1

        \o  Select \gui {Tools > Options > Build & Run > Tool Chains > Add} and
            select a
            compiler in the list.

            \image qtcreator-toolchains.png

            To clone the selected tool chain, select \gui {Clone}.

        \o  In the \gui Name column, double-click the name to change it.

        \o  In the \gui{Compiler path} field, enter the path to the directory
            where the compiler is located.
            \if defined(qcmanual)
            For WINSCW, enter the path to the Carbide C++ installation directory
            here.
            \endif

            The other settings to specify depend on the tool chain.

    \endlist

    \section2 Troubleshooting MinGW Compilation Errors

    If error messages displayed in the \gui {Compile Output} pane contain
    paths where slashes are missing (for example, C:QtSDK),
    check your PATH variable. At the command line, enter the following commands:

    \code
        where sh.exe
        where make.exe
        where mingw32-make.exe
    \endcode

    If these commands show paths, they have been added to the global PATH
    variable during the installation of a tool chain based on Cygwin or MinGW,
    even though this is against Windows conventions.

    To keep working with the third-party tool chain, create a new shell link
    that adds the required paths (as Visual Studio and Qt do). The shell link
    must point to cmd.exe, as illustrated by the following example:

    \c {C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /K C:\path_to\myenv.bat}

    where the /K parameter carries out the command specified in the bat file.

    Create the myenv.bat file at \e path_to, which should be in a convenient
    location. In the file, specify the paths to the tool chains. For example,

    \c  {set PATH=C:\path1;C:\path2;%PATH%}

    where \e path1 and \e path2 are paths to the tool chains.

    Finally, remove the paths from the global PATH, reboot the computer, and
    run the \c where commands again to verify that the global PATH is now clean.

    You can use the shell link to run the tools in the third-party tool chains.

*/