forked from qt-creator/qt-creator
a7956df3ca
Replace the current license disclaimer in files by a SPDX-License-Identifier. Task-number: QTBUG-67283 Change-Id: I708fd1f9f2b73d60f57cc3568646929117825813 Reviewed-by: Eike Ziller <eike.ziller@qt.io>
103 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
103 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
// Copyright (C) 2020 The Qt Company Ltd.
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// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only
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/*!
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\page distributing-plugins.html
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\title Distributing Plugins
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To make your plugin available to a wider range of users, you should look
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into distributing binary builds of it.
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\section1 Creating Binaries
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If your plugin runs and works on multiple platforms, you should provide
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binary builds for all of the supported platforms.
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Qt Creator currently supports:
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\list
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\li Windows
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\li Linux
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\li \macos
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\endlist
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See the toplevel
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\l{https://code.qt.io/cgit/qt-creator/qt-creator.git/tree/README.md}
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{README.md} file in Qt Creator's sources for a more detailed list.
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The \uicontrol {Qt Creator Plugin} wizard already creates a template for
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\l{https://help.github.com/en/actions/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/about-github-actions}{GitHub
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Actions} which can be used to create binaries if you host your plugin
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sources on GitHub. See the
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\l{https://code.qt.io/cgit/qt-creator/qt-creator.git/tree/share/qtcreator/templates/wizards/qtcreatorplugin/github_workflow_README.md}
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{README.md} that is created at the same location for details.
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You can also use the provided GitHub Actions recipe as inspiration for
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another build service of your choice.
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\section1 Packaging
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The easiest way to package your plugin is to simply provide a zip file
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that the user can unpack to the correct location for Qt Creator to find it.
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Qt Creator makes that easy for the user by providing an \uicontrol{Install
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Plugin} button in the \uicontrol Help > \uicontrol {About Plugins} dialog
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(or \uicontrol {Qt Creator} > \uicontrol {About Plugins} on \macos). The
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user chooses a zip file with the plugin, and Qt Creator unpacks that to the
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appropriate location.
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The following sections describe the options you have for the plugin's
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contents layout.
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\section2 Single Library
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Using a single library is the preferred and simplest option. You provide a
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single plugin library file that has all required resources compiled into it
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with \l{The Qt Resource System}. This imposes some limitations because you
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cannot depend on additional binaries, nor extend some parts of Qt Creator
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that rely on external files, like the generic highlighter. You can still
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add \l{https://doc.qt.io/qtcreator/creator-project-wizards.html}{wizard
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templates} this way, by adding the
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\l{https://doc.qt.io/qt/resources.html#using-resources-in-the-application}
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{path to the resource directory} into your QRC file with
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ProjectExplorer::JsonWizardFactory::addWizardPath(). Registering
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documentation and translations can be done in similar ways.
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\section3 Summary
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\list
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\li Single library as single item in a zip file.
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\li Resources compiled into the library with \l{The Qt Resource System}.
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\li Can be installed locally for a single user for all compatible
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Qt Creator installations.
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\li Can be installed into a Qt Creator installation for all users.
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\endlist
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\section2 Multiple Files Following Qt Creator's Filesystem Layout
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This is a more flexible solution with regards to what the plugin can do,
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but more complicated to set up. This allows the plugin to ship additional
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binaries and arbitrary resources.
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Since the filesystem layout varies heavily between platforms, the build
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system of Qt Creator provides variables like \c IDE_DATA_PATH and \c
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IDE_LIBEXEC_PATH. If you build your plugin with CMake, you should use the
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provided \c add_qtc_library, \c add_qtc_executable and similar functions
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as well.
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At runtime you can access these platform dependent locations with
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Core::ICore::resourcePath() and Core::ICore::libexecPath().
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Plugins that are distributed this way cannot be installed locally for a
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single user. They must be installed into the Qt Creator installation
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directly.
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\section3 Summary
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\list
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\li Multiple files following standard filesystem layout.
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\li Use Qt Creator specific variables and functions in build system.
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\li Use Core::ICore to find the locations at runtime.
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\li Can only be installed into a Qt Creator installation for all users.
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\endlist
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*/
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