[Qt-interest] Deploy Application on Windows

[Scott Aron Bloom]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: qt-interest-bounces at trolltech.com [mailto:qt-interest-
> bounces at trolltech.com] On Behalf Of David Ching
> Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 4:06 PM
> To: qt-interest at trolltech.com
> Subject: Re: [Qt-interest] Deploy Application on Windows
> 
> > Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:29:53 +0100
> > From: Thiago Macieira <thiago.macieira at trolltech.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Qt-interest] Deploy Application on Windows
> >
> > That's correct.
> >
> > The VS2005 build is SP1.
> > The VS2008 build is not SP1.
> >
> > Building both service pack levels would be extremely difficult. So
> > we're
> > considering what to do now for VS2008. If we leave it as it is,
people
> > who
> > have upgraded like you will have problems. If we upgrade, then
people
> > who
> > haven't upgraded yet will have problems.
> >
> > Ideally, we wouldn't upgrade the compiler in our package builder
until
> > 4.6, but it looks like something we'll have to do sooner than that.
> >
> > In other words, blame Microsoft for breaking binary compatibility
too
> > often.
> >
> 
> I think one way or the other, the current situation needs to change.
It is
> not at all apparent that the commercial VS2005 is for SP1 and the
commercial
> VS2008 is for SP1.  It should be in bold letters that these compiler
> versions are required, and if not, the user will have problems
deploying
> apps against these Qt libraries.  Myself, I did not know this and
spent a
> few hours using a VM trying to run my app on a clean system and
debugging
> the resulting deployment issues.
> 
> What some library makers have done (e.g. the CodeJock MFC library on
> Windows), is they don't bundle any pre-built library.  Instead, they
have a
> nice installer package that scans the user's PC for installed versions
of
> Visual Studio and ASKS THE USER which of these to support.  As well as
what
> options they want such as do they want static or dynamic libraries?
Then it
> builds the libraries for the user's preference.  This would be simple
for
> Nokia to implement.  Already you have most of that with the Configure
app.
> You just need to add a nice installer to specify the right
command-line
> options and run it.
> 
> I think this is a far better solution than what Qt does currently.  It
can't
> possibly provide pre-built libraries for the many combinations of
options
> the user wants, so it makes it extremely easy to build those at
install time
> (without reading any documents and running command-line apps).  And
the user
> is left with the exact built libraries with the exact options they
want (and
> not what Qt thinks they want), and the user won't try to deploy
mismatched
> apps because the document about the required compiler versions was
missing,
> not pointed to with sufficient force, or not read or forgotten for
some
> other reason.
> 
> Thanks,
> David
> 
> 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE... and one more for good luck PLEASE do NOT
go back to the qt 3.X way of deploying the app...

Why?  I can install multiple QT on 1 machine (I currently have about 4
right now for different client machines) and it only takes about 5-10
minutes to install or un-install a new one.. No building required...
With 3.X it was at least 1-2 hours to do a full build.. Now I know my
machine has gotten faster.. but there is more bloat.. um I mean more
features in QT now :)

Now, I, not sure about QT4.5 (I gave my commercial license for LGPL),
but in my commercial tree for QT 4.4 the comments associated with the
file were PAIN fully obvious that it was for SP1..

qt-win-commercial-4.4.3-vs2005.exe Qt for Windows Full Framework
Edition, Binary for Visual Studio .NET 2005 SP1


That said... for .NET 2005, you can't build QT apps without the SP1
(there was a patch that came out for 2005 from MS to fix their bug) so
for 2005 the comment in reality is kind of extraneous.

For 2008, yes, it should be clear in the file, since the SP is not
required to build QT apps...

As to a "builder" I would love to have access to a system builder,
similar to the one in QT 3.3, where I could click on and off and
rebuild/reconfigure etc, but Id only want this if and only if, I could
still get the pre-packaged solution.

Scott