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/****************************************************************************
**
** Copyright (C) 2012 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/legal
**
** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
**
** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:LGPL$
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** General Public License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software
** Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the
** packaging of this file. Please review the following information to
** ensure the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 requirements
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****************************************************************************/
/*!
\page developing-on-mac.html
\title Developing Qt Applications on Mac OS X
\brief A overview of items to be aware of when developing Qt applications
on Mac OS X
\ingroup platform-specific
\tableofcontents
Mac OS X is a UNIX platform and behaves similar to other Unix-like
platforms. The main difference is X11 is not used as the primary windowing
system. Instead, Mac OS X uses its own native windowing system that is
accessible through the Carbon and Cocoa APIs. Application development on
Mac OS X is done using Xcode Tools, an optional install included on every
Mac with updates available from \l {http://developer.apple.com}{Apple's
developer website}. Xcode Tools includes Apple-modified versions of the GCC
compiler.
\section1 What Versions of Mac OS X are Supported?
As of Qt 4.6, Qt supports Mac OS X versions 10.4 and up. It is usually in
the best interest of the developer and user to be running the latest
updates to any version. We test internally against Mac OS X 10.4.11 as well
as the updated release of Mac OS X 10.5 and Mac OS X 10.6.
\section2 Carbon or Cocoa?
Historically, Qt has used the Carbon toolkit, which supports 32-bit
applications on Mac OS X 10.4 and up. Qt 4.5 and up has support for the Cocoa
toolkit, which requires 10.5 and provides 64-bit support.
This detail is typically not important to Qt application developers. Qt is
cross-platform across Carbon and Cocoa, and Qt applications behave
the same way when configured for either one. Eventually, the Carbon
version will be discontinued. This is something to keep in mind when you
consider writing code directly against native APIs.
The current binary for Qt is built in two flavors, 32-bit Carbon and full
universal Cocoa (32-bit and 64-bit). If you want a different setup for
Qt will use, you must build from scratch. Carbon or Cocoa is chosen when
configuring the package for building. The configure process selects Carbon
by default, to specify Cocoa use the \c{-cocoa} flag. configure for a
64-bit architecture using one of the \c{-arch} flags (see \l{universal
binaries}{Universal Binaries}).
Currently, Apple's default GCC compiler is used by default (GCC 4.0.1 on
10.4 and 10.5, GCC 4.2 on 10.6). You can specify alternate compilers
though. For example, on Mac OS X 10.5, Apple's GCC 4.2 is also available
and selectable with the configure flag: \c{-platform macx-g++42}. LLVM-GCC
support is available by passing in the \c{-platform macx-llvm} flag. GCC
3.x will \e not work. Though they may work, We do not support custom-built
GCC's.
The following table summarizes the different versions of Mac OS X and what
capabilities are used by Qt.
\table
\header
\o Mac OS X Version
\o Cat Name
\o Native API Used by Qt
\o Bits available to address memory
\o CPU Architecture Supported
\o Development Platform
\row
\o 10.4
\o Tiger
\o Carbon
\o 32
\o PPC/Intel
\o Yes
\row
\o 10.5
\o Leopard
\o Carbon
\o 32
\o PPC/Intel
\o Yes
\row
\o 10.5
\o Leopard
\o Cocoa
\o 32/64
\o PPC/Intel
\o Yes
\row
\o 10.6
\o Snow Leopard
\o Cocoa/Carbon
\o 32
\o PPC/Intel
\o Yes
\row
\o 10.6
\o Snow Leopard
\o Cocoa
\o 64
\o Intel
\o Yes
\endtable
Note that building for ppc-64 is not supported on 10.6.
\section2 Which One Should I Use?
Carbon and Cocoa both have their advantages and disadvantages. Probably the
easiest way to determine is to look at the version of Mac OS X you are
targetting. If you are starting a new application and can target 10.5 and
up, then please consider Cocoa only. If you have an existing application or
need to target earlier versions of the operating system and do not need
access to 64-bit or newer Apple technologies, then Carbon is a good fit. If
your needs fall in between, you can go with a 64-bit Cocoa and 32-bit
Carbon universal application with the appropriate checks in your code to
choose the right path based on where you are running the application.
For Mac OS X 10.6, Apple has started recommending developers to build their
applications 64-bit. The main reason is that there is a small speed
increase due to the extra registers on Intel CPU's, all their machine
offerings have been 64-bit since 2007, and there is a cost for reading all
the 32-bit libraries into memory if everything else is 64-bit. If you want
to follow this advice, there is only one choice, 64-bit Cocoa.
\target universal binaries
\section1 Universal Binaries
In 2006, Apple begin transitioning from PowerPC (PPC) to Intel (x86)
systems. Both architectures are supported by Qt. The release of Mac OS X
10.5 in October 2007 added the possibility of writing and deploying 64-bit
GUI applications. Qt 4.5 and up supports both the 32-bit (PPC and x86) and
64-bit (PPC64 and x86-64) versions of PowerPC and Intel-based systems.
Universal binaries are used to bundle binaries for more than one
architecture into a single package, simplifying deployment and
distribution. When running an application the operating system will select
the most appropriate architecture. Universal binaries support the following
architectures; they can be added to the build at configure time using the
\c{-arch} arguments:
\table
\header
\o Architecture
\o Flag
\row
\o Intel, 32-bit
\o \c{-arch x86}
\row
\o Intel, 64-bit
\o \c{-arch x86_64}
\row
\o PPC, 32-bit
\o \c{-arch ppc}
\row
\o PPC, 64-bit
\o \c{-arch ppc64}
\endtable
If there are no \c{-arch} flags specified, configure builds for the 32-bit
architecture, if you are currently on one. Universal binaries were initially
used to simplify the PPC to Intel migration. You can use \c{-universal} to
build for both the 32-bit Intel and PPC architectures.
\note The \c{-arch} flags at configure time only affect how Qt is built.
Applications are by default built for the 32-bit architecture you are
currently on. To build a universal binary, add the architectures to the
CONFIG variable in the .pro file:
\code
CONFIG += x86 ppc x86_64 ppc64
\endcode
\section1 Day-to-Day Application Development on OS X
On the command-line, applications can be built using \c qmake and \c make.
Optionally, \c qmake can generate project files for Xcode with
\c{-spec macx-xcode}. If you are using the binary package, \c qmake
generates Xcode projects by default; use \c{-spec macx-gcc} to generate
makefiles.
The result of the build process is an application bundle, which is a
directory structure that contains the actual application executable. The
application can be launched by double-clicking it in Finder, or by
referring directly to its executable from the command line, i. e.
\c{myApp.app/Contents/MacOS/myApp}.
If you wish to have a command-line tool that does not use the GUI (e.g.,
\c moc, \c uic or \c ls), you can tell \c qmake not to execute the bundle
creating steps by removing it from the \c{CONFIG} in your \c{.pro} file:
\code
CONFIG -= app_bundle
\endcode
\section1 Deployment - "Compile once, deploy everywhere"
In general, Qt supports building on one Mac OS X version and deploying on
all others, both forward and backwards. You can build on 10.4 Tiger and run
the same binary on 10.5 and up.
Some restrictions apply:
\list
\o Some functions and optimization paths that exist in later versions
of Mac OS X will not be available if you build on an earlier
version of Mac OS X.
\o The CPU architecture should match.
\o Cocoa support is only available for Mac OS X 10.5 and up.
\endlist
Universal binaries can be used to provide a smorgasbord of configurations
catering to all possible architectures.
Mac applications are typically deployed as self-contained application
bundles. The application bundle contains the application executable as well
as dependencies such as the Qt libraries, plugins, translations and other
resources you may need. Third party libraries like Qt are normally not
installed system-wide; each application provides its own copy.
The most common way to distribute applications is to provide a compressed
disk image (.dmg file) that the user can mount in Finder. The Mac
deployment tool (macdeployqt) can be used to create the self-contained bundles, and
optionally also create a .dmg archive. See the
\l{Deploying an Application on Mac OS X}{Mac deployment guide} for more
information about deployment. It is also possible to use an installer
wizard. More information on this option can be found in
\l{http://developer.apple.com/mac/}{Apple's documentation}.
*/
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