How to build Qt 4.8/5.2 statically under VS2012, u

Question

I'd like to make a completely static build of Qt 4.8/5.2 under VS2012 - including static runtime libraries, and targeting Windows XP systems. This is not supported out-of-the-box by Qt, since even the static build of Qt uses the dynamically linked MSVC runtime.

This is to be a canonical question that provides the knowledge necessary to successfully build Qt meeting those requirements.

Answer 1

Qt 5.2

Assuming that the environment was prepared for XP targeting, and relevant XP-targeting qt5xp.patch and the bug fix qt5fixes.patch available - both from my other answer, we have to do the following:

1. Create a separate win32-msvc2012-static and win32-msvc2012-static-xp qmake specs by copying them from qtbase/mkspecs/win32-msvc2012 and qtbase/mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-xp, respectively.

2. Modify the qmake specs.

3. Teach configure and qmake makefile about the new qmake specs.

4. Force bootstrap of configure.exe by creating an empty .gitignore file in qtbase.

5. If you're configuring Qt with a -prefix so that the installation and build directories are separate, you must apply the patch for QTBUG-32519 - at least until that bug gets fixed.

The following batch file does the complete job. At the moment, webkit building is disabled for static Qt builds.

:: Assume that we're in an equivalent of C:\Qt prefix
@set PREFIX=%~dp0
:: Qt sources
@set QT=%PREFIX%..\5.2.1-src
:: Patch file(s)
@set SRC=%PREFIX%
@set SPEC=win32-msvc2012
@if not exist "%QT%\qt.pro" ( echo Qt source folder expected in %QT%>&2 & exit /b 1 )
::
@patch --forward --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt5fixes.rej --input=%SRC%\qt5fixes.patch
::
@echo > %QT%\qtbase\.gitignore
@mkdir %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
@copy %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qplatformdefs.h %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
@copy %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qmake.conf %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
@patch --forward --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt5xp.rej --input=%SRC%\qt5xp.patch
::
@mkdir %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@copy %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qplatformdefs.h %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@copy %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qmake.conf %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@mkdir %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
@copy %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qplatformdefs.h %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
@copy %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qmake.conf %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
@patch --forward --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt5static.rej --input=%SRC%\qt5static.patch

To undo the changes to the Qt source, run the following, with variables set as above:

@patch --reverse --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt5static-unfix.rej --input=%SRC%\qt5static.patch
@del %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static\qplatformdefs.h
@del %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static\qmake.conf
@rmdir %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@del %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp\qplatformdefs.h
@del %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp\qmake.conf
@rmdir %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
::
@patch --reverse --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt5xp-unfix.rej --input=%SRC%\qt5xp.patch
@del %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qplatformdefs.h
@del %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qmake.conf
@rmdir %QT%\qtbase\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
@del %QT%\qtbase\.gitignore
::
@patch --reverse --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt5fixes-unfix.rej --input=%SRC%\qt5fixes.patch

The build is then performed by executing

configure -static -platform win32-msvc2012-static-xp (or win32-msvc2012-static)
jom (or nmake)
jom install (if doing the build separate from the installation directory)

# qt5static.patch
# Static MSVC Runtime Support for Qt 5.2
#
# Build qmake with XP targeting.
--- qtbase/qmake/Makefile.win32 2014-02-20 12:28:23.316380600 -0500
+++ qtbase/qmake/Makefile.win32 2014-02-20 12:29:07.396008900 -0500
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
               -DQT_NO_TEXTCODEC -DQT_NO_UNICODETABLES -DQT_NO_COMPONENT -DQT_NO_COMPRESS \
               -DQT_NO_THREAD -DQT_NO_QOBJECT -DQT_NO_GEOM_VARIANT -DQT_NO_DATASTREAM \
               -DUNICODE -DQT_CRYPTOGRAPHICHASH_ONLY_SHA1 -DQT_JSON_READONLY
-!if "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp"
+!if "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-static-xp"
 CFLAGS_BARE = $(CFLAGS_BARE) -D_USING_V110_SDK71_
 !endif
 CFLAGS   = -Yuqmake_pch.h -FIqmake_pch.h -Fpqmake_pch.pch $(CFLAGS_BARE) $(CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CPPFLAGS)
# Add support for static qmake specs.
--- qtbase/qmake/Makefile.win32 2014-02-01 22:37:30.000000000 -0500
+++ qtbase/qmake/Makefile.win32 2014-02-17 16:21:09.329949100 -0500
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!IF "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc.net" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2002" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2003" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2005" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2008" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2010" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2013" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-icc"
+!IF "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc.net" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2002" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2003" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2005" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2008" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2010" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-static" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-static-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2013" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-icc"

 !if "$(SOURCE_PATH)" == ""
 SOURCE_PATH = ..

# Set static runtime.
--- qtbase/mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static/qmake.conf 2014-02-17 23:01:29.965440300 -0500
+++ qtbase/mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static/qmake.conf 2014-02-17 23:05:51.630568400 -0500
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
 QMAKE_CFLAGS            = -nologo -Zm200 -Zc:wchar_t
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_ON    = -W3
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_OFF   = -W0
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MD
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MD -Zi
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MDd
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MT
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MT -Zi -d2Zi+
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MTd -d2Zi+
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_YACC       =
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_LTCG       = -GL
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_MP         = -MP
# Set static runtime.
--- qtbase/mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static-xp/qmake.conf  2014-02-17 23:01:29.965440300 -0500
+++ qtbase/mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static-xp/qmake.conf  2014-02-17 23:05:51.630568400 -0500
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
 QMAKE_CFLAGS            = -nologo -Zm200 -Zc:wchar_t
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_ON    = -W3
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_OFF   = -W0
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MD
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MD -Zi
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MDd
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MT
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MT -Zi -d2Zi+
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MTd -d2Zi+
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_YACC       =
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_LTCG       = -GL
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_MP         = -MP

Answer 2

Qt 4.8

Assuming that the environment was prepared for XP targeting, and relevant XP-targeting qt4xp.patch and the bug fix qt4fixes.patch available - both from my other answer, the following script does the job:

:: Assume that we're in an equivalent of C:\Qt prefix
@set PREFIX=%~dp0
:: Qt sources
@set QT=%PREFIX%..\4.8.5-src
:: Patch file(s)
@set SRC=%PREFIX%
@set SPEC=win32-msvc2012
@if not exist "%QT%\projects.pro" ( echo Qt source folder expected in %QT%>&2 & exit /b 1 )
::
@patch --forward --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt4fixes.rej --input=%SRC%\qt4fixes.patch
::
@mkdir %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
@copy %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qplatformdefs.h %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
@copy %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qmake.conf %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
@patch --forward --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt4xp.rej --input=%SRC%\qt4xp.patch
::
@mkdir %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@copy %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qplatformdefs.h %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@copy %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%\qmake.conf %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@mkdir %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
@copy %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qplatformdefs.h %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
@copy %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qmake.conf %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
@patch --forward --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt4static.rej --input=%SRC%\qt4static.patch

To undo the changes to the Qt source, run the following, with variables set as above:

@patch --reverse --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt4static-unfix.rej --input=%SRC%\qt4static.patch
@del %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static\qplatformdefs.h
@del %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static\qmake.conf
@rmdir %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static
@del %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp\qplatformdefs.h
@del %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp\qmake.conf
@rmdir %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-static-xp
::
@patch --reverse --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt4xp-unfix.rej --input=%SRC%\qt4xp.patch
@del %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qplatformdefs.h
@del %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp\qmake.conf
@rmdir %QT%\mkspecs\%SPEC%-xp
::
@patch --reverse --directory=%QT% -p0 --global-reject-file=%SRC%\qt4fixes-unfix.rej --input=%SRC%\qt4fixes.patch

The build is then performed by executing

configure -static -platform win32-msvc2012-static-xp (or win32-msvc2012-static)
jom (or nmake)

# qt4static.patch
# Static MSVC Runtime Support for Qt 4.8
#
# Build configure with XP targeting
--- tools/configure/configure.pro   2014-02-20 10:00:29.840317000 -0500
+++ tools/configure/configure.pro   2014-02-20 10:03:06.674999600 -0500
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 CONFIG   += console flat stl rtti_off
 CONFIG   -= moc qt
 DEFINES  = UNICODE QT_NODLL QT_NO_CODECS QT_NO_TEXTCODEC QT_NO_UNICODETABLES QT_LITE_COMPONENT QT_NO_STL QT_NO_COMPRESS QT_NO_THREAD QT_NO_QOBJECT QT_NO_GEOM_VARIANT _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE
-win32-msvc2012-xp: DEFINES += _USING_V110_SDK71_
+win32-msvc2012-xp|win32-msvc2012-static-xp: DEFINES += _USING_V110_SDK71_
 DEFINES  += QT_BOOTSTRAPPED

 win32 : LIBS += -lole32 -ladvapi32
# Add support for static qmake specs.
--- qmake/Makefile.win32    2013-06-07 09:17:02.000000000 -0400
+++ qmake/Makefile.win32    2014-02-20 09:31:51.090426700 -0500
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!IF "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc.net" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2002" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2003" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2005" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2008" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2010" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-icc"
+!IF "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc.net" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2002" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2003" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2005" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2008" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2010" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-static" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-static-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-icc"

 !if "$(SOURCE_PATH)" == ""
 SOURCE_PATH = ..
@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@
               -DQT_NO_COMPRESS -DUNICODE -DHAVE_QCONFIG_CPP -DQT_BUILD_QMAKE -DQT_NO_THREAD \
               -DQT_NO_QOBJECT -DQT_NO_GEOM_VARIANT -DQT_NO_DATASTREAM -DQT_NO_PCRE -DQT_BOOTSTRAPPED \
               -DQLIBRARYINFO_EPOCROOT
-!if "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp"
-CFLAGS_BARE = $(CFLAGS_BARE) -D_USING_V110_SDK71_
-!endif
+!if "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-xp" || "$(QMAKESPEC)" == "win32-msvc2012-static-xp"
+CFLAGS_BARE = $(CFLAGS_BARE) -D_USING_V110_SDK71_
+!endif
 CFLAGS   = -Yuqmake_pch.h -FIqmake_pch.h -Fpqmake_pch.pch $(CFLAGS_BARE) $(CFLAGS)

 CXXFLAGS_BARE = $(CFLAGS_BARE)
# Set static runtime
--- mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static/qmake.conf    2013-06-07 09:17:00.000000000 -0400
+++ mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static/qmake.conf    2014-02-17 16:17:38.831119700 -0500
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 QMAKE_CFLAGS            = -nologo -Zm200 -Zc:wchar_t-
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_ON    = -W3
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_OFF   = -W0
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MD
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MD -Zi
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MDd
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MT
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MT -Zi -d2Zi+
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MTd -d2Zi+
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_YACC       =
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_LTCG       = -GL
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_MP         = -MP
# Set static runtime
--- mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static-xp/qmake.conf 2013-06-07 09:17:00.000000000 -0400
+++ mkspecs/win32-msvc2012-static-xp/qmake.conf 2014-02-17 16:17:38.831119700 -0500
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 QMAKE_CFLAGS            = -nologo -Zm200 -Zc:wchar_t-
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_ON    = -W3
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_WARN_OFF   = -W0
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MD
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MD -Zi
-QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MDd
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE    = -O2 -MT
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO += -O2 -MT -Zi -d2Zi+
+QMAKE_CFLAGS_DEBUG      = -Zi -MTd -d2Zi+
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_YACC       =
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_LTCG       = -GL
 QMAKE_CFLAGS_MP         = -MP