Qt Creator is messing with "Default Build Directory" setting?

Robert Hairgrove

I'm not sure why, but this used to be working:

In my global preferences, I have defined the "Default Build Directory" as follows:

../build/%{ActiveProject:Name}/%{Qt:Version}/%{BuildConfig:Name}

The project is a TEMPLATE=subdirs project using qmake, and the project file is SBBL.pro. The project is structured like this:

SBBL_DEV
├── SBBL_APP
│   ├── 3rd_party
│   ├── app
│   ├──── include
│   ├──── src
│   ├──── SBBL.pro
│   ├──── App.pro
│   ├──── Libs.pro
(etc.)

Since I have things under app and 3rd_party under source code management (Fossil) in two different repositories, the idea is that when I build the project, the artifacts will stay outside of the folders which are under Fossil SCM, i.e.:

SBBL_DEV
├── SBBL_APP
│   ├── 3rd_party
│   ├── app
│   ├── build
│   ├──── SBBL
│   ├────── 6.11.0
│   ├──────── Debug
│   ├──────── Release
│   ├── libs
(etc.)

When I open the project and examine the value of %{ActiveProject:Name}, this is SBBL as it should be. However, when I try to configure the project's kits, they all show build paths like this, e.g.:

[...]/SBBL_DEV/SBBL_APP/build/6.11.0/Debug
[...]/SBBL_DEV/SBBL_APP/build/6.11.0/Release
[...]/SBBL_DEV/SBBL_APP/build/6.11.0/Profile

The "SBBL" subfolder is missing!

As I said, this used to be working correctly. Am I missing something?

Robert Hairgrove

I fixed this by replacing "%{ActiveProject:Name}" with just "%{Project:Name}".

But how does one know the difference? In the list of variable replacements, they both resolve to "SBBL". Does this have to do with the "TEMPLATE=subdirs" setting?

OliverSo

Same problem here, since a while. I can't prove that this came with V18, but it did work properly in the past.

The issue seems to be that during creation of a new project with the assistant the field %{ActiveProject:Name} is not set during project configuration. Therfore the build directories in the build configurations are all set wrong.

If you add a build configuration manually in an already existing project all works as expected.

By the way: the default build path in the preferences (if you click the "reset" button") creates a build directory under the project directory. That's in many areas a no go.

@whomever this concerns: please fix the issue

aha_1980

@OliverSo: This is a user forum. Please report bugs at bugreports.qt.io/QTCREATORBUG

Thanks and regards

Robert Hairgrove

@OliverSo Thanks, I was beginning to think that nobody else had the same problem.

I believe there is an update for QTC out there; if the bug still persists, I shall file a bug report.

Robert Hairgrove

@OliverSo said in Qt Creator is messing with "Default Build Directory" setting?:

The issue seems to be that during creation of a new project with the assistant the field %{ActiveProject:Name} is not set during project configuration. Therfore the build directories in the build configurations are all set wrong.

Interesting ... when I have the project open and go to "Edit->Preferences->Build & Run" and then click on the little symbol in the edit field at the right by "Default Build Directory", I see that "%{ActiveProject:Name}" is filled in with the correct value. So you must be correct about it happening during creation of a new project.

cristian-adam

The issue with %{ActiveProject:Name} to be used as a default directory name, is that you need to configure the project to get the %{ActiveProject:Name}.

But in order to configure the project, you need the path, which also references the %{ActiveProject:Name}.

%{Project:Name} works because it's being picked from the .pro or CMakeLists.txt file.

Robert Hairgrove

@cristian-adam Thanks. So this is the classic "chicken or egg" problem.

I am wondering why this used to work, though?