Trouble building a release copy for android

kgregory · 14 Oct 2017, 10:18

I've been debugging my android app in QT Creator using Quick2 and I'm ready to build a release copy. I set QT Creator into "Release" mode (it had been in debug mode) and hit the build button. However it still produces a debug copy of my app. (Google play won't let me upload the .apk because it is a "debuggable .apk")

I'm admittedly clueless on how this process works. Can anyone provide any tips on how to get a release copy?

koahnig · wrote on 14 Oct 2017, 10:18

@kgregory

Is the size of the release version different from your debug version?
You may have to rerun qmake and rebuild for getter a release version.

BTW the name of .apk may be changed to anything. It is an archive.

kgregory · 17 Oct 2017, 03:54

They are slightly different sizes. 13,970kB for debug and 13,731kB for release. Both files have the word "debug" on their name. The release one has the word "release" on it's build folder name while the debug has "debug" in the folder name. Google play won't accept either one of them.

Literally all I'm doing to switch between debug and release builds is clicking the button in the lower left, selecting either release or debug then clicking the build button below. Is there something else I should be doing to switch modes?

kgregory · 17 Oct 2017, 04:41

Is this a limitation of the community edition?

jsulm · 18 Oct 2017, 02:53

@kgregory To me it looks like your release build isn't really a release build: release build should be much smaller than debug build. You should check the settings for the release build.
There are no limitations in the open source Qt version. There are modules only available in the commercial version, but everything else is same.

koahnig · wrote on 17 Oct 2017, 08:30

There is I posted earlier this year similar questions on size and naming of android apk
Finally I could find the thread.

The size difference between debug and release versions of an application for android is not as drastic as with linux/windows apps. At least when looking at the overall size. Probably best is to compare the part in the .apk file which is not part of Qt libs. My application had about 7 MB, but most of it are not my application. Therefore, the question is,if there are bigger Qt libs bound into it.

kgregory · 18 Oct 2017, 04:21

@jsulm I suspected as much. What settings should I be looking at? I'm poking through the settings but nothing is popping out to me as obvious.

jsulm · wrote on 18 Oct 2017, 04:21

@kgregory In QtCreator on the left side click on "Projects", select "Build" and then "Release". Check the build steps.

kgregory · 20 Oct 2017, 08:33

I tried playing around with these build settings a bit and I'm still not having any luck. Is there anything obvious here?

koahnig · wrote on 20 Oct 2017, 08:33

@kgregory

I have compare with my settings. I did not find a difference.

Also still as in the post already mentioned above (https://forum.qt.io/topic/80168/size-and-naming-of-android-apk) the outcome of a release linkage is still "android-build-debug.apk".

Probably a better option for discussing this topic is https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/android-qt

kgregory · 24 Oct 2017, 13:22

Found the answer: there is a guide on publishing for Android. Following those steps to build a manifest and sign the .apk solved my problem. Thanks for the replys!

koahnig · 24 Oct 2017, 21:03

@kgregory

Good to know that your problem is solved.

I would be good to share a link to the place where you found the solution. This will help others.

kgregory · wrote on 24 Oct 2017, 21:03

Here is the solution.

http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/publishtogoogleplay.html