Building QTM from source

First of all, you need to configure the software. We use CMake to do this.

If you are using Qt 4.2, you might like to compile the system-tray icon module. This enables you to run QTM as a background process, and open up windows by right-clicking on the icon and choosing "New Entry" or "Open", as necessary, from its menu. Qt 4.1 does not have this feature. If you want it, you need to enable the USE_STI option.

First, extract the source bundle:

tar zxvf qtm-[version].tar.gz

This should extract the source files to a new directory or "folder" in your file system. Use cd to change the current directory to that directory. (Note: if the file ends in .bz2 rather than .gz, use jxvf instead of zxvf.)

Then configure as follows:

cmake [-D USE_STI:BOOL=TRUE] .

Omit the brackets; they only mean that the text inside is optional. If you do not want the system tray icon, you leave that section out. See this page for a full list of CMake options (highly recommended).

You can also use the NO_SSL switch (in versions after 0.6-beta 1) to disable SSL support, which allows the quickposting of articles which require HTTPS rather than normal HTTP to download. The syntax is the same:

cmake [other options] -D NO_SSL:BOOL=TRUE .

By default, QTM will be installed in /usr/local/bin. If you want it somewhere else, such as in /usr/bin or your home directory, you use the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX option:

cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr .

You don't need to specify the "bin" directory; as standard, executable files go there. Of course, you can use this in conjunction with the USE_STI option, or any other option. Note that the dot at the end is necessary; it represents the current directory. CMake will not work without it.

CMake will check various things about your development tools, your operating system and whether Qt is installed. Older versions of CMake do not properly detect installations of Qt, particularly self-compiled installs. This is why I recommend version 2.4.5.

If it configures correctly, type make at the shell prompt. When this is finished, run make install. If you are installing it in a place accessible to everyone (that is to say, anywhere except your home directory), you need to run this with sudo or as root, and enter the relevant password. You thus need to be an owner or administrator.

Building QTM on Windows

Qt is not installed as standard on Windows as it is, increasingly, on Linux, so you will need to download it from the Trolltech website. There is also a graphical installer for CMake, which by default installs it in "C:\Program Files\CMake 2.4". When running CMake, you will probably have to specify the full path, or add the directory "C:\Program Files\CMake 2.4\bin" to the path, using the PATH command:

PATH %path%;"C:\Program Files\CMake 2.4\bin"

You do not have to enter this in full; after you type the first few letters of each name after the backslash, press the Tab button and it will fill the rest in for you (you may have to press it more than once). Another directory you might have to add to the path, particularly on Windows Vista, runs something like "C:\MinGW\libexec\gcc\mingw32\3.4.2".

On Windows, right now QTM only supports building with MinGW, a library and set of tools which supports Unix-style program building processes on Windows. If you install Qt from the standard Trolltech download, it will download MinGW from the Trolltech website and install it for you. You need to add this into the cmake command; you can do this before the dot or before or after any option (but not in the middle of an option, i.e. after the -D):

-G "MinGW Makefiles"

Hence, your command will look like this:

cmake -D USE_STI:BOOL=TRUE -G "MinGW Makefiles" .