How to separate release and debug builds in Qt?

Question

I would like to put binaries of release and debug build in different folders beside source code. in .pro file:

CONFIG(debug){
    DESTDIR = ./debug
    OBJECTS_DIR = debug/.obj
    MOC_DIR = debug/.moc
    RCC_DIR = debug/.rcc
    UI_DIR = debug/.ui
}

CONFIG(release){
    DESTDIR = ./release
    OBJECTS_DIR = release/.obj
    MOC_DIR = release/.moc
    RCC_DIR = release/.rcc
    UI_DIR = release/.ui
}

For release builds everything is good. I have a ./release directory in root of project. But for debug build, qmake didn't create a debug directory, it's name is release (again!):

qmake CONFIG+=debug CONFIG+=local 
// generates release and put everything in that directory
// but I want debug directory !

Update:

Replacing order of debug and release, makes debug directory. Only last config is seen by qmake...

Doesn't this happen automatically? For me it does - I get different builds in separate directory in the same path as the project folder. — dtech

Michael Wild Michael Wild · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-19T13:16:29

If you really have to do in-source builds and have separate output directories, I think you need to change your conditionals per documentation to

CONFIG(debug, debug|release){
    DESTDIR = ./debug
    OBJECTS_DIR = debug/.obj
    MOC_DIR = debug/.moc
    RCC_DIR = debug/.rcc
    UI_DIR = debug/.ui
}

CONFIG(release, debug|release){
    DESTDIR = ./release
    OBJECTS_DIR = release/.obj
    MOC_DIR = release/.moc
    RCC_DIR = release/.rcc
    UI_DIR = release/.ui
}

Don't ask me why, though. IMHO QMake is an abomination that should be avoided at all cost...

How to separate release and debug builds in Qt?

2 Answers