How to use shadow build with relative subdirs?

Question

I'm trying to use a SUBDIR qmake-project with relative subdirectories:

TEMPLATE = subdirs
SUBDIRS = app ../lib1

When QT creator build this project using "shadow build", which means in an other directory, it puts the output of the file this way:

Shadow-Build-Directory/
    app/
        main.obj
        ...

The problem is that because my subdir is relative, it uses the same relative path for the output, trying to put lib1 build in Shadow-Build-Directory/../lib1 !

How can I avoid this ?

EDIT: I'm using latest Qt 5.5.

Can't you put the lib1 project on the same level of app project, so it's inside the root project tree ? — Tryum
I will have multiple applications (maybe 10 or more) using this library. I would like to have a clean directory. Anyway if this is the only solution, I won't have many choices :/ — Thibaut D.
You could put Shadow-Build-Directory in an empty directory, where lib1 folder wouldn't be a problem. — Pavel Strakhov

Tryum Tryum · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-24T14:06:17

New answer : I made some tests and being outside of the root project seems to be a big problem for qmake : $$shadowed() returns nothing (as stated in the documentation for being outside of source tree), and for the same reasons, .qmake.conf (undocumented feature) in root project directory isn't loaded in lib1 project.

I think the solution to you problem is to keep lib1 as a standalone project, build the library once and for all. Then include the reference to the binaries and headers of lib1 in each of your projects.

It could even be automated with qmake features : In each of your projects, you give the path of your lib1 properly written feature, then adding

CONFIG += lib1

would automatically configure include path and link directive for your projects.

Old Answer : Can't try right now, but I guess that

DESTDIR = $$shadowed($$PWD)/lib1

in lib.pro file should fix you problem.

How to use shadow build with relative subdirs?

1 Answers