Packaging Qt apps for Mac OS X

Once you got tired of reading and trying to comprehend Deploying an Application on Mac OS X in the Qt documentation, you realize at the bottom of the page that all you have to do is:

1. Build your application in release mode
2. Execute "macdeployqt myprog.app"
   • see -h for options
   • good to use -verbose=2

This will bundle all the Qt libraries into the myprog.app - this will be approximately 40 MB. I guess one could still do the manual process for small applications that do not need all the Qt libraries. Or maybe the unnecessary libraries can be removed again manually?

Note: http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.7/mac-differences.html#bundle-based-libraries

To create a .dmg we can either use the -dmg option to macdeployqt or use the Mac Disk Utility as described here or here (without the encryption part). In the most basic form:

1. Move myprog.app and all other files into a directory
2. Start Disk Utility
3. Select File → New → Disk Image from Folder
   • Image Format: compressed
   • Encryption: none
   • Other choices may work as well.

Application and package icon

1. Create an icon with size 512x512 pixels
   • Format can be tiff, png, ...
   • Best from SVG (try http://commons.wikimedia.org)
2. Drag and drop it into Icon Composer
   • Start with the largest one, then drag it to smaller ones.
3. Save .icns file
   • Note: Icon Composer can also create .ico file but these use different sizes
4. Edit project.pro and add: ICON = path/to/icons.icns
   • Can be wrapped in a macx { ... } contditional, see e.g. qthid-2.2
5. Ejoy the results:
   • http://twitpic.com/42d86d
   • http://twitpic.com/431ilo

Note: We can also copy and paste .icns files in/out of the bundle and edit the .plist file.

During runtime the dock icon can be changed by calling QWidget::setWindowIcon() on the main window.

Including addition data

How?

References

Bundle Programming Guide