libQGLViewer installation
Unix systems

» Installation on Linux and Unix : libQGLViewer and Qt
» Installation on Macintosh : libQGLViewer and Qt
» QGLViewer designer plugin installation
» Troubleshooting

Linux and Unix

Compilation and installation

Directly install Debian package (made by Artur Czechowski) or the pre-compiled RPM (built on Fedora Core 2 with gcc 3.3.3):

rpm -Uvh libQGLViewer-2.1.1-6.i586.rpm libQGLViewer-devel-2.1.1-6.i586.rpm

You should re-compile for optimal results:

rpmbuild --rebuild libQGLViewer-2.1.1-6.src.rpm
cd /usr/src/RPM/RPMS/i586/ (or /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586, see the rpmbuild last log lines)
rpm -Uvh libQGLViewer-*2.1.1-6.i?86.rpm

or using the source tarball:

tar -xzf libQGLViewer-2.1.1-6.tar.gz
cd libQGLViewer-2.1.1-6/QGLViewer
qmake (see options below)
make
make install

You need root privileges to install the library, since default install paths are system directories.

Compilation of the examples

Once the library is compiled, compile the examples:

cd ../examples
qmake
make

Custom installation

The following files are installed:

The library (libQGLViewer-2.1.1.so and libQGLViewer-2.1.1.a) in /usr/lib
The header files and designer plugin code in /usr/include/QGLViewer
The documentation and the examples in /usr/share/doc/QGLViewer

» RPM customization
If you want to change the RPM installation prefix, say to /usr/local (default is /usr), use rpm -Uvh --prefix /usr/local ... in the rpm command line instead.

» qmake customization
Optional qmake parameters let you customize your make install target installation directories:

qmake [PREFIX=...] [INCLUDE_DIR=...] [LIB_DIR=...] [DOC_DIR=...]

A typical usage would be qmake PREFIX=$HOME. Default values are:

- Param -      - Default value -
PREFIX         /usr
LIB_DIR        PREFIX/lib
INCLUDE_DIR    PREFIX/include
DOC_DIR        PREFIX/share/doc

Use the same qmake parameters when you compile the examples.

If your Qt version is lower than 3.1, you need to link with the glut library: uncomment a line in QGLViewer.pro as explained there.
glut can be installed from the freeglut-devel rpm or using apt-get install libglut3-dev.

Qt installation on Linux

You need to have the Qt library installed in order to run libQGLViewer. Qt is probably already installed on your machine, or available on your distribution CDs. You may however have to install the "dev" development package. The complete Qt/X11 non commercial version can also freely be downloaded from Trolltech.

Try to compile a simple Qt example and check the Qt FAQ page in case of problem. Consider compiling one of the Qt OpenGL examples to test your configuration.

With Qt version 3, you need to set some shell variables. If your shell is bash or zsh (use echo $SHELL to know), add these lines to your .profile:

export QTDIR=/usr/lib/qt3 (or /usr/lib/qt-3.3 or /usr/share/qt...)
export PATH=${PATH}:${QTDIR}/bin
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${QTDIR}/lib

If you use tcsh or csh instead, add these lines to your .login:

setenv QTDIR /usr/lib/qt3 (or /usr/lib/qt-3.3 or /usr/share/qt...)
setenv PATH ${PATH}:${QTDIR}/bin
setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${QTDIR}/lib

Source this file or open a new shell to take these values into account. If you installed libQGLViewer in a custom directory, add the path to this directory in LD_LIBRARY_PATH as is done above for ${QTDIR}/lib.

Mac OS X

The installation procedure is essentially identical to the one described in the Linux section:

tar -xzf libQGLViewer-2.1.1-6.tar.gz
cd libQGLViewer-2.1.1-6/QGLViewer
qmake
make
make install

See the Linux section for details and install paths customization. Once the library is installed, compile the examples and test them:

cd ../examples
qmake
make

Threads are activated with the darwin-g++ version and disabled with macx. Add or remove thread in the CONFIG section of .pro files if this does not correspond to your Qt configuration.

If your Qt version is lower than 3.1, you need to link with the glut library. Install glut and uncomment a line in QGLViewer.pro as explained.

Qt installation on Mac

Qt is available under two versions for the mac architecture :

The Qt/Mac native version (also called macx) designed for Aqua, and released as a GPL Free Edition. It can freely be downloaded from Trolltech.
The darwin version, that relies on the X11 implementation. You need to launch the X11 application to run your programs and have to install Qt using the free X11 edition.

With Qt version 3, you have to define some variables as is detailed in the Qt linux section. Check their current values first.
If your shell is bash or zsh (use echo $SHELL to know), add these lines to your .profile:

export QTDIR=/sw (if you use fink, or to set to where ever Qt was installed)
export PATH=${PATH}:${QTDIR}/bin
export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=${DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${QTDIR}/lib
export QMAKESPEC=darwin-g++ (or macx-g++ or macx-xcode or macx-pbuilder)

If you use tcsh or csh instead, add these lines to your .login:

setenv QTDIR /sw (if you use fink, or to set to where ever Qt was installed)
setenv PATH ${PATH}:${QTDIR}/bin
setenv DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH ${DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${QTDIR}/lib
setenv QMAKESPEC darwin-g++ (or macx-g++ or macx-xcode or macx-pbuilder)

Your QMAKESPEC should correspond to your Qt installation : macx-g++ for Qt/Mac (or macx-mwerks with CodeWarrior, macx-pbuilder with Project Builder) and darwin-g++ for X11. Compile a simple Qt example to check your configuration.

If you installed libQGLViewer in a custom directory, add the path to this directory in DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH as is done above for ${QTDIR}/lib.

Installation of the designer plugin

This installation is optional. To compile and install the QGLViewer designer plugin:

cd designerPlugin
qmake
make
make install

This last step requires root privileges since the plugin is installed in QTDIR/plugins/designer, which is usually a system directory. The designerPlugin directory is located in the tarball root directory or in /usr/include/QGLViewer/designerPlugin if you installed QGLViewer from the RPM.

Such a plugin eases the creation of user interfaces that feature a QGLViewer using designer. It makes a QGLViewer icon appear in the designer's Display widget tab. When added to your user interface, the widget displays the standard spiral, which can be manipulated when you test your interface.

All the viewers' signals and slots are available and can be connected to your interface.

Start from this code to create your own designer plugin for your derived QGLViewer classes. See the code of the plugin for details.

With Qt version 3, an alternative to this plugin is to add a "Custom Widget" using the Tools/Custom designer menu. Load Descriptions... and provide the qglviewer.cw custom widget description file, located in the QGLViewer header files directory. You can customize this description with your own signals and slots and change the header file path.

See the interface example for an illustration of a Qt user interface that includes a QGLViewer.

Troubleshooting

Here are some error messages that you may encounter and the solution to the problem:

declaration of qtObsolete conflicts with previous declaration : error message. See the mac example section.
uic: File generated with too recent version of Qt Designer : try to change the version="" in the first line of the ui file.
Error while loading shared libraries : You must add the path to libQGLViewer.so in your LD_LIBRARY_PATH (see above).
Random or no display : This may come from a bug in your compiler. Try to edit QGLViewer.pro, replace release by debug in the CONFIG line, and re-compile.
lib3ds : This library is needed to compile the 3dsViewer example. Download the patched lib3ds-1.2.0-1.i686.rpm or the sources (lib3ds-1.2.0-1.src.rpm or lib3ds-1.2.0.tar.gz).
libX3DTK : This library is needed to compile the x3dViewer example. Download the library from the X3DTK web site.
The indicated type is incomplete error message in qvaluevector.h while compiling keyFrameInterpolator.cpp: include frame.h (see top of keyFrameInterpolator.cpp).
overloading cannot distinguish from previous declaration : while compiling translate and rotate in Frame.h. Simply comment the const versions of these methods.
cp: illegal option -- P : This option is very useful but may not be available on your machine. Remove the QMAKE_COPY_FILE modification in QGLViewer.pro
gcc 2.95: ostream operator << with QString : Uncomment the patch in config.h
Undefined reference to QString::QString: Add/remove thread in the CONFIG line of QGLViewer.pro and re-compile.
exception handling disabled: Add QMAKE_CXXFLAGS *= -fexceptions in QGLViewer.pro.

Please let me know if you encounter specific installation problems.

Last modified on Sunday, September 18, 2005.

libQGLViewer installation Unix systems