QTCHOOSER(1)

QTCHOOSER 💅

okay so bestie, listen — qtchooser is a wrapper used to select between Qt development binary versions. that's the whole vibe. it's the little matchmaker that decides which Qt shows up to the party. ✨

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

qtchooser -list-versions
qtchooser -print-env [-qt=version]
qtchooser -run-tool=tool [-qt=version] [program_arguments]
<executable_name> [-qt=version] [program_arguments]

no cap, that last one is the sneaky one — it's how you actually use it day to day. 👑

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so Qt is a cross-platform C++ application framework. and its whole main character thing is its rich set of widgets that give you standard GUI functionality. gorgeous, iconic, we love her. 🎀

the Qt Chooser is the wrapper that lets you switch between versions of Qt development binaries when you've got multiple versions installed — like 4 and 5 both chilling on your machine — or when you wanna use local Qt builds instead of the system ones. it's giving "let me pick which one you're talking to". ✨

and the way it's commonly used? via a symlink from an executable_name like qmake. that's the move. that's the whole bit. 🦋

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

these are the options that apply to the qtchooser command, bestie:

• -list-versions — lists all the available Qt versions, pulled straight from the configuration files. vibe check on what you've got installed. 💅
• -print-env — prints environment information. receipts, basically. 🧾
• -qt=version — selects version as the Qt version to be used. the "okay THIS one" flag. 👑
• -run-tool=tool — runs the selected tool. 🏃

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• QTCHOOSER_NO_GLOBAL_DIR — if qtchooser has been built with QTCHOOSER_GLOBAL_DIR (those are predefined search paths for qtchooser's configuration files, useful in some distros), then setting this variable will override its effect. like, no thank you to the global dir today. 🙈
• QT_SELECT — same as -qt=version. if it's set, the selected configuration gets used, and binaries symlinked to qtchooser will just be executed without any additional parameters. set it and forget it, fr fr. 💜
• XDG_CONFIG_HOME
• XDG_CONFIG_DIRS — used as specified in <http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html>

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• /etc/xdg/qtchooser/*.conf — system-wide configuration files. each one has two lines: the first is the path to the binaries, and the second is the path to the Qt libraries. and if a default.conf is provided, the settings from it will automatically be used in case nothing else is selected. it's the fallback bestie. 🫶
• $HOME/.config/qtchooser/*.conf — user configuration files. your personal stash. 🌸

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

qtchooser was written by Thiago Macieira from Intel. king behaviour. 👑

this manual page was written by Timo Jyrinki <timo@debian.org>, for the Debian project (but may be used by others). 💖

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and that's the tea, bestie — this page is dated JANUARY 2, 2013, it's page QTCHOOSER(1) of the General Commands Manual, and honestly? iconic since day one. periodt. 💅✨🎀