• BuildPyQt4Windows

======================================================
   The No-fuss Guide to Building PyQt on Windows XP
======================================================
:Date: 2007-07-11
:Author: Martin Blais <blais@furius.ca>
:Abstract:

  This document contains instructions on building PyQt under Windows,
  using the pre-built binary version of Qt installed via its
  installer. 


Introduction
============

Typically, you want to built the PyQt snapshots when it is lagging a
little bit behind the Qt release. When I wrote this document, I wanted
to build PyQt for Qt-4.3.3 and there was no binary at that time.

See this thread for more details:
http://www.mail-archive.com/pyqt%40riverbankcomputing.com/index.html#11081

Note: follow these instructions to-the-letter. This is Windows. Any
slight variation might throw you off.

Versions
--------

This document is up-to-date for the following versions:

- Qt-4.3.3
- Python-2.5
- MinGW-5.1.3
- SIP snapshot as of 2007-07-11
- PyQt4 snapshot as of 2007-07-11


Detailed Instructions
=====================

Installing Qt
-------------

- Grab the binary installer (.exe) for the latest Qt release on
  TrollTech's webpage.

- Execute the installation, with or without MinGW depending on if you
  already have it. 

This will place Qt in ``C:\Qt\<version>`` by default.


Installing Python
-----------------

- Download the Python MSI binary from the python.org website and run
  it, and install it (typically in ``C:\Python25\python.exe``).


Installing MinGW
----------------

You will need an install of MinGW that contains ``mingw32-make.exe``.
Install MinGW using the binaries from the MinGW website.  I placed
mine in ``C:\MinGW``.

- Make sure you have::

   C:\MinGW\bin/mingw32-make.exe
   C:\MinGW\bin/g++.exe


Setting up for Build
--------------------

You MUST use the ``cmd.exe`` shell, and not Cygwin's bash nor MinGW
nor MKS not anything else.

Start ``cmd.exe`` and set your PATH to something clean that contains
both MinGW and Qt::

  set PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Qt\4.3.3\bin;C:\MinGW\bin

Verify your PATH configuration by running these two commands::

  g++ -v
  qmake -v


Building and Installing SIP
---------------------------

- Download and unpack the SIP snapshot source for Windows.

- Configure it, making sure to use the ``-p`` option (otherwise the
  build runs in an infinite loop)::

    C:\tmp\sip-snapshot-20070704> C:/Python25/python configure.py -p win32-g++
    C:\tmp\sip-snapshot-20070704> mingw32-make
    C:\tmp\sip-snapshot-20070704> mingw32-make install

This should install the following files in your Python library::

  C:\Python25\include\sip.h
  C:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\sip.pyd
  C:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\sipconfig.py
  C:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\sipconfig.pyc
  C:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\sipdistutils.py
  C:\Python25\sip.exe


Building and Installing PyQt
----------------------------

Using the same shell setup as above, 

- Download and unpack the PyQt4 snapshot source for Windows.

- Configure it::

    C:\tmp\PyQt-win-gpl-4-snapshot-20070710> C:/Python25/python configure.py -w
    Determining the layout of your Qt installation...
    C:\Qt\4.3.3\bin\qmake.exe -o qtdirs.mk qtdirs.pro
    mingw32-make -f qtdirs.mk release
    mingw32-make -f qtdirs.mk.Release
    mingw32-make[1]: Entering directory `C:/tmp/PyQt-win-gpl-4-snapshot-20070710'
    g++ -c -O2 -frtti -fexceptions -mthreads -Wall -DUNICODE [...]
    g++ -enable-stdcall-fixup -Wl,-enable-auto-import [...]
    lqtmain -lQtCore4
    mingw32-make[1]: Leaving directory `C:/tmp/PyQt-win-gpl-4-snapshot-20070710'
    release\qtdirs.exe
    This is the GPL version of PyQt 4-snapshot-20070710 (licensed under the GNU
    General Public License) for Python 2.5 on win32.

    Type 'L' to view the license.
    Type 'yes' to accept the terms of the license.
    Type 'no' to decline the terms of the license.

    Do you accept the terms of the license? yes
    Checking to see if the QtGui module should be built...
    g++ -DUNICODE -DQT_LARGEFILE_SUPPORT -DQT_DLL -DQT_NO_DEBUG -DQT_GUI_LIB -I. -IC:\Qt\4.3.3\mkspecs\default [...]
    [...]

  This should complete succesfully.

  Note: you should not have to set any variable. QTDIR is now
  obsolete. QMAKESPEC should be found automatically, but if it is not,
  you can probably safely use the ``-p win32-g++`` option.

- Compile it::

    C:\tmp\PyQt-win-gpl-4-snapshot-20070710> mingw32-make

- Install it::

    C:\tmp\PyQt-win-gpl-4-snapshot-20070710> mingw32-make install


This should install the following files::

  C:/Python25
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/pyqtconfig.py
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/Qt.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtAssistant.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtCore.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtDesigner.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtGui.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtNetwork.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtOpenGL.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtScript.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtSql.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtSvg.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtTest.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/QtXml.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/uic
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/uic/Compiler
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/uic/Loader
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/uic/widget-plugins
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/sip.pyd
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/sipconfig.py
  C:/Python25/Lib/site-packages/sipconfig.pyc
  C:/Python25/pylupdate4.exe
  C:/Python25/pyrcc4.exe
  C:/Python25/pyuic4.bat
  C:/Python25/sip
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/Qt
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/Qt/Qtmod.sip
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtAssistant
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtCore
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtDesigner
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtGui
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtNetwork
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtOpenGL
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtScript
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtSql
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtSvg
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtTest
  C:/Python25/sip/PyQt4/QtXml


Test It
=======

Run Python and import PyQt4 to test it::

  C:\tmp\PyQt-win-gpl-4-snapshot-20070710>C:/Python25/python
  Python 2.5 (r25:51908, Sep 19 2006, 09:52:17) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
  Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
  >>> from PyQt4.Qt import *
  >>> from sip import *
  >>> print SIP_VERSION_STR, QT_VERSION_STR, PYQT_VERSION_STR