Setting up QT on Ubuntu Linux

I have been used and played around on Linux for about 2 years. My main activity are basically typing documents, surfing Internet, troubleshooting and administration work. But in this year, I have to move on to do some development work on Linux. Due to the limitation on my technical knowledge on Dell E5400, and also the number of Linux distribution choices available on my desk, I have chosen Ubuntu 7.10 as my primary OS for the QT development.

First of all, I am using Dell E5400. I am failed to install Ubuntu through the start up menu. My laptop hangs during the middle of startup when I was trying to install. But anyhow, I was able to install through the “Live” startup. (There will be an “install” icon on desktop after the OS boot up.) But it comes into trouble when setting up QT open source version, there were some package was not properly install in the OS. This is due to the limited size of the CD. It is impossible to get everything squeeze into the CD with the just 700MB. Thus I have to manually install the require package through Synaptic Package Manager.

Nothing was missing in the QT INSTALL manual, it just that I didn’t read properly on the output during the compilation process. That’s why I failed to install QT. INSTALL manual have given a deep clear installation instruction. But it didn’t mention which kernel package are require for the compilation. Because it is varies depends on which distribution that everyone will be installed. Thus I need to pay close attention on the output during the compilation process. Once found a require package is not there, then only install that particular kernel package in order to get QT compile and install properly. The last step is “make install”. This step is important because it will install QT into root directory so that everyone is accessible. If not, an error “command not found” will be shown when qmake command is being issue.

Last thing to remember, QT installation must be perform under root user because it will require write access to the system directory. Otherwise installation will fail.