This page describes ways to build a Qt5 toolchain for Allwinner devices.

Qt cross-compiler toolchain

A cross-compiler toolchain is the most practical option for building Qt binaries. Native compiler performance on most Allwinner devices is relatively good but you can get better performance on a laptop. The configuration and build process of a cross-compiler toolchain is not too difficult. You may have a working Qt cross-compiler in a matter of minutes, provided you have a system root for your device on the host machine. The below solution should work for all Cortex-A8 devices with Mali-400 and can also apply to devices with other ARM processor cores after minor modifications. The instructions work for Debian Jessie. Note that old stable Sunxi kernels before 3.4.105 may be incompatible with Jessie because of systemd. In that case Debian Wheezy is an option, see Qt5_For_Mali_Binaries#Debian_Wheezy for appropriate adjustments.

Get ARM C and C++ cross-compilers

Install a C++ cross-compiler on your host, for example, from the Emdebian repository:

 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install gcc-4.7-arm-linux-gnueabihf g++-4.7-arm-linux-gnueabihf

provided that your /etc/apt/sources.list has the following lines:

 deb http://www.emdebian.org/debian/ testing main
 deb http://www.emdebian.org/debian/ unstable main

Install appropriate alternatives by hand since these are not created automatically:

 sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc \
   arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc-4.7 100
 sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++ \
   arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++ /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++-4.7 100

Build the system root

Set up a Debian Testing system on your host. See Mainline_Debian_HowTo for exact commands. SD-card setup can be skipped if installing on the local disk. I will assume /var/sunxi-root to be the system root:

 export SUNXI_SYSROOT=/var/sunxi-root

Install video drivers

Download libump sources and libMali binaries as described in Mali_binary_driver to your disk. Copy the downloaded trees to $SUNXI_SYSROOT and install these libraries from within chroot.

Install development packages

Install XCB packages to $SUNXI_SYSROOT from chroot:

apt-get install libxcb1 libxcb1-dev libx11-xcb1 libx11-xcb-dev \
  libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-image0 libxcb-image0-dev \
  libxcb-shm0 libxcb-shm0-dev libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-icccm4-dev \
  libxcb-sync0-dev libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-render-util0-dev \
  libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxrender-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev \
  libxcb-glx0-dev

Also install zlib library and headers:

apt-get install zlib1g-dev

Do not exit from the chroot prompt because you are going to use it below.

Download Qt

Download Qt to your host (not to $SUNXI_SYSROOT):

 git clone git://gitorious.org/qt/qt5.git qt5
 cd qt5
 git checkout 5.4
 perl init-repository --no-webkit

Create Qt device config

 mkdir qtbase/mkspecs/devices/linux-sunxi-g++

 cat <<EOF > qtbase/mkspecs/devices/linux-sunxi-g++/qplatformdefs.h
 #include "../../linux-g++/qplatformdefs.h"
 EOF

cat <<EOF > qtbase/mkspecs/devices/linux-sunxi-g++/qmake.conf
#
# Qt system configuration for Sunxi Cortex-A8 devices
#
# Mali library and include files should be found in the standard locations in
# /usr in sysroot.
#

include(../common/linux_device_pre.conf)

QT_QPA_DEFAULT_PLATFORM = xcb

DISTRO_OPTS += deb-multi-arch
DISTRO_OPTS += hard-float

SYSROOT_INC = $$[QT_SYSROOT]/usr/include
SYSROOT_LIB = $$[QT_SYSROOT]/usr/lib

COMPILER_FLAGS = -marm -march=armv7-a -mtune=cortex-a8

QMAKE_CFLAGS   += -I $${SYSROOT_INC} \
                  -I $${SYSROOT_INC}/$${GCC_MACHINE_DUMP}

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -I $${SYSROOT_INC} \
                  -I $${SYSROOT_INC}/$${GCC_MACHINE_DUMP}

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE += -O3

QMAKE_LFLAGS   += -Wl,-rpath-link,$$[QT_SYSROOT]/usr/lib \
                  -Wl,-rpath-link,$$[QT_SYSROOT]/lib

QMAKE_LIBS += -lrt -lpthread -ldl

# Mali EGL and GLES2 are in fact located in the same .so file.
QMAKE_INCDIR_EGL        = $$[SYSROOT_INC]
QMAKE_LIBDIR_EGL        = $$[SYSROOT_LIB]
QMAKE_INCDIR_OPENGL_ES2 = $${QMAKE_INCDIR_EGL}
QMAKE_LIBDIR_OPENGL_ES2 = $${QMAKE_LIBDIR_EGL}

QMAKE_LIBS_EGL          = -lEGL
QMAKE_LIBS_OPENGL_ES2   = -lGLESv2

include(../common/linux_arm_device_post.conf)

load(qt_config)
EOF

Configure Qt

The below will configure Qt for installation into /opt/qt/sunxi on both the host and the target:

./configure -v -debug -opensource -confirm-license -no-use-gold-linker \
  -nomake examples -nomake tests -nomake tools -no-cups -no-pch -no-linuxfb \
  -skip qtquick1 -skip declarative -skip multimedia -opengl es2 -no-eglfs \
  -system-xcb -system-zlib -sysroot $SUNXI_SYSROOT -device linux-sunxi-g++ \
  -device-option CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- -prefix /opt/qt/sunxi

If configuration is successfull, you will see stats like these:

Build options:
  Configuration .......... accessibility accessibility-atspi-bridge audio-backend c++11 clock-gettime clock-monotonic compile_examples concurrent cross_compile dbus debug egl evdev eventfd freetype full-config getaddrinfo getifaddrs harfbuzz iconv inotify ipv6ifname large-config largefile medium-config minimal-config mremap nis opengl opengles2 pcre png posix_fallocate qpa qpa reduce_exports rpath shared small-config system-zlib xcb xcb-glx xcb-plugin xcb-render xcb-xlib xkbcommon-qt 
  Build parts ............ libs
  Mode ................... debug
  Using C++11 ............ yes
  Using gold linker....... no
  Using PCH .............. no
  Target compiler supports:
    Neon ................. no

Qt modules and options:
  Qt D-Bus ............... yes (loading dbus-1 at runtime)
  Qt Concurrent .......... yes
  Qt GUI ................. yes
  Qt Widgets ............. yes
  Large File ............. yes
  QML debugging .......... yes
  Use system proxies ..... no

Support enabled for:
  Accessibility .......... yes
  ALSA ................... no
  CUPS ................... no
  Evdev .................. yes
  FontConfig ............. no
  FreeType ............... yes (bundled copy)
  Glib ................... no
  GTK theme .............. no
  HarfBuzz ............... yes (bundled copy)
  Iconv .................. yes
  ICU .................... no
  Image formats: 
    GIF .................. yes (plugin, using bundled copy)
    JPEG ................. yes (plugin, using bundled copy)
    PNG .................. yes (in QtGui, using bundled copy)
  journald ............... no
  mtdev .................. no
  Networking: 
    getaddrinfo .......... yes
    getifaddrs ........... yes
    IPv6 ifname .......... yes
    OpenSSL .............. no
  NIS .................... yes
  OpenGL / OpenVG: 
    EGL .................. yes
    OpenGL ............... yes (OpenGL ES 2.0+)
    OpenVG ............... no
  PCRE ................... yes (bundled copy)
  pkg-config ............. yes 
  PulseAudio ............. no
  QPA backends: 
    DirectFB ............. no
    EGLFS ................ no
    KMS .................. no
    LinuxFB .............. no
    XCB .................. yes (system library)
      EGL on X ........... no
      GLX ................ yes
      MIT-SHM ............ yes
      Xcb-Xlib ........... yes
      Xcursor ............ yes (loaded at runtime)
      Xfixes ............. yes (loaded at runtime)
      Xi ................. yes (loaded at runtime)
      Xi2 ................ no
      Xinerama ........... yes (loaded at runtime)
      Xrandr ............. yes (loaded at runtime)
      Xrender ............ no
      XKB ................ no
      XShape ............. yes
      XSync .............. yes
      XVideo ............. yes
  Session management ..... yes
  SQL drivers: 
    DB2 .................. no
    InterBase ............ no
    MySQL ................ no
    OCI .................. no
    ODBC ................. no
    PostgreSQL ........... no
    SQLite 2 ............. no
    SQLite ............... yes (plugin, using bundled copy)
    TDS .................. no
  udev ................... no
  xkbcommon .............. yes (bundled copy, XKB config root: /usr/share/X11/xkb)
  zlib ................... yes (system library)


NOTE: Qt is using double for qreal on this system. This is binary incompatible against Qt 5.1.
Configure with '-qreal float' to create a build that is binary compatible with 5.1.

Qt is now configured for building. Just run 'make'.
Once everything is built, you must run 'make install'.
Qt will be installed into /opt/qt/sunxi

Prior to reconfiguration, make sure you remove any leftovers from
the previous build.

Make and install

This will make and install the cross-compiler as well as the Qt environment for the Sunxi device:

 make -j4
 sudo make install

This installs the host cross-compiler into /opt/qt/sunxi and the target shared libraries and utilities to $SUNXI_SYSROOT/opt/qt/sunxi. You should then be able to copy the target Qt tree from $SUNXI_SYSROOT onto your Sunxi device root file system.

You may also want to add Qt binaries such as qmake to the path on the host:

 export PATH=/opt/qt/sunxi/bin:$PATH

Test

 cd qtbase/examples/qtestlib/tutorial1/
 qmake
 make

The above should produce a working ARM binary ./tutorial1. Run it from chroot with the option -platform offscreen.

Debian Wheezy

On Debian Wheezy system zlib doesn't seem to link correctly with Qt 5.4. Therefore don't install zlib1g-dev onto the target and configure Qt without the -system-zlib option. Also remove -lrt from the definition of QMAKE_LIBS in qtbase/mkspecs/devices/linux-sunxi-g++/qmake.conf. Debootstrap and chroot procedures are the same as for Jessie, only specify wheezy instead of testing during bootstrapping and apt initialisation.

Native compilation

Another way to get Qt on a Sunxi device is to compile Qt from source in-place.

Here are instructions to be executed on the device, assuming X11, UMP and Mali drivers (see Mali_binary_driver):

  wget http://download.qt-project.org/official_releases/qt/5.1/5.1.0/single/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-5.1.0.tar.gz
  tar -xzf qt-everywhere-opensource-src-5.1.0.tar.gz
  cd qt-everywhere-opensource-src-5.1.0
  ./configure -release -opensource -confirm-license -opengl es2 -no-eglfs -no-linuxfb -no-pch
  make
  make install

This will take hours to compile on Allwinner A10 device! You may want to run it overnight.

It may make sense to check the configure output before starting compilation. It may look like this (be sure that OpenGL ES 2.x is detected):

Configure summary

Build type: linux-g++ (arm, CPU features: neon)
Platform notes:

- Also available for Linux: linux-kcc linux-icc linux-cxx

Build options:
Configuration .......... accessibility accessibility-atspi-bridge alsa audio-backend c++11 clock-gettime clock-monotonic concurrent cups dbus egl evdev eventfd fontconfig full-config getaddrinfo getifaddrs glib gstreamer gtk2 gtkstyle iconv icu inotify ipv6ifname large-config largefile libudev medium-config minimal-config mremap neon nis opengl opengles2 openssl pcre png pulseaudio qpa qpa reduce_exports reduce_relocations release rpath shared small-config system-freetype system-jpeg system-png system-zlib v8 v8snapshot xcb xcb-glx xcb-render xcb-xlib xinput2 xkbcommon-qt xlib xrender
Build parts ............ libs tools examples
Mode ................... release
Using C++11 ............ yes
Using PCH .............. no
Target compiler supports:
iWMMXt/Neon .......... no/yes

Qt modules and options:
Qt D-Bus ............... yes (loading dbus-1 at runtime)
Qt Concurrent .......... yes
Qt GUI ................. yes
Qt Widgets ............. yes
JavaScriptCore JIT ..... yes (To be decided by JavaScriptCore)
QML debugging .......... yes
Use system proxies ..... no

Support enabled for:
Accessibility .......... yes
ALSA ................... yes
CUPS ................... yes
FontConfig ............. yes
Iconv .................. yes
ICU .................... yes
Image formats:
GIF .................. yes (plugin, using system library)
JPEG ................. yes (plugin, using system library)
PNG .................. yes (in QtGui, using system library)
Glib ................... yes
GStreamer .............. yes
GTK theme .............. yes
Large File ............. yes
libudev ................ yes
Networking:
getaddrinfo .......... yes
getifaddrs ........... yes
IPv6 ifname .......... yes
OpenSSL .............. yes (loading libraries at run-time)
NIS .................... yes
OpenGL ................. yes (OpenGL ES 2.x)
OpenVG ................. no
PCRE ................... yes (bundled copy)
pkg-config ............. yes
PulseAudio ............. yes
QPA backends:
DirectFB ............. no
EGLFS ................ no
KMS .................. no
LinuxFB .............. no
XCB .................. yes (system library)
MIT-SHM ............ yes
Xcursor ............ yes (loaded at runtime)
Xfixes ............. yes (loaded at runtime)
Xi ................. no
Xi2 ................ yes
Xinerama ........... yes (loaded at runtime)
Xrandr ............. yes (loaded at runtime)
Xrender ............ yes
XKB ................ no
XShape ............. yes
XSync .............. yes
XVideo ............. yes
Session management ..... yes
SQL drivers:
DB2 .................. no
InterBase ............ no
MySQL ................ no
OCI .................. no
ODBC ................. yes (plugin)
PostgreSQL ........... no
SQLite 2 ............. no
SQLite ............... yes (plugin, using bundled copy)
TDS .................. no
udev ................... yes
xkbcommon .............. yes (bundled copy)
zlib ................... yes (system library)

NOTE: libxkbcommon 0.2.0 (or higher) not found on the system, will use
the bundled version from 3rd party directory.

Qt is now configured for building. Just run 'gmake'.
Once everything is built, you must run 'gmake install'.
Qt will be installed into /usr/local/Qt-5.1.0

Prior to reconfiguration, make sure you remove any leftovers from
the previous build.

Now in order to test it, we can download and compile the Qt5 Cinematic Experience demo:

   wget http://quitcoding.com/download/Qt5_CinematicExperience_rpi_1.0.tgz
   tar -xzf Qt5_CinematicExperience_rpi_1.0.tgz
   cd Qt5_CinematicExperience_rpi_1.0
   export PATH=/usr/local/Qt-5.1.0/bin:$PATH
   qmake
   make
   DISPLAY=:0 ./Qt5_CinematicExperience --fullscreen

There are also many other Qt5 demos.

Qt5 For Mali Binaries

Contents