qmake plugin uses out-of-source build

Metadata

Project: snapcraft (launchpad)
Number: #1599572
Type: issue
State: closed
Author: ~kyrofa
Labels: —
Created: 2016-07-06 04:32 PM UTC
Updated: 2016-07-13 03:31 PM UTC
Closed: 2016-07-13 03:31 PM UTC

Current evaluation

Fixed in snapcraft PR #633 (merged as a3f85dcc6): the qmake plugin now copies sources into build/ and builds in-source instead of relying on qmake's unreliable out-of-source build.

Resolution: closed resolved

Reason: Maintainer ~kyrofa commented that the fix landed in snapcore/snapcraft PR #633, which merged as commit a3f85dcc6. That PR replaced the out-of-source qmake build with copying the source into the build directory and building in-source, matching the issue's requested change.

Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot

No scores available.

Issue body

The qmake plugin attempts to make use of qmake's support for out-of-source builds, but that support doesn't seem to work in all cases (example: https://github.com/ubuntu/snappy-playpen/issues/145). It should just copy the source into build instead and do an in-source build.

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-10-03 11:36 AM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	—	closed resolved	Fixed in snapcraft PR #633 (merged as a3f85dcc6): the qmake plugin now copies sources into build/ and builds in-source instead of relying on qmake's unreliable out-of-source build.
2026-09-30 09:59 PM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	—	closed resolved	Snapcraft's qmake plugin was changed to copy sources into the build directory and build in source, fixing unreliable out-of-source builds in PR #633 (a3f85dcc6).
2026-09-25 07:23 AM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	—	closed resolved	qmake was switched from out-of-source builds to copying sources into the build directory; PR #633 merged as a3f85dcc6.
2026-09-11 06:38 AM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	—	—	Abandoned. The qmake plugin out-of-source build failure was closed without resolution or code changes.
2026-07-23 01:41 PM UTC	qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b	—	—	The qmake plugin's out-of-source build support was closed without resolution or comments, indicating the report was abandoned. The suggested in-source build workaround was never implemented.

Update history

Date	Change
2016-07-13 03:31 PM UTC	created

Related work

Likely Fixed By: snapcraft#633 (confidence 96%)
PR titled 'qmake plugin: Stop doing out-of-source builds', merged as a3f85dcc6; cited by the closing maintainer comment as the fix for LP #1599572.
Related To: craft-parts#463 (confidence 40%)
The qmake plugin was later imported into craft-parts (commit 641edb59, PR #463), carrying the corrected in-source build behaviour forward.

Related issues

Issue	Project	State	Summary	Similarity
#633 qmake plugin: Stop doing out-of-source builds.	snapcraft	merged	PR #633 merged as a3f85dcc6, switching qmake from unreliable out-of-source builds to in-source builds and resolving LP #1599572.	79%