PATH Environment Variable

[dohzer]

I was writing some code in Qt Creator (on WinXP) last night, and I'm not sure what I've changed, but for some reason it started having problems compiling, saying things like:


Could not find make command: mingw32-make.exe in the build environment
Error while building project blockingfortuneclient (target: Desktop)
When executing build step 'Make'

and in the options menu it says:


Qt in PATH <not found>

I don't have much experience with this, but from what I've figured out, I need to add the Qt directories to 'PATH' in the Windows XP System Properties -> Environmental Values tab, but I don't understand why.

Even though the problem is basically solved, I still have a few questions about the whole 'PATH' thing.:

Why can't Qt (and other similar software development applications) locate it's own directory and compilation executables? Surely it knows where it is installed to, right?
Exactly which directories do I need to add? Can it just be the 'C:\Qt\2010.05\' directory, and then Qt can navigate to sub directories, or do I need to go all the way to the required executables (e.g. 'qmake.exe' being in the 'C:\Qt\2010.05\qt\bin\' folder)?
What is the difference between 'PATH' in the 'user variables' section, and 'Path' in the 'system variables' section?

[nerdasaurus]

Did you ever find an answer for this? I have the same problem, and the same questions.

[Timoteo]

Why can't Qt (and other similar software development applications) locate it's own directory and compilation executables? Surely it knows where it is installed to, right?
Exactly which directories do I need to add? Can it just be the 'C:\Qt\2010.05\' directory, and then Qt can navigate to sub directories, or do I need to go all the way to the required executables (e.g. 'qmake.exe' being in the 'C:\Qt\2010.05\qt\bin\' folder)?
What is the difference between 'PATH' in the 'user variables' section, and 'Path' in the 'system variables' section?


1) You realize that you can have more than 1 instance of Qt libs residing on your machine, right? How would the environment know which to use? Ahh that's right - the environment variables. You can apply this broadly to other tools you might use for development.
2) Sorry, I don't mess with mingw enough to answer that one.
3) System variables are just that: system-wide. They are overridden by user variables (which are configured per user account).

[BalaQT]

hi dohzer,
pls go through the Qt Creator manual.
u can hav a better feel.

Bala