Add-on support in Qt 6.0 and beyond
December 08, 2020 by Tuukka Turunen | Comments
For Qt 6.0, we have been focusing on improving the essential modules and selected add-ons. There are more coming, though, so I wanted to update you on our ongoing work to port additional add-on modules to Qt 6. This blog post provides an overview and a rationale for our planned timeline.
We are well aware that most users depend upon at least some add-ons. While we do provide some of the commonly used add-ons with Qt 6.0, there are also many widely used ones not yet available. We wanted to create a solid baseline in Qt 6.0, so we focused our efforts on the essential parts of Qt.
In the subsequent releases we want to provide more add-on modules as quickly as possible. For many of them, the porting work is relatively straightforward, and some can actually be built on top of Qt 6.0 now. Some modules require a bit of work before introduced to Qt 6, and only a few modules need a major re-work. In addition to improving the functionality provided with Qt 6.0 and adding important new features, bringing the add-ons to Qt 6 is our key task.
As mentioned in the Qt 6.0 release post, we want to release Qt 6.1 and Qt 6.2 LTS at a faster pace than usual. Qt 6.1 release is coming in April, and Qt 6.2 LTS at the end of September 2021. With Qt 6, we are also introducing a new way of delivering the additional libraries via a package manager. This allows providing the additional libraries with a higher amount of flexibility than earlier – including providing a new version of an add-on on top of an existing release, if desired.
Qt has many different modules, so I hope you bear with me through the long bullet lists of modules coming or planned for each release. The modules are listed alphabetically. Remember that this describes our current plan and is subject to change for the parts that are not yet released.
Qt 6.0 supports the following modules in the baseline binary installation:
- Qt Concurrent
- Qt Core
- Qt Core Compatability APIs
- Qt D-Bus
- Qt GUI
- Qt Help
- Qt Network
- Qt OpenGL
- Qt Print Support
- Qt QML
- Qt Quick
- Qt Quick 3D
- Qt Quick Controls
- Qt Quick Layouts
- Qt Quick Timeline
- Qt Quick Widgets
- Qt Shader Tools
- Qt SQL
- Qt SVG
- Qt Test
- Qt UI Tools
- Qt Wayland
- Qt Wayland Compositor
- Qt Widgets
- Qt XML
Some of these are separately selectable, but most are part of the minimal install.
For Qt 6.0 we also have the following add-ons available via the package manager:
- Qt 3D
- Qt Image Formats
- Qt Network Authorization
- M2M package: Qt CoAP
- M2M package: Qt MQTT
- M2M package: Qt OpcUA
We are currently leveraging the installer as package manager backend, and the user also needs to select the additional libraries using the Qt installer (or maintenance tool). As we advance, we are looking into other solutions and improving the support provided by Qt Creator for using the additional libraries.
For Qt 6.1 we are planning to provide the following additional libraries:
- Active Qt
- Qt Charts
- Qt Quick Dialogs (File dialog)
- Qt ScXML
- Qt Virtual Keyboard
Qt 6.1 has feature freeze already in January, so there are just a few add-ons coming with it. However, we may provide more of the add-ons as a preview later on.
For Qt 6.2 we are planning to provide the following additional libraries:
- Qt Bluetooth
- Qt Data Visualization
- Qt Lottie Animation
- Qt Multimedia
- Qt NFC
- Qt Positioning
- Qt Quick Dialogs: Folder, Message Box
- Qt Remote Objects
- Qt Sensors
- Qt SerialBus
- Qt SerialPort
- Qt WebChannel
- Qt WebEngine
- Qt WebSockets
- Qt WebView
Some modules are not listed above because:
- They are removed from Qt 6 on purpose (like Qt KNX, Qt Script and Qt XML Patterns)
- The functionality is part of or indented to be part of other modules, so it is no longer needed as a separate module (like platform-specific extras)
- They are indented to be available after Qt 6.2 LTS or via the Qt Marketplace
- They are not part of the Qt framework, such as tools (Qt Creator, Qt Design Studio etc), Qt Safe Renderer, Qt Automotive Suite etc.
Within the modules, some old APIs have been removed, and new APIs have been introduced. In the case where the functionality is removed on purpose, your application may need to be modified accordingly, and we have a porting guide to assist you.
I hope this blog post helps you to plan your migration to Qt 6. We would highly appreciate it if you try out porting to Qt 6 even if some of the add-ons you use are not yet available.
Remember to also read the release announcement blog post and check out our Qt 6 landing page.
We are also hosting Meet Qt 6.0 webinar sessions covering the Americas/EMEIA and EMEIA/APAC time zones.
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希望Qt能一直走下去。它是我第一个接触的开发环境,也是我最喜欢的C++库,如果没有Qt,编程会少很多乐趣。
Wish Qt would remain strong and bold.
Great news, but somebody can update Qt SDK with latest qt 4.x and qtcreator 2.5.2?
dit :salut les fans, les re9alisateursmoi je m'appelle Massyla je suis Se9ne9galaisj'aime Tiken Jah ses chansons me plnaiest franchement parle si je peux avoir ses chansons dans moi boite cela me fera surprise je veux ces chansons le0: ou veux tu que j'aille ; african revolution
Thanks for the update Lars! And good luck to everyone switching to Digia side, I believe that you (and we as community) can make Qt5 stronger than Qt has ever been!
Great to have some feedback from trolls !!! Hopes this will be the end of smoke and fog around qt :)
Regarding Windows Angle use and multimedia : do you plan to provide dxva acceleration for movie for the qt5 release ? I hopes because it will openg digital signage quick2 application on very low end windows computer ...
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@qtnext: We're trying to optimize the WMF backend as much as possible so that the path from the decoder to the screen (widgets and QML) is as optimal as possible and that implies using DXVA. I can't guarantee that it will be 100% implemented for 5.0.0, but we are working on it!
Great news about Qt 5, but even greater to hear that you are staying with Qt :)
Thanks for the update and special thanks for the focus on documentation :)
Great news, thanks for sharing. Is there a plan to release a MinGW based distribution for Win7?
This all looks very exciting. I am really looking forward to upgrading to Qt 5.0. (In the meantime, and as Steve mentioned, it would be nice to update Qt SDK...)
Glad to hear you are staying!
Any word on the Australian guys - no way to keep them on board? Seems such a shame for them to leave Qt after all their contributions.
@jason : it's an incredible good news !! is there also hardware acceleration on linux (libvvaapi ?) working out of the box on qml ?
. do you plan to add loop property to video item to allow smooth looping movie (at least a "when end of stream" seek and play to start"...) ?
@Dragan There are discussions ongoing about which MinGW to use on the developer mailing list. Once that's clarified we'll also look into creating packages for it.
@Steve, @Alan Agree that it would be nice. But it's unfortunately not as easy right now as I would like it to be. In addition, everybody's pretty busy with 5.0 just now.
@Lars: this is completely understandable. I just hope that you guys will, for Qt 5.0, come up with only one deployment solution so that there aren't people left behind because they went for the 'wrong' deployment solution in the first place... It seems like it might the case with your plan to add Qt Creator to the binary packages.
Well, I'm quite "new" to Qt, since I started using it an year ago. I hope that the transition will be good for the employees and that Qt will go on like it should, with its dual licensing and its strong community.
I also hope that we will hear soon about some plans for the Windows 8 segment, because the fusion between mobile and desktop that comes with WinRT I think that some work needs to be done (any plans to support that?).
Good luck to everyone!
I can't wait for Android (iOS too I guess) support, I really hope we can see some results in the near future.
Regarding documentation, is it possible to integrate C/C++ documentation into qt creator ? Some of us haven't worked with C/C++ in while and want to get back into it.
Because that does not change as much, it should be easy to include in subsequent versions of Qt as well, or be made available as a separate download/plugin from Qt website.
Please keep up the great work.
I can't wait for the final Qt5 release. I've been using Qt for personal projects during many years, and now I use it for developing embedded applications at work. Long live to QT :D
@Steve: I'm using Qt-SDK 4.5.3 with QtCreator 2.5.2 and its ok (no problems).
I use 2.5.2 because "Class view" (here it would be nice to see the implementation and not declaration of a member function if clicked on this) and Completer/Intellisence.
I am curious to know if you will be able to bring back some of the teams who were laid off, like the 3D team.
I too am interested in the questions Charlie and kael brought up. Will the Australian Qt Quick team be picked up by Digia? If not, does Digia have a solid plan for on-going development of Qt Quick 2? It seems like a lot of the foundation for this great technology has been laid, but a lot of work still needs to be done to make it into a feature-complete UI framework.
I'm otherwise very excited to see things coming together for Qt 5 and beyond! :)
I'm also interested to hear about what was the Brisbane team. Are they still onboard somehow?
Congratulations on the Qt 5 beta! It's been long awaited.
Question. (And i am not trying to be sarcastic...this question is genuine).
Why is such a big onus placed on Javascript for Qml2?
In my experience, a developer is most productive with the technology he is most familiar with. For most of us here, that technology would be C/C++.
Also, in my experience, working with scripts (>1500 LOC) is substantially more difficult than strongly typed, compiled languages (more structure, less errors that go un-noticed).
I guess the only benefit i see in using javascript is possibility of dynamic source code updates over the network (without having to restart the app) - any other advantages?
@Charlie @kael @fonzi337 None of the teams from Brisbane - declarative, multimedia, location, systems, 3d, and sensors will be picked up by Digia.
Some of us plan to keep working on Qt, and others hope to with their next job.
I plan on remaining with the qt project and further develop sensors, sensor gestures, systeminfo and help out with d-bus and whatever bearer networking backends I have worked on in the past. (and isn't it great we have the chance to keep contributing to Qt?)
I too am curious about who will continue this work or what Digia plans to do with these API's. There are certainly quite capable engineers, but no doubt will take a bit of time to get the ball rolling. Hopefully, we will hear more of Digia's plans once their quiet period ends.
@Charlie @kael @fonzi337 @markc None of the teams from Brisbane - declarative, multimedia, location, systems, 3d, and sensors will be picked up by Digia.
Some of us plan to keep working on Qt, and others hope to with their next job. Some of us have already gotten jobs outside of the Qt world.
I plan on remaining with the qt project and further develop sensors, sensor gestures, systeminfo and help out with d-bus and whatever bearer networking backends I have worked on in the past. (and isn't it great we have the chance to keep contributing to Qt?)
I too am curious about who will continue this work or what Digia plans to do with these API's. There are certainly quite capable engineers, but no doubt will take a bit of time to get the ball rolling. Hopefully, we will hear more of Digia's plans once their quiet period ends.
I hope there will be mingw release 'cause visual studio is a mess.
Great !! Maybe for documentation, examples or any other "low hanging fruits" you can engage the community.
I hope Qt , and especially Qt5, does become one of the most used libraries/platform/SDK in the world.
Hi, thank you for good news. I was a little afraid about Nokia > Digia trasfer. Well there is always something changing, in this case I believe to better future for Qt.
If I can please for something - better android support please.
ftp://planet-interkom.de/.a...
"We will go through the list and do a cleanup of the examples, probably removing a large part of them in the process and focusing on having a small but high quality set of examples available for Qt 5.0"
Please don't remove the Tetris clone ;)