I’ll take things that should be really easy but are in fact impossible for $1000, Mr Trebek.

I have a Qt desktop app that uses qmake. I have tests. I have test data that I need to copy to my build directory. Not only that, but I want to copy a whole directory recursively. In Linux and Windows. You must be thinking to yourself, ‘There’s no way that’s possible, leave me out of your crazy plans!’ Well to that I say nay. Nay indeed.

I originally copied my test data using the INSTALLS variable. My data folder is just a directory sitting in the test source called “TestData.” This solution is fantastic because it works cross-platform.

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install_it.path = $${OUT_PWD}
install_it.files += TestData/

INSTALLS += install_it

However, this means that if I ever have a clean directory, I have to run make install to install my test data. What a pain! Why bother! Why even write tests when life is this unjust!

BUT WAIT! After combing the depths of the internets for much of the evening, I was able to find many halfway solutions to my original problem. The concept is to add commands to the QMAKE_POST_LINK variable.

For Linux, I use cp:

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QMAKE_POST_LINK += $$quote(cp -rf $${PWD}/TestData $${OUT_PWD})

For Windows, I use xcopy:

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PWD_WIN = $${PWD}
PWD_WIN ~= s,/,\\,g

QMAKE_POST_LINK += $$quote(mkdir DestFolder)
QMAKE_POST_LINK += $$quote(xcopy $${PWD_WIN}\\TestData $${OUT_PWD_WIN}\\TestData /E)

I also want that directory to be deleted when I run make clean. Cleaning up just means adding some commands to the QMAKE_CLEAN directive. I also want to run the appropriate commands whether I’m on Unix or Windows without having to modify my .pro file. Wrapping the previous commands in what I call an “OS-space” will cause those commands to only run in the specified operating system.

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win32 {
    PWD_WIN = $${PWD}
    PWD_WIN ~= s,/,\\,g

    QMAKE_POST_LINK += $$quote(mkdir DestFolder)
    QMAKE_POST_LINK += $$quote(xcopy $${PWD_WIN}\\TestData $${OUT_PWD_WIN}\\TestData /E)

    QMAKE_CLEAN += /s /f /q TestData && rd /s /q TestData
}

unix {
    QMAKE_POST_LINK += $$quote(cp -rf $${PWD}/TestData $${OUT_PWD})

    QMAKE_CLEAN += -r TestData
}

Data copied, tests working again. Take that, Nokia; no matter how difficult you make your build-processing tool, I’ll figure out how to contort it to my whims.