Build Qt inside a Docker container for GitHub Actions

09 Dec 2022

Recently, I needed to setup a GitHub Action for a repository contatining a Qt-based program, in which I can check if the C++ code compiles correctly and tests pass successfully. The repository belongs to BioDeg, a software we have published for biodegradation simulations.

One of the best solutions for tackilng this issue was a Docker container with Qt SDK inside, which can be tricky to make due to the licensing things of Qt. In order to make such a container image, I used the following Dockerfile code, which downloads and builds the Qt SDK with an Ubuntu image as the base.

FROM ubuntu:20.04 AS builder

ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
ENV QT_VERSION_MAJOR 5.15
ENV QT_VERSION 5.15.2
ENV QT_DEST /usr/local/Qt-"$QT_VERSION"
ENV QT5BINDIR /usr/local/Qt-"$QT_VERSION"/bin
ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/local/Qt-$QT_VERSION/lib
ENV QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/plugins/platforms
ENV QT_QPA_FONTDIR /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/lib/fonts
ENV XDG_DATA_HOME /root/.local/share
ENV PATH $QT_DEST/bin:$PATH

RUN apt-get update && apt autoremove -y && apt install -y wget xz-utils

RUN wget -N https://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/$QT_VERSION_MAJOR/$QT_VERSION/single/qt-everywhere-src-$QT_VERSION.tar.xz -P /root/Downloads/qt \
    && tar -xf /root/Downloads/qt/qt-everywhere-src-$QT_VERSION.tar.xz -C /root/Downloads/qt

RUN apt install -y   libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libx11-dev \
            libx11-xcb-dev libxext-dev libxfixes-dev libxi-dev \
            libxrender-dev libxcb1-dev libxcb-glx0-dev \
            libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-image0-dev libxcb-shm0-dev \
            libxcb-icccm4-dev libxcb-sync0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev \
            libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev \
            libxcb-render-util0-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev \
            libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libclang-dev \
            freeglut3-dev mesa-utils libdrm-dev libgles2-mesa-dev \
            binutils g++ cmake g++ mesa-common-dev build-essential \
            libglew-dev libglm-dev make gcc pkg-config \
            libgl1-mesa-dev libxcb1-dev libfontconfig1-dev \
            libxkbcommon-x11-dev python libgtk-3-dev build-essential \
            default-jre openjdk-8-jdk-headless android-sdk \
            android-sdk-platform-23 libc6-i386 libdrm-dev \
            libgles2-mesa-dev libzc-dev libxcb-sync-dev \
            libsmartcols-dev libicecc-dev libpthread-workqueue-dev \
	        libgstreamer1.0-dev libgcrypt20-dev libqt5gui5-gles \
            qca-qt5-2-utils xorg xorg-dev

RUN cd /root/Downloads/qt/qt-everywhere-src-$QT_VERSION/ \
    && ./configure -release -no-opengl -opensource -confirm-license \
    -make libs -nomake tools -nomake examples -nomake tests \
    -skip qt3d -skip qtandroidextras -skip qtcanvas3d \
    -skip qtconnectivity -skip qtdatavis3d -skip qtdeclarative \
    -skip qtdoc -skip qtgamepad -skip qtgraphicaleffects \
    -skip qtimageformats -skip qtlocation -skip qtlottie \
    -skip qtmacextras -skip qtmultimedia -skip qtnetworkauth \
    -skip qtpurchasing -skip qtquick3d -skip qtquickcontrols \
    -skip qtquickcontrols2 -skip qtquicktimeline \
    -skip qtremoteobjects -skip qtscript -skip qtscxml \
    -skip qtsensors -skip qtserialbus -skip qtserialport \
    -skip qtspeech -skip qtsvg -skip qttools -skip qttranslations \
    -skip qtvirtualkeyboard -skip qtwebchannel -skip qtwebengine \
    -skip qtwebglplugin -skip qtwebsockets -skip qtwebview \
    -skip qtwinextras -skip qtxmlpatterns -sysconfdir /etc/xdg \
    -system-harfbuzz -no-rpath \
    && make -j4 \
    && make install

RUN rm /root/Downloads/qt/qt-everywhere-src-$QT_VERSION.tar.xz \
    && rm -r /root/Downloads/qt/qt-everywhere-src-$QT_VERSION

FROM ubuntu:20.04

ENV QT_VERSION_MAJOR 5.15
ENV QT_VERSION 5.15.2
ENV QT_DEST /usr/local/Qt-"$QT_VERSION"
ENV QT5BINDIR /usr/local/Qt-"$QT_VERSION"/bin
ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/local/Qt-$QT_VERSION/lib
ENV QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/plugins/platforms
ENV QT_QPA_FONTDIR /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/lib/fonts
ENV XDG_DATA_HOME /root/.local/share
ENV PATH $QT_DEST/bin:$PATH

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    mesa-common-dev \
    cmake \
    libpcre2-dev \
    libglib2.0-0 \
    libpng16-16 \
    libharfbuzz-dev \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

RUN mkdir $QT_DEST
COPY --from=builder $QT_DEST $QT_DEST

I have skipped the Qt libraries I didn’t need, so make sure to modify the configure script args to fit your needs. After this, the image was pushed to Docker Hub to be used in a GitHub Action. In the next post, I will elaborate on making the GitHub Action such that it would pull and use this built Docker image.

Mojtaba Barzegari

Build Qt inside a Docker container for GitHub Actions