Automatically specify build configuration settings for multiple generic QtCreator projects

Question

I would like to automatically generate *.creator, *.files, *.includes, and *.config files for each of several hundred projects in a large workspace. I would like each project to build using an external tool via a custom build kit and set of build configurations. From what I've read about QtCreator, it seems to me that the only way to do this would be either to generate the *.creator.user file for each project in advance and include the necessary build configurations, or to open each project, allow QtCreator to generate the *.creator.user file for that project, and then insert the build configuration information into the file. Rather than generating or retroactively editing an entire *.creator.user file, I'd like to generate something like a *.pro.shared file (http://doc.qt.digia.com/qtcreator-2.4/creator-sharing-project-settings.html) that could be identical for every project and wouldn't require messing with all the other user settings. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that there is any analogous *.creator.shared file that can be used by QtCreator to incorporate shared settings. Is there a better way to approach this problem?

Answer 1

The build settings are basically the reason why you can not share a .user file: They contain references to data that is specific to one Qt Creator instance. These are mostly ids for Qt versions, tool chains and kits.

You can create .user files, there should be no problem with that, provided you insert the ids that are used in your creator instance. If you do it wrong, then creator will just throw away those settings and then regenerate them using default values.

Make sure to include ProjectExplorer.Project.Updater.FileVersion or creator will update your configuration using a series of transformation steps, which will most likely break everything (provided you did not start out with data compatible with Qt Creator version 1.3:-).