Qt Creator creates both a debug and a release folder inside the designated debug folder

Question

I am using the default build directory in Qt Creator which is something like build-project-blah-blah-Debug. However, when I build my app in debug mode both a debug and and a release folder are created inside. If I set the build directory as build-project-blah-blah for both the debug and release builds Qt Creator does not behave properly, i.e. it complaints and it does not clean the built files.

Answer 1

You can choose folder for debug and release builds on the projects mode (Ctrl + 5)

There you have a combo box which says "Edit build configuration", and lets you choose Release or Debug, and then you can edit the build directory of each one

Answer 2

I deduced the solution from this answer to the reverse question. In your .pro file, add the following line to prevent the subdirectories being created:

CONFIG -= debug_and_release debug_and_release_target

This issue only occurs on Windows, not on Unix-based OS's. Windows sets these flags by default, whereas Unix implementations of QT don't. To me it was mainly a problem due to compatibility of my project between both environments.