Qbs Manual | List of Modules | Module qbs

Qbs 1.9.0

# Module qbs

The `qbs` module is implicitly loaded in every product. It contains properties of the current build environment, independent of the used programming languages and toolchains.

## General Properties

Property | Type | Since | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
configurationName | `string` | 1.6 | `"default"` | Contains the name of the current build configuration.
buildVariant | `string` | 1.0 | `"debug"` | Contains the name of the build variant for the current build.
debugInformation | `bool` | 1.0 | `true` for debug builds, `false` otherwise | Specifies whether to generate debug information.
enableDebugCode | `bool` | 1.0 | `true` for debug builds, `false` otherwise | Specifies whether to compile debug code in the product. This is typically enabled for debug builds and disabled for release builds.
optimization | `string` | 1.0 | `"none"` for debug builds, `"fast"` for release builds | Specifies the general type of optimization that should be performed by all toolchains. Allowed values: `"none"`, `"fast"`, `"small"`
targetOS | `stringList` | 1.0 | `undefined` | Specifies the OS you want to build the project for. This is typically set in a profile. Possible values include one or more of the following: `"aix"`, `"android"`, `"blackberry"`, `"bsd"`, `"bsd4"`, `"bsdi"`, `"cygwin"`, `"darwin"`, `"dgux"`, `"dynix"`, `"freebsd"`, `"hpux"`, `"hurd"`, `"integrity"`, `"ios"`, `"ios-simulator"`, `"irix"`, `"linux"`, `"lynx"`, `"macos"`, `"msdos"`, `"nacl"`, `"netbsd"`, `"openbsd"`, `"os2"`, `"os2emx"`, `"osf"`, `"qnx"`, `"qnx6"`, `"reliant"`, `"sco"`, `"solaris"`, `"symbian"`, `"ultrix"`, `"unix"`, `"unixware"`, `"vxworks"`, `"windows"`, `"windowsce"`, `"windowsphone"`, `"winrt"`
architecture | `string` | 1.0 | `undefined` | Specifies the target platform's processor architecture. `undefined` indicates that the target platform is architecture-independent (for example the CLR or JVM). This is typically set in a profile. Commonly used values are: `"x86"`, `"x86_64"` and `"arm"`.
toolchain | `stringList` | 1.0 | `undefined` | Specifies the attributes of the toolchain that is going to be used for this build. Typical values include: `"gcc"`, `"llvm"`, `"clang"`, `"mingw"`, `"msvc"`
sysroot | `string` | 1.0 | `undefined` | Specifies the sysroot of the target platform. This property is typically set in a profile for cross-compiling.
pathListSeparator | `string` | 1.0 | `";"` on Windows, `":"` on Unix | Holds the platform-specific separator for path list that is used in environment variables or other contexts.
nullDevice | `string` | 1.4.2 | `"NUL"` on Windows, `"/dev/null"` on Unix | Holds the platform-specific file path corresponding to the null device.
shellPath | `path` | 1.5 | `"%COMSPEC%"` on Windows, `"/bin/sh"` on Unix | Holds the platform-specific file path corresponding to the command line interpreter. On Windows this is the path to `cmd.exe`, which is held in the `COMSPEC` environment variable - typically `C:/Windows/System32/cmd.exe`, and on Unix-like platforms this is `/bin/sh`.

## Environment Properties

This section lists constant, read-only properties set by Qbs internally. These properties should not be overridden.

Property | Type | Since | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
hostOS | `stringList` (read only) | 1.0 | `undefined` | This property is set by Qbs internally and specifies the OS Qbs is running on. The possible values for this property are the values of `targetOS`, though some may not be supported.
hostOSVersion | `string` (read only) | 1.2 | `undefined` | The host operating system version. Currently only defined for Windows and Apple platforms. Consists of two or three numbers separated by dots, for instance "10.9" or "6.3.9600".
hostOSBuildVersion | `string` (read only) | 1.2 | `undefined` | The host operating system's build version. Currently only defined for Windows and Apple platforms. On Windows, this is the 4 or 5 digit Windows build number and is equivalent to `versionPatch`. On Apple platforms, this is a standard build number in the Apple versioning scheme, for instance "13C64".
hostOSVersionMajor | `int` (read only) | 1.2 | `hostOSVersionParts[0]` | The host operating system major version.
hostOSVersionMinor | `int` (read only) | 1.2 | `hostOSVersionParts[1]` | The host operating system minor version.
hostOSVersionParts | `list` (read only) | 1.2 | `empty` | The host operating system version as a list. For instance, Windows 8.1 (version 6.3.9600) would correspond to a value of `[6, 3, 9600]`.
hostOSVersionPatch | `int` (read only) | 1.2 | `hostOSVersionParts[2]` | The host operating system patch level.
version | `string` (read only) | 1.4.1 |  | Version number of Qbs as a string, i.e. "1.4.1".
versionMajor | `int` (read only) | 1.4.1 |  | Major version number of Qbs.
versionMinor | `int` (read only) | 1.4.1 |  | Minor version number of Qbs.
versionPatch | `int` (read only) | 1.4.1 |  | Patch version number of Qbs.

## Installation Properties

This section lists properties specific to the Qbs installation mechanism. See Installing Files for more information.

Property | Type | Since | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
install | `bool` | 1.0 | `false` | Specifies whether to install a certain set of files. This is typically set in a `Group` item to mark a number of files as installable. Note: Artifacts for which this property is enabled automatically receive the file tag "installable". This is useful for writing packaging-related rules.
installSourceBase | `string` | 1.4 | see below | Specifies the base directory of the local files that are going to be installed. The source base directory is omitted from the target directory path specified in `installDir`. The default value of this property is the directory of the current file to be installed, relative to the product's source directory.
installDir | `string` | 1.0 | `undefined` | Specifies the installation directory for the files of a product or a `Group`. The value of this property is a path that is relative to `installPrefix`.
installPrefix | `string` | 1.1 | `empty` | Specifies the global installation prefix. It is implicitly prepended to all values of `installDir`. The `installPrefix` itself is relative to the `installRoot` in the context of installation.
installRoot | `string` | 1.4 | `<build dir>/install-root` | Specifies the global installation root. It is implicitly prepended to all values of `installPrefix` in the context of installation. Note: This property is fundamentally different from `installDir` and `installPrefix` in that it must not be visible to the code being built. In fact, the install root is often just a temporary location used to package the binaries, which should therefore not assume they will be in that location at run-time. For the same reason, this property is usually not set from within project files.

## Multiplexing Properties

This section lists properties specific to product multiplexing.

Property | Type | Since | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
architectures | `stringList` | 1.9 | `["armv5te"]` on Android, same as Xcode on Apple platforms, otherwise equivalent to `[qbs.architecture]` | Specifies the architectures the product will be built for.
buildVariants | `stringList` | 1.9 | equivalent to `[qbs.buildVariant]` | Specifies the build variants the product will be built for.
profiles | `stringList` | 1.9 | `[product.profile]` | The profiles for which the product should be built. For each profile listed here, one instance of the product will be built according to the properties set in the respective profile. This property is the same as `product.profiles`, which takes precedence.