Use junction points on Windows

Long project paths on Windows might lead to builds failing.

To overcome these issues:

Use source directory names with short absolute paths. For example, use C:\dev instead of C:\Users\My Name\Projects.
Use short build directory paths.
Use the Ninja generator for CMake.
Use junction points on Windows for the source and build directories.

Junction points

At a junction point, a directory serves as an alias to another directory on the computer.

To use the junction points for CMake configure, build, and install operations, go to Preferences > CMake > General and select Use junctions for CMake configuration and build operations.

{General tab in CMake preferences}

The build system configures, compiles, and installs the project through the junction points making command line commands shorter.

Set environment variables

Qt Creator stores junction points in C:\ProgramData\QtCreator\Links. To use another path, set it as the value of the QTC_CMAKE_JUNCTIONS_DIR environment variable.

Set the QTC_CMAKE_JUNCTIONS_HASH_LENGTH environment variable to shorten the MD5 hash key length from its default length value of 32.

See also How to: Build with CMake.

How to

Contents

Use junction points on Windows

Junction points