Compiling in other IDEs

Summary

• Prerequisites
• IDEs
  • CLion
  • Qt Creator (recommended)
  • Visual Studio
  • Xcode

It's recommended that all developers compile in Qt Creator: a cross-platform IDE that comes with Qt and is specifically designed for building Qt software. The internal team uses Qt Creator, so you'll find it's better supported than the other options.

Nevertheless, if you prefer to use a different IDE, feel free to add instructions for it below. Note that subheadings under each IDE must be unique across all IDEs for anchor links to work properly on this page.

Prerequisites

Instructions assume you have already completed the required steps in:

1. Set up developer environment
2. Install Qt and Qt Creator
3. Get MuseScore's source code
4. Install dependencies

If you're a new developer, you should compile on the command line before you attempt to set up an IDE.

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IDEs

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CLion

Summary:

1. Create a CMake profile
   1. Default CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
2. Create a run (debug) configuration
   1. Set install target
3. Start debugging

Create a CMake profile

Your CMake profile for MuseScore is where you can make configuration changes. Create one for MuseScore, and deselect the "share" box so it doesn't bother you in other projects. Set the build type to Debug.

Default CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX

It is recommended under the Qt Creator guide to have a dummy install directory under your build. To do this in CLion, add -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$CMakeCurrentBuildDir$/install to the CMake Options field.

Create a run (debug) configuration

Under the run configurations menu (left of the green run arrow), click edit configurations. Create a new CMake application and choose a name for it (e.g. TestRun). Change the target to "All targets" (the topmost option in the dropdown).

Set install target

Set the executable field to $CMakeCurrentBuildDir$/install/bin/mscore. Under "Before launch," remove the default build step and add the install step.

Start debugging

With the new run configuration, debugging should work as normal with CLion.

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Qt Creator (recommended)

See Compile in Qt Creator.

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Visual Studio

Instructions are here in the old Developer's Handbook. Feel free to transfer them to this page (omit anything covered in Prerequisites).

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Xcode

Instructions are here in the old Developer's Handbook. Feel free to transfer them to this page (omit anything covered in Prerequisites).

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