We are proud to announce the release of Qt Online Installer and Maintenance Tool 4.0 pre-alpha. A lot of work has been done to improve the overall user experience of the new installer. A new Command Line Interface (CLI) makes unattended installations more straightforward compared to limited CLI and install scripts, used in Installer 3.x versions. The emphasis has been on the CLI improvements, but there have been changes to make the GUI more intuitive to use as well. The next step will be to continue GUI improvements to provide a pleasant install experience for all users.
Unattended Installation
Qt Installer and Maintenance Tool 4.0 has a new command line interface. With the command line interface, it is possible to install, uninstall and update components, and perform a full uninstall. In addition, developers can list installed components, search updatable components, and search components available for install. The command
<installer_executable> --help
shows the commands and options available. Default installation for all the components marked as 'Default' and 'ForcedInstallation' the command would be as simple as
installer(.exe) install --root C:\Qt\InstallFolder
It is also possible replace the Qt Account login credentials by saving the JWT token to an environment variable QT_INSTALLER_JWT_TOKEN. There is no need to pass the credentials using the command line switches anymore. If qtaccount.ini is found from cache that will be used making it unnecessary to enter the credentials every time the installer is launched.
Read more instructions, how to use the CLI in the wiki.
GUI Improvements
Our long-term goal is to make the Qt installation an intuitive and pleasant experience. To achieve this goal we have implemented the following improvements in the GUI. More improvements are in progress.
- We try to minimise the number of pages, which the user has to go through, to complete an installation. In the pre-alpha we have combined the welcome and login pages. The first page will be the login page.
- We try to make installation intuitive and explicit. We added a side widget to show the page, where the installation process is going. This is a rather standard way in modern installer tools to indicate the overall progress of the installation process.
- We also separated the login and sign-up views. Combined view was not intuitive for all our users.
Release Schedule
Until the feature freeze or alpha release in the end of August, we still implement improvements especially to the GUI. For example, there has been a request for default installation, which would pass the component selection page completely.
Beta release is scheduled to the end of September and the final release to the end of October.
Where to Get the Installer? How to Contribute?
The new installer is available in Qt Downloads. We look forward to receiving feedback from the users as well. Please submit bugs and features suggestions using the links below: