Get Involved/development/IDE configuration/Qt Creator

Qt Creator is an IDE from Qt.

A screen recording version is available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASnDeEaXnbI

kdesrc-build

After you configure kdesrc-build and you can correctly build a KDE project such as kcalc.

Edit ~/.config/kdesrc-buildrc . It should look like:

global
...                                                                                                    
    include-dependencies true
...                                                                                                               
    kdedir ~/kde/usr
...                                                                                                              
    source-dir ~/kde/src
...                                                                                                                
    build-dir ~/kde/build
...                                                                                
    cmake-options -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
...
    stop-on-failure false
...
    directory-layout invent

The line above is important in order to use the debugger from Qt Creator.

Make sure you have the correct number on the line num-cores .

Build kcalc, make sure there are no errors:

kdesrc-build --include-dependencies kcalc

Qt Creator

Install Qt Creator. E.g. download from the Qt website the latest version. Or e.g. from your current Linux distribution's packages. E.g.

apt install qtcreator

Start Qt Creator. E.g. from a terminal

qtcreator &

From the qtcreator main menu

> File > Close All Projects and Editors

> File > Open File or Project ~/kde/src/utilities/kcalc/CMakeLists.txt

Left Sidebar > Switch to Projects mode Ctrl+5 > Manage Kits... Under Manual, keep only "Desktop (default)". E.g. select Manual > Qt 5.15.4 (qt5) > Remove button > OK.

Button "Import Existing Build..." > Directory: ~/kde/build/utilities/kcalc > Choose.

Everything should be configured correctly.

Left Sidebar > Switch to Projects mode Ctrl+5 > Active project: kcalc. Build & Run: not the Desktop kit. Build Settings > build configuration: "Debug2".

Click on the left sidebar, the button above "Run Ctrl+R". It should show: Project: kcalc. Kit: not the Desktop kit. Deploy: Deploy Configuration. Build: Debug2. Run: kcalc.

Left Sidebar > Switch to Edit mode (Ctrl+2) > Select "Projects" from the combobox. In the "Projects" left hand treeview > kcalc > kcalc > Source Files > double click on the file kcalc.cpp. The file kcalc.cpp will be shown in the editor view. Click inside the source code in text editor.

In the text editor's top bar > function/identifier/method/type/symbols combobox, select the last item: main(int, char***) -> int. Click on the line with the opening curly bracket of the function main. From the main menu > Debug > Set or Remove Breakpoint (F9).

Left Sidebar > Start debugging of startup project. The debugger will start correctly and break on the source code line with the curly bracket.

From the main menu Debug > Step Over (F10)/Step Into(F11)/Step Out (Shift+F11).