Build instructions

There are essentially two ways to build client-qt:

Use build.py script which will build all of Jami (daemon and client)
Build only this client.

Disclaimer

Because the client-qt is multi-platforms and supporting macOS, we need a recent version of Qt to do rendering with Metal. So, Qt 6.6 is necessary. This version is generally not packaged on a lot of platforms, and to control available plugins and such, we have our own Qt packaged (available on https://jami.net on the distributions we support). So, you will need to get Qt 6.6 first. For this, there is 3 methods:

Qt from our repo (recommended)

If your distribution is supported, we provide a Qt package (libqt-jami) on our repo. The files will be installed in /usr/lib/libqt-jami.

Install libqt-jami, Ubuntu based

To install libqt-jami on Ubuntu, execute these commands replacing ubuntu_<VERSION> by your distribution version. For example "ubuntu_22.04"

sudo apt install gnupg dirmngr ca-certificates curl --no-install-recommends
curl -s https://dl.jami.net/public-key.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/jami-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jami-archive-keyring.gpg] https://dl.jami.net/nightly/ubuntu_<VERSION>/ jami main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jami.list"
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libqt-jami

Install libqt-jami, Debian based

To install libqt-jami on Debian, execute these commands replacing debian_<VERSION> by your distribution version. For example "debian_11"

sudo apt install gnupg dirmngr ca-certificates curl --no-install-recommends
curl -s https://dl.jami.net/public-key.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/jami-archive-keyring.gpg > /dev/null
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jami-archive-keyring.gpg] https://dl.jami.net/nightly/debian_<VERSION>/ jami main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jami.list"
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install jami

Install jami-libqt, Fedora based

To install libqt-jami on Fedora, execute these commands replacing fedora_<VERSION> by your distribution version. For example "fedora_38"

sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://dl.jami.net/nightly/fedora_<VERSION>/jami-nightly.repo
sudo dnf update && sudo dnf install jami-libqt

Qt from your distribution

If Qt 6.6 is available, you can use the packages from your distribution:

It should be (For now qt5 only is packaged by distributions, so names can change).

Dependencies, Debian based

sudo apt-get install cmake make doxygen g++ gettext libnotify-dev pandoc nasm libqrencode-dev \
                     libnotify-dev libnm-dev \
                     qt6-base-dev \
                     qtmultimedia5-dev libqt6svg6-dev qt6-webengine-dev \
                     qtdeclarative5-dev \
                     qtquickcontrols2-5-dev qml-module-qtquick2 qml-module-qtquick-controls \
                     qml-module-qtquick-controls2 qml-module-qtquick-dialogs \
                     qml-module-qtquick-layouts qml-module-qtquick-privatewidgets \
                     qml-module-qtquick-shapes qml-module-qtquick-window2 \
                     qml-module-qtquick-templates2 qml-module-qt-labs-platform \
                     qml-module-qtwebengine qml-module-qtwebchannel \
                     qml-module-qt-labs-qmlmodels

Dependencies, Fedora based

sudo dnf install qt6-qtsvg-devel qt6-qtwebengine-devel qt6-qtmultimedia-devel qt6-qtdeclarative-devel qt6-qtquickcontrols2-devel qt6-qtquickcontrols qrencode-devel NetworkManager-libnm-devel

Qt from sources

https://www.qt.io/product/qt6

GNU/Linux

Then, you can build the project

With build.py

The build.py Jami installer uses python3 (minimum v3.6). If it's not installed, please install it. Then run the following to initialize and update the submodules to set them at the top of their latest commit (ideal for getting the latest development versions; otherwise, you can use git submodule update --init then checkout specific commits for each submodule).

If you're a developer you need to install clang-format separately before initializing with the command

sudo apt install clang-format

./build.py --init [--qt=<path/to/qt> (this is required for qmlformatting to work)]

Then you will need to install dependencies:

For GNU/Linux

sudo ./build.py --dependencies

Then, you can build daemon and the client using:

./build.py --install

If you use a Qt version that is not system-wide installed, you need to specify its path using the --qt flag, e.g. ./build.py --install --qt=/home/<username>/Qt/6.6.1/gcc_64.

Now you will have the daemon in daemon/bin/dbus/jamid and the client in build/jami. You can now run Jami using:

./build/jami

Notes:

--global-install to install client-qt globally under /usr/local
--prefix to change the destination of the install.

For developers:
- --asan add address sanitizer on the binary
- --debug enable debug symbols
- --testing will build the tests for both the daemon and client
- --no-libwrap will build the DBUS version.

Build only the client

In order to use the Qt Client it is necessary to have the Qt version 6.6 or higher. If your system does not have it you can install it from sources or download the binary installer.

Build only this repository

Clone with common required submodule (platform specific submodules will be cloned during the configure step)

git clone https://review.jami.net/jami-client-qt
cd jami-client-qt
git submodule update --recursive --init

Use CMake to build

# In this repository
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j

cmake can take some options:

e.g. (with Qt version from https://jami.net)

cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/lib/libqt-jami

After the build has finished, you are finally ready to launch jami in your build directory.

If you want to install it to the path provided by CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX you can run:

make install

Building on native Windows

Only 64-bit MSVC build can be compiled.

Setup Before Building:

Enable Virtualization in the BIOS
Install WSL 2 and any package it might require during the Jami build process.
Download Qt (Open Source)
Using the online installer, install the following Qt 6.6.1 components:
- Git 2.10.2
- MSVC 2019 64-bit
- Qt 5 Compatibility Module
- Additional Libraries
  - Qt Multimedia
  - Qt Network Authorization
  - Qt WebChannel
  - Qt WebEngine
  - Qt WebSockets
  - Qt WebView
Download Visual Studio (versions 2019 or 2022). See the SDK notes below.
SDK Toolset MFC
Requirement: 10.0.18362.0 V142 (VisualStudio 2019) / V143 (VisualStudio 2022) matching Toolset
Install Qt Vs Tools under extensions, and configure msvc2019_64 path under Qt Options. See the Qt notes below.
Qt Version
Minimum requirement: 6.6.2
Install Python3 for Windows
Using Elevated Command Prompt

	SDK	Toolset	MFC
Requirement:	10.0.18362.0	V142 (VisualStudio 2019) / V143 (VisualStudio 2022)	matching Toolset

	Qt Version
Minimum requirement:	6.6.2

    python build.py --dependencies

Note:
This command will install chocolatey which may require you to restart the Command Prompt to be able to use it.
This command will install msys2 (64 bit) by using chocolatey command which may cause issues below:
a. Choco may require you to restart the Command Prompt after finishing installing msys2.
b. Only if you have already installed msys2 (64 bit) under the default installation folder, we will use the existing one.
This command will install strawberry perl by using chocolatey command which may fail if you have already installed it.
This command will install cmake by using chocolatey command which will not add cmake into PATH (environment variable).
The issue 1, 2(a), 3 can be solved by restarting the Command Prompt under Administrator right and re-run the command.
The issue 3 can be solved by uninstalling your current strawberry perl and re-run the command.
The issue 4 can be solved by adding the location of the cmake.exe into PATH.

Using a new Non-Elevated Command Prompt

    python build.py --install --qt <path-to-qt-bin-folder> (e.g. C:/Qt/6.6.2/msvc2019_64)

SDK Note: Jami can be build with more recent Windows SDK than the one specified in the table above. However, if your have another version than SDK 10.0.18362.0 installed, you need to identify it according to the example below. And you still need to have the required version in addition to the one you chose.

    python build.py --install --qt <path-to-qt-bin-folder> --sdk <your-sdk-version>

Qt Note: If you omit the --qt option, the build script will try to find Qt in the default installation folder, and will take the latest version found. If you have appropriate Qt and SDK versions installed, you won't need to specify any additional options.

Once the build has finished, you should then be able to use the Visual Studio Solution file in client-qt build folder (Configuration = Release, Platform = x64)

Build Module Individually

Jami also supports building each module (daemon, jami) separately

Daemon

Make sure that dependencies is built by build.py
On MSVC folder (daemon\MSVC):

    cmake -DCMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES="ReleaseLib_win32" -DCMAKE_VS_PLATFORM_NAME="x64" -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -T '$(DefaultPlatformToolset)' ..
    python winmake.py -b daemon

This will generate a .lib file in the path of daemon\MSVC\x64\ReleaseLib_win32\bin

Note: each dependencies contrib for daemon can also be updated individually
For example:

    python winmake.py -b opendht

Jami

Make sure that daemon is built first. Then,

    python extras\scripts\build-windows.py --init
    python extras\scripts\build-windows.py --qt <path-to-qt-bin-folder> (e.g. C:/Qt/6.6.2/msvc2019_64)

Building On MacOS

Set up

macOS minimum version 11.0
install python3
download xcode
install Qt 6.6

Qt 6.6 can be installed via brew

brew install qt

or downloaded from Qt (Open Source)

Then, you can build the project

Build with build.py

./build.py --init
./build.py --dependencies
./build.py --install

If you use a Qt version that is installed in a different than standard location you need to specify its path

QT_ROOT_DIRECTORY=your_qt_directory ./build.py --install

Built client could be find in build/Jami

Packaging On Native Windows

To be able to generate a msi package, first download and install Wixtoolset.
In Visual Studio, download WiX Toolset Visual Studio Extension.
Build client-qt project first, then the JamiInstaller project, msi package should be stored in JamiInstaller\bin\Release

Testing for Client-qt on Windows

We currently use GoogleTest and Qt Quick Test in our product. To build and run tests, you could use the following command.

    python extras\scripts\build-windows.py --tests --qt <path-to-qt-bin-folder>

Note that, for tests, the path of local storage files for jami will be changed based on following environment variables.

    %JAMI_DATA_HOME% = %TEMP% + '\\jami_test\\jami'
    %JAMI_CONFIG_HOME% = %TEMP% + '\\jami_test\\.config'
    %JAMI_CACHE_HOME% = %TEMP% + '\\jami_test\\.cache'

These environment variables will be temporarily set when using build-windows.py to run tests.

Debugging

Compile the client with with -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug.

Then, if you want to enable logging when running jami, launch it with -d or --debug.