Qt 5.12 LTS Beta Released

I am pleased to announce that we released the first beta of Qt 5.12 LTS today. Qt 5.12 LTS is expected to be a solid development base and to receive multiple patch-level updates during its three-year support period. Once released, we recommend updating to Qt 5.12 LTS for both current and new projects. We have convenient online binary installers in place so you can try out the upcoming features coming in Qt 5.12 LTS in its first beta state. We will continue to provide subsequent beta releases via the online installer. 

There is a huge number of things to talk about, so I’ll go through just some of the highlights of Qt 5.12 LTS in this blog post. For a more detailed overview of the new features coming in Qt 5.12 LTS, please check them out on the Qt 5.12 wiki page. We will also provide multiple blog posts and webinars for a more in-depth look at the Qt 5.12 LTS features.

Long-term support

Qt 5.12 LTS is a long-term supported release. It will be supported for three years, after which you can purchase extended support. As an LTS, it will receive multiple patch-level releases that provide bug fixes, improvements and security fixes. If you are about to begin a new project, you may want to start with Qt 5.12 LTS pre-releases already now. For ongoing projects, migration to Qt 5.12 LTS is recommended after it is released.

Qt 5.9 LTS entered ‘Strict’ phase at the beginning of February 2018. Going forward, Qt 5.9 will continue to receive critical bug and security fixes during the ‘Strict’ phase. We also continue to create new Qt 5.9.x patch releases during the ‘Strict’ phase, but at a slower cadence than before. The oldest Qt 5 LTS release, Qt 5.6 LTS, is in the last steps of the ‘Very Strict’ phase and has for a while received the most important security fixes only. There are no new patch releases currently planned for Qt 5.6 LTS. Those still using Qt 5.6 LTS should plan an update to a more recent version of Qt, as support of Qt 5.6 LTS ends in March 2019.

The reason for gradually reducing the amount of changes going into an LTS version of Qt is to avoid problems with stability. While each fix as such is beneficial, they also bring a risk for behavior changes and regressions, which we want to avoid in LTS releases.

Performance

Improved performance and reduced memory consumption have been important focus areas for Qt development already for Qt 5.9 LTS, and we have continued this for Qt 5.12 LTS. We have done multiple optimizations to the graphics and other functionalities, especially for running Qt 3D and Qt Quick on embedded hardware.

Qt 5.12 LTS provides good support for asset conditioning and improves upon the functionality introduced with Qt 5.10 and 5.11. One important new feature is the support for pre-generated distance field caches of fonts, which provides faster startup times, especially with complex and non-latin fonts.

The QML engine has also received multiple improvements and optimizations. Specifically, we focused on optimizing the memory consumption for Qt 5.12 LTS.

TableView

One of the most requested new controls is TableView and with Qt 5.12 LTS we finally provide it. The new TableView item is available in the Qt Quick module. TableView is similar to the existing ListView, but with additional support for showing multiple columns. We have developed the new TableView with performance in mind, with architecture that allows efficient handling of large tables. For a more detailed overview of the new TableView, please check the recent TableView blog post.

In addition to introducing the new TableView, Qt 5.12 LTS also provides multiple improvements and new features in Qt Quick Controls 2, as well as in the Qt VirtualKeyboard.

Input handling

With Qt 5.12 LTS, we introduce the new Input Handlers as a fully supported feature (earlier know as Pointer Handlers, a new approach for mouse, touch and gesture event handling). We have worked in this area for quite some time, and now it is ready for prime time. The main issue addressed with the new functionality is versatility, especially in multi-touch and multi-monitor applications. Those were areas where the previous functionalities have not been enough to tackle all use cases. The new functionalities enable many different input mechanisms in Qt applications, for example, based on hand gestures detected by a camera or a proximity sensor.

Input Handlers provides a QML API for recognizing and handling the most common mouse, touch and multi-touch gestures (press-hold-release, drag, swipe, and pinch) from mouse and touchscreen, in parallel across the scene. You can interact with multiple items simultaneously, across multiple screens when necessary. There is also a C++ API available, but that is still defined as a private API with Qt 5.12.

Python, Remote Objects and WebGL Streaming Plugin fully supported

Based on Qt 5.12 LTS we also provide an update to Qt for Python, initially released with Qt 5.11 as a technology preview. The Python community is very active and growing, so we are extremely happy to provide Qt for Python as a fully supported feature of Qt 5.12 LTS. You can get started conveniently with Qt for Python via the PyPI (Python Package Index).

In addition to Python, Qt Remote Objects and Qt WebGL Streaming Plugin are fully supported with Qt 5.12 LTS. Qt for WebAssembly continues to be a technology preview with Qt 5.12 LTS.

Tools for designers and developers

To get the maximum out of Qt 5.12 LTS we also have updates to our tooling underway. The upcoming Qt Design Studio 1.0 will will leverage a pre-release of Qt 5.12 LTS and will support final Qt 5.12 LTS when available. Qt Creator 4.8 is planned to be released together with Qt 5.12 LTS, offering a good set of new functionalities (e.g. support for multiple new programming languages and multiple simultaneous debugger sessions). As always, Qt Creator 4.8 will also work with earlier versions of Qt. In December we are releasing Qt 3D Studio 2.2, which is directly based on Qt 5.12 LTS and takes advantage of the numerous 3D related improvements of Qt 5.12 LTS.

Next steps towards the final release

After the Qt 5.12 LTS beta 1 released today, we will push out multiple new Beta N releases using the online installer. With this approach, it is easy for users to test the new features and provide feedback. During the beta phase, we expect to have new beta N releases within one to two weeks intervals. When we have reached a sufficient level of maturity we will create a release candidate of Qt 5.12 LTS. It will be made available directly via the online installer. We are not planning to publish separate blog posts for the subsequent beta releases and release candidate(s). In addition to binaries, source packages of each beta release are of course also available for those who prefer to build themselves.

Get Qt 5.12 LTS Beta

I hope many of you will install the Qt 5.12 LTS Beta releases, test and provide us your feedback to complete Qt 5.12 LTS. For any issues you may find, please submit a detailed bug report to bugreports.qt.io (please remember to mention which beta you found the issue with, check for duplicates and known issues). You are also welcome to join the discussions in the Qt Project mailing listsdeveloper forums and to contribute to Qt.

If you do not yet have the Qt online installer, get it from the Qt Account or from the Qt Download page.


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