I am using a custom build system (not CMake or qmake) with QtCreator 4.6.0 IDE on Linux, though I have both of these plugins installed.
My project is cross-compiled for an embedded Linux device, which I have set up the kit for. It builds fine, but the trouble is in the deployment step, where the custom build system does not tell it the executable file, so it does not know which files to deploy to the device. I have been referring to this page:
http://doc.qt.io/qtcreator/creator-deployment-embedded-linux.html
In my Run Settings page, I have the Deployment section to "Upload files via SFTP", but the "Files to deploy" list is empty (see the first screenshot in the above link). When I attempt to deploy/run, it confirms no files were deployed, as it outputs:
No deployment action necessary. Skipping.
Deploy step finished.
The documentation link first says to "Edit the qmake INSTALLS variable in the project .pro file to add the missing files.", however, my project has no .pro file at all. I created one for fun, and QtCreator has no idea it exists to be able to look at the INSTALLS line anyway, so that doesn't work.
In the "Deploying CMake Projects to Embedded Linux Devices" section at the bottom, it then says "You must specify all other files in the QtCreatorDeployment.txt file that you create and place in either the root directory of the CMake project or the build directory of the active build configuration." So I created such a file in the main project directory, as well as the build directory:
/home/root
build/test:.
The file makes no difference to the "Files to deploy" list, even after restarting. It seems to suggest this method is for CMake anyway. However, I have not even explicitly turned off the CMake building in the Build&Run > Kits, so I would not even know how to start making it build with CMake (and there is no insight from the documentation page: https://doc.qt.io/qtcreator/creator-project-cmake.html). The one thing I did change on the Build Settings page was in the "Build Steps" to do "Custom Process Step" instead of the usual Make step.
How do I add files to the "Files to deploy" list?
QtCreator 4.9 now supports specifying the QtCreatorDeployment.txt file for generic (non-CMake) projects to achieve this.
https://blog.qt.io/blog/2019/02/21/qt-creator-4-9-beta-released/