QT Linguist 5.12 on x86 system

[igorruckert]

QT Linguist 5.12 is not running on 32 bit system. Executable is for 64 bit only?

[lelegard]

Thank you for noticing this. All Qt executables are 64-bit indeed :

$ file bin/*
bin/Qt5Core.dll:         PE32+ executable (DLL) (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/Qt5Gui.dll:          PE32+ executable (DLL) (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/Qt5PrintSupport.dll: PE32+ executable (DLL) (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/Qt5Svg.dll:          PE32+ executable (DLL) (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/Qt5Widgets.dll:      PE32+ executable (DLL) (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/Qt5Xml.dll:          PE32+ executable (DLL) (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/iconengines:         directory
bin/imageformats:        directory
bin/lconvert.exe:        PE32+ executable (console) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/libgcc_s_seh-1.dll:  PE32+ executable (DLL) (console) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/libstdc++-6.dll:     PE32+ executable (DLL) (console) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/libwinpthread-1.dll: PE32+ executable (DLL) (console) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/linguist.exe:        PE32+ executable (GUI) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/lrelease.exe:        PE32+ executable (console) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/lupdate.exe:         PE32+ executable (console) x86-64 (stripped to external PDB), for MS Windows
bin/platforms:           directory
bin/printsupport:        directory
bin/styles:              directory
bin/translations:        directory

The executables are copied from a standard installation of the Qt 5.12.0 development environment. I do not know if this is a new policy of the Qt company.

First possibility: The Qt installer installs 64-bits exe on 64-bit systems and 32-bit exe on 32-bit systems. In that case, you could recreate the Qt Linguist standalone installer yourself using the scripts in this project, after installing Qt on a 32-bit system of yours. I haven't seen a 32-bit Windows system for years and I have none to test on. So, I won't be able to provide support in case of problem with the scripts on a 32-bit system.

Second possibility: It is a fact that 32-bit Windows systems are disappearing, especially as development workstations, and the Qt company feels that generating development tools for 32-bit systems is obsolete. You have to check with Qt.

Now, the real question is "what is the purpose of the Qt Linguist standalone installer?". The typical target for this tool is a translator, an editorial guy (or lady), not a technical person. This kind of population mainly uses Macs, sometimes modern and recent PC's running a recent version of Windows, a always 64-bit system. So, the problem is probably more rhetorical than practical.

In all cases, if you really need Qt Linguist on a 32-bit system, you can probably use a previous version. The translation files remain compatible and a previous version of Qt Linguist can be used to translate files for more recent versions of Qt.

[igorruckert]

I've found this searching the web: https://github.com/thurask/Qt-Linguist/releases or https://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Home-Education/Qt-Linguist.shtml ...and it works on 32-bit system =)

[lelegard]

They are built differently. In the first project you mention, Qt is fully rebuilt from sources by the project owner for Window 32-bits, statically linked. The documented author of the second project is Alessandro Portale, @aportale on GitHub where he mentions he is part of the Qt Company. So, I assume he perfectly masters the Qt build process from sources as well.

Qt Linguist can be rebuilt in a number of ways for many different targets. The purpose of this project is to provide simple scripts to allow anyone to rebuild a Qt Linguist installer from the few pre-built Qt binaries. So, the scope of this project is limited to what Qt pre-built binaries offer. This is done on purpose for security reasons, as explained in the README file.

If you need another target, not available in Qt pre-built installers, you have to find another solution. Either you rebuild Qt from sources or you trust other third-party installers to be free of malware.

Or you upgrade your old 32-bit Windows to 64-bit 😉

Your choice...