Kobo Development Tutorial: 0 to Hero

OfficerAction · 05-27-2018, 12:38 PM

Hey folks

I have noticed that getting into Kobo development can be very confusing if you have no experience in the field, so I decided to write a guide for those who want to get into it. For this guide I am assuming you are using Window as your primary OS.
So the first step is seting up a Linux virtual machine.
I am using VirtualBox and Lubuntu 18.4 32bit (Kobos use 32bit processors so this might save us some truble), but any Linux should be fine.
Make sure you assign enought Processors, RAM and VRAM to the VM and run through the installation process.

Once it is up and running open up a terminal and update the system by typing the following commands:

Code:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

It will be very usefull to install the VirtualBox guest additons.
Click on the insert guest additions menu item and type:

Code:

sudo apt install dkms
sudo /media/YOURUSERNAME/VBox_GAs_5.2.8/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

After a quick reboot we can finally make the screen bigger and enable bidirectional copy & paste

Now here comes the interesting part.
We have to setup the arm toolchain and build Qt.

Download the toolchain form:
https://github.com/kobolabs/Kobo-Rea..._linux.tar.bz2

Extract it and move it to your home directory (or any other).

Code:

tar xf ~/Downloads/gcc-linaro-arm-linux-gnueabihf-4.8-2013.04-20130417_linux.tar.bz2 -C ~

Add the toolchain to your path by editing the bash startup script:

Code:

sudo nano ~/.bashrc

Scroll all the way down and add the following line, save.

Code:

PATH=$PATH:~/gcc-linaro-arm-linux-gnueabihf-4.8-2013.04-20130417_linux/bin

Restart your terminal or type in:

Code:

source ~/.bashrc

arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc should be a known command now.

Building Qt will be a bit harder.
Download the Qt 4.8.5 sources from:
https://download.qt.io/archive/qt/4....c-4.8.5.tar.gz

Again extract it to your home directory and cd into it:

Code:

tar xf ~/Downloads/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.8.5.tar.gz -C ~
cd ~/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.8.5/

We need to make a new platformtarget for the Kobo

Code:

cp -r ./mkspecs/qws/linux-arm-gnueabi-g++ ./mkspecs/qws/linux-arm-gnueabihf-g++

Now use an editor of your choice to modify ./mkspecs/qws/linux-arm-gnueabihf-g++/qmake.conf like this:

Code:

#
# qmake configuration for building with arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++
#

include(../../common/linux.conf)
include(../../common/gcc-base-unix.conf)
include(../../common/g++-unix.conf)
include(../../common/qws.conf)

QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE   = -O3 -march=armv7-a -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard -D__arm__ -D__ARM_NEON__
QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO = -O3 -g -march=armv7-a -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard -D__arm__ -D__ARM_NEON__

QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE = $$QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE
QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO = $$QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE_WITH_DEBUGINFO

# modifications to g++.conf
QMAKE_CC                = arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc
QMAKE_CXX               = arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++
QMAKE_LINK              = arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++
QMAKE_LINK_SHLIB        = arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++

# modifications to linux.conf
QMAKE_AR                = arm-linux-gnueabihf-ar cqs
QMAKE_OBJCOPY           = arm-linux-gnueabihf-objcopy
QMAKE_STRIP             = arm-linux-gnueabihf-strip

load(qt_config)

We need to install some dependencies:

Code:

sudo apt install gettext autoconf libglib2.0-dev build-essential libtool libdbus-1-dev
sudo apt install zlib1g-dev  libpng-dev libxext-dev  libssl-dev
sudo ln -s /usr/include/i386-linux-gnu/openssl/opensslconf.h  /usr/include/openssl/

Befor building Qt we need to configure it. This is the configuration I use:

Code:

./configure -embedded arm -xplatform qws/linux-arm-gnueabihf-g++ -opensource -confirm-license -prefix ~/qt_kobo_4_8_5 \
-qt-libjpeg -svg -nis -dbus -openssl -sql-sqlite \
-nomake demos -nomake docs -nomake translations \
-no-stl -no-webkit -no-qt3support -no-phonon -no-phonon-backend -no-multimedia -no-accessibility \
-no-javascript-jit -no-script -no-scripttools -no-opengl -no-gtkstyle -no-gif -no-cups -no-largefile \
-no-accessibility  -no-audio-backend -no-declarative -no-libtiff -no-libmng -no-pch -no-declarative-debug \
-no-sql-db2 -no-sql-ibase -no-sql-mysql -no-sql-oci -no-sql-odbc -no-sql-psql -no-sql-sqlite2 -no-sql-sqlite_symbian \
-no-sql-tds -no-mmx -no-3dnow -no-sse -no-sse2  \
-qt-gfx-linuxfb -qt-gfx-transformed \
-no-gfx-qvfb -no-gfx-vnc -no-gfx-multiscreen -no-gfx-directfb -no-gfx-qnx -no-gfx-integrityfb \
-no-kbd-qvfb -no-kbd-tty -no-kbd-linuxinput -no-kbd-qnx -no-kbd-integrity \
-no-mouse-qvfb -no-mouse-linuxtp -no-mouse-pc -no-mouse-tslib \
-DQT_KEYPAD_NAVIGATION -DQT_NO_QWS_CURSOR \
-little-endian -make tools -release -continue \
-I /usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include

Finally we can start the build process. Grab a tea and type:

Code:

make -j4
make install

If that went through install QtCreator:

Code:

sudo apt install qtcreator

Configure it by adding GCC and G++ compilers of the toolchain, the Qt 4.8.5 version we just built and create a Kit to make use of them.

Congratulations! You are now able compile qt aplications for your Kobo device

To run them on the device check out sergeyvl12's Kobo Launcher:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=201632

Python Master · 05-27-2018, 02:23 PM

Nice guide! It's great to see all the information compiled in one place

geek1011 · 05-27-2018, 03:14 PM

Looks good!

zavorra · 07-11-2018, 05:30 AM

Thank you, this is a great post. It should be set as sticky by the admins

DragoonGT · 02-27-2022, 10:26 PM

Is there an updated version of this guide? I recently bought a Libra 2 and wanted to try something fun with it. I have no experience with Qt or Linux, so I would really appreciate some help.
I looked at the Qt's download archives and the kobolabs github page and it seems like there is an updated version of the toolchain and I also see Qt 5 and 6. So I tried using this guide (on Ubuntu 20.4), just substituting Qt 4.8.5 with 5.15.2 and gcc linaro 4.8 with 4.9.4. Unfortunately, things didn't work out. Some things have changed, like the folder structured of the extracted Qt source files, no qws, some configuration options have changed, etc. I was able to figure some things out, but still got a lot of warnings and errors when I run "make". I think I must have done a lot of things wrong, but I have no idea what.

I have creeped around and this is the only guide which comprehensively details all the steps and the commands that need to entered in the terminal. You've done a really good job at explaining things for newbies like me. It would be great if you could post an update to it. Thanks!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
building Kobo development environment	pasquale8120	Kobo Developer's Corner	36	03-29-2019 09:02 AM
Can someone get me up to speed with Kobo development?	xfbs	Kobo Developer's Corner	4	05-27-2018 12:41 PM
Wired - Free eBook of Jonathan Wood Novels (No Hero; Yesterday's Hero)	charlesatan	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	5	08-02-2012 05:39 PM
Kobo Development forum	PeterT	Feedback	2	07-17-2012 04:00 PM
iLiad iLiad Full Development Tutorial	Hamatole	iRex Developer's Corner	5	10-12-2009 06:29 AM

05-27-2018, 02:23 PM	#2
Python Master Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura One	Nice guide! It's great to see all the information compiled in one place

05-27-2018, 03:14 PM	#3
geek1011 Wizard Posts: 2,736 Karma: 6990705 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Mini, Aura Edition 2 v1, Clara HD	Looks good!

07-11-2018, 05:30 AM	#4
zavorra Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 9886 Join Date: Jul 2018 Device: Kobo Clara HD	Thank you, this is a great post. It should be set as sticky by the admins

02-27-2022, 10:26 PM	#5
DragoonGT Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2022 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Is there an updated version of this guide? I recently bought a Libra 2 and wanted to try something fun with it. I have no experience with Qt or Linux, so I would really appreciate some help. I looked at the Qt's download archives and the kobolabs github page and it seems like there is an updated version of the toolchain and I also see Qt 5 and 6. So I tried using this guide (on Ubuntu 20.4), just substituting Qt 4.8.5 with 5.15.2 and gcc linaro 4.8 with 4.9.4. Unfortunately, things didn't work out. Some things have changed, like the folder structured of the extracted Qt source files, no qws, some configuration options have changed, etc. I was able to figure some things out, but still got a lot of warnings and errors when I run "make". I think I must have done a lot of things wrong, but I have no idea what. I have creeped around and this is the only guide which comprehensively details all the steps and the commands that need to entered in the terminal. You've done a really good job at explaining things for newbies like me. It would be great if you could post an update to it. Thanks!