Building

Building from Source

Requirements

Dependency	Minimum version	Notes
CMake	3.20	Build system
Qt	6.4	Core, Widgets, Multimedia, MultimediaWidgets, Svg
C++ compiler	GCC 11 / Clang 14 / MSVC 2022	C++20 required
lilv	any	LV2 host library (optional, enables LV2 plugins)
libX11	any	Linux only — for VST2 native editor embedding
FFmpeg / GStreamer	—	Pulled in transitively by Qt Multimedia

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Linux

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S cmake qt6-base qt6-multimedia qt6-svg \
               lilv libx11 gcc

Ubuntu 24.04 / Debian 12

sudo apt install cmake \
    qt6-base-dev qt6-multimedia-dev libqt6svg6-dev \
    liblilv-dev libx11-dev \
    build-essential

Fedora 40+

sudo dnf install cmake \
    qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtmultimedia-devel qt6-qtsvg-devel \
    lilv-devel libX11-devel gcc-c++

Build (all distros)

git clone https://github.com/teonactl/oql.git
cd oql

# Release build (recommended for production use)
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j$(nproc)

# Debug build with AddressSanitizer (for development)
cmake -B build_asan \
      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug \
      -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-fsanitize=address,undefined -g"
cmake --build build_asan -j$(nproc)

Install launcher and icon

./install.sh

Installs to ~/.local/ (no root required). Works on KDE, GNOME, XFCE, MATE, Cinnamon, LXQt, Budgie.

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macOS

brew install cmake qt@6 lilv

export PATH="$(brew --prefix qt@6)/bin:$PATH"
export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$(brew --prefix qt@6)"

git clone https://github.com/teonactl/oql.git
cd oql
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build -j$(sysctl -n hw.logicalcpu)
open build/oql.app   # or ./build/oql

Native VST2 editor embedding is currently Linux-only (requires X11). VST2 audio processing works on macOS; only the GUI editor window is disabled.

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Windows

1. Install Qt 6 via the Qt online installer — select the MSVC 2022 kit.
2. Install CMake and Visual Studio 2022.
3. Open a Developer PowerShell for VS 2022 window:

git clone https://github.com/teonactl/oql.git
cd oql
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="C:\Qt\6.x.x\msvc2022_64"
cmake --build build --config Release
.\build\Release\oql.exe

LV2 support on Windows requires building lilv from source or disabling it via -DWITH_LV2=OFF (cmake option not yet wired — comment out the pkg_check_modules(LILV …) line in CMakeLists.txt).

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CMake options

Option	Default	Description
CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE	Debug	Release for production, Debug for development
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH	—	Path to Qt installation (needed on macOS/Windows)

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Folder structure after build

build/
└── oql          # the executable

All resources are compiled into the binary via Qt's resource system (resources.qrc).

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Optional: VST2 plugins for testing

OQL ships no plugins. For testing, install ZynFusion's standalone effects:

# Arch
sudo pacman -S zyn-fusion

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install zynaddsubfx

ZynReverb and ZynAlienWah will appear in /usr/lib/vst/ or /usr/lib/lxvst/.