Where are my Qt .lib files??

[wysota]

The difference is that you can't delete the Qt source tree with the qtnode version. If you do, you won't be able to compile any Qt code.

[vonCZ]

yeah, i saw that in the qtcentre instructions (using the -prefix flag, otherwise "you won't be able to delete Qt sources without making the whole thing unusable"). Honestly, I didn't quite understand what this meant, but figured I just build everything without it (per qtnode instructions) and leave it alone... and shouldn't have any problems. Does this mean: you won't be able to compile the dlls and libs, move them elsewhere, then delete the directory tree from which you built the dlls/libs?

This next question isn't critical, but: I built everything on an external drive to my laptop. Can I copy the whole directory tree to my C:\ drive now, edit my environment variables, and expect everything to work? Now that i've the MSVC++ version working, I can delete the mingw version on C:\ to make space for the MS stuff.

[wysota]

Does this mean: you won't be able to compile the dlls and libs, move them elsewhere, then delete the directory tree from which you built the dlls/libs?

If you're talking about Qt dlls, then that's correct. Look at your Qt include files (one reason) or try moving the dlls elsewhere and ask qmake to compile any app (second reason).

This next question isn't critical, but: I built everything on an external drive to my laptop. Can I copy the whole directory tree to my C:\ drive now, edit my environment variables, and expect everything to work?

No (that's the second reason) as qmake (the binary and config files) has the path to Qt directory hardcoded. You could if you used the prefix or prefix-install switches.