I am using the Qt Visual Studio Add-in version 2.5.2 rev 1 for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015. i have done a fresh install of the add-in after removing it completely from Visual Studio, but the bug I am seeing still persists.

Somewhere in the chain of things that happens when a project is built, a "qtvars_x64_Debug.props" (or "Release") file is created by the QtMSBuild macros that are part of the add-in. This is an XML file that contain an XML element tag with a syntax error:

Qt Code:
  1. 1>C:\...\QtWidgetsApplication1\QtWidgetsApplication1\x64\Debug\qmake\qtvars_x64_Debug.props(8,1): error MSB5016: The name "QMake_QMAKE_TARGET.arch_" contains an invalid character ".".
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The offending line is:

Qt Code:
  1. <QMake_QMAKE_TARGET.arch_>x86_64</QMake_QMAKE_TARGET.arch_>
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It stops the build dead. If I edit the line to replace the "." with "_", the build will then proceed without errors, but the next time I do a Rebuild All or make any change to the project, the file gets re-created and I am back to the same dead end.

This happens with any project using the add-in and MSBuild, including a freshly-created Qt project with no modifications, just clicking "build" after the new project wizard exits.

I have looked everywhere to try to find the command that is generating these files, and can't find it. The add-in puts a bunch of parameter and command files in C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\QtMSBuild but there is nothing obvious there, but I admit I do not understand the MSBuild macro language. Nothing in the mkspecs for my Qt version (5.14.2) either.

Has anyone see this? Have you seen it in newer version of MSVC (2017, 2019, or 2022)?

Thanks for any information.