Qt Application Manager

Overview

The application manager binary (appman) is a headless daemon by itself. You need to supply a suitable QML file via the command-line or via a config file at startup, which then acts as a compositing window manager using the APIs that are exported from the C++ side.

For a high-level overview, see Introduction to the Qt Application Manager.

Important topics

Configuration	Configure the application manager through configuration (config) files and the command line.
Containers	Describes an execution environment for an executable.
Installation	Discusses Qt Application Manager installation considerations, such as; support, prerequisites, code coverage data and system setup.
Intents	Discusses the application manager's intent system and its API.
Logging and Debugging	The application manager installs its own message handler to format logging output neatly.
Manifest Definition	Describes the current metadata format for packages.
Migrating code from 5.15 to 6.2	Discusses factors for moving from the Qt 5 to Qt 6 release of the Application Manager.
Migrating code from 6.2 to 6.3	Discusses factors for moving from the 6.2 to the 6.3 release of the Application Manager.
Package Installation	Discusses the package installation infrastructure.
QtApplicationManager QML module	Qt Application Manager module common to both System UI and applications.
QtApplicationManager.Application QML module	Contains the components and types to use in an application.
QtApplicationManager.SystemUI QML module	Qt Application Manager module for use in a System UI.
Single-Process vs. Multi-Process Mode	Discusses running the System UI and QML applications in two different modes.
The Qt Application Manager	Provides an introduction and overview of Qt Application Manager.
The System UI	Describes the part of a UI which starts and stops any application, on a device
Troubleshooting	Lists possible issues you may encounter while using QtApplicationManager and how to solve them.
Using Qt Resources	Discusses compiling, loading and accesses resources in your program's executable.
Writing Applications	Discusses writing an application to run as a client within the application manager.

Tools

Controller	A command-line utility to remote control the application manager on a target device.
Packager	A command-line utility to create and sign application packages.

Reference

Examples

Animated Windows System UI Example	Learn how to animate windows to appear and disappear.
Application Features Example	Showcases client applications with various features, including a native application.
Desktop System UI Example	Illustrates a minimal Desktop System UI in pure QML.
Display Frame Rate for the System UI and Applications Example	How to use the FrameTimer to display information about the frame rate.
Display Information about Application Processes Example	How to use ProcessStatus to display application process information.
Implement a Custom Application Manager Example	Provides the basic structure and starting point for a custom application manager executable.
Intents System UI and Applications Example	Three applications and a System UI communicating over Intents.
Launch Applications Using Intents System UI Example	Learn how to use Intents to start applications from the System UI.
Multiple Views per Window System UI Example	Learn how to render a WindowObject using multiple WindowItems.
SoftwareContainer Plugin Example	Learn how to integrate Software Containers with the Application Manager.
System UI Example: "Hello World!"	Learn how to write your first System UI.

Licenses and Attributions

Qt ApplicationManager is available under commercial licenses from The Qt Company. In addition, it is available under the GNU General Public License, version 3. See Qt Licensing for further details.

Executables on Windows potentially link against The QtEntryPoint Library. This library is available under commercial licenses and also under the BSD 3-clause "New" or "Revised" License.

Furthermore, Qt ApplicationManager potentially contains third party modules under following permissive licenses:

StackWalker, version 2020-02-06	BSD 2-clause "Simplified" License
libarchive, version 3.6.2	BSD 2-clause "Simplified" License
libbacktrace, version 2022-07-09	BSD 3-clause "New" or "Revised" License
libyaml, version 0.2.5	MIT License

© 2024 The Qt Company Ltd. Documentation contributions included herein are the copyrights of their respective owners. The documentation provided herein is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software Foundation. Qt and respective logos are trademarks of The Qt Company Ltd. in Finland and/or other countries worldwide. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.