The new version of Qt 5.15 was already released several days ago and is positioned as an LTS version, which will have an extended support period of 3 years and further it is the latest version available to everyone.
Since as many of you will know, a policy change towards the open source community was made, as only those with a license will have the following corrective updates.
Of course, this version is backward compatible. With a long list of bug fixes, it puts it as the most stable version to date. To prepare for the future.
Besides that it is also the last minor version of Qt 5, since the launch of Qt 6 is scheduled for the end of the year.
In which in a few words this new version of Qt 5.15 LTS is the basis for Qt6 that will bring deeper changes in the core of the framework at the risk of breaking the accounting, but in a less brutal way than the transition between Qt 4 and Qt 5 .
Main new features of Qt 5.15 LTS
One of the main novelties that is presented in this new version of QT, ands the 3D API abstraction. Since in the last two years, significant changes in the industry have complicated the development and implementation of applications that use 3D graphics.
With the cross-platform promise of Qt, developers wanted a solution that would work everywhere. To achieve this, they started working on an abstraction layer for all these different APIs just over a year ago.
Qt Rendering Hardware Interface (RHI) is the result of it and it can be used to run Qt Quick applications in addition to Direct 3D, Metal, and Vulkan, as well as OpenGL.
Another important new feature in Qt 5.15 it is also related to graphics. Basically, in Qt 5.0, Qt Quick was presented as the cornerstone of the Qt architecture. Their goal was to simplify the creation of touch and animated 2D user interfaces.
Qt 5.15 comes with fully compatible Qt Quick 3D, which extends the concept of ease of use and integration of 3D content in Qt Quick-based applications.
With Qt Quick 3D, you can now easily define a 3D scene in QML, define its meshes, lights, and materials, and blend everything seamlessly with your 2D user interface.
Where you had to develop 2D and 3D elements separately using different technologies (using Qt 3D, Qt 3D Studio, or OpenGL raw), you now have an integrated solution at your fingertips.
In addition, Qt Quick 3D adds a lot of options to create new interesting applications that include 2D and 3D elements in the user interface. Qt Quick 3D is also compatible with Qt Design Studio 1.5.
While in Qt QML the developers mention They preferred to focus on preparing for Qt 6, leading to a useful set of new features in Qt 5.15.
QML you now have the concept of "required" properties for components. These are properties which must be defined by a user of the component. Components can now be specified online in a QML file. A new declarative way of registering types has been added.
On the other hand, it is mentioned that the qmllint tool has been improved and offers much better warnings about potential problems in the QML code base.
Also, a new qmlformat tool has been added which can help to format QML files according to the standard QML encoding style guidelines.
Finally, Work has been done to ensure that QML used in Qt for MCU and Qt 5.15 is compatible.
If you want to know more about it, you can check the publication of this new version In the following linkIn addition, you can also find the download links where you can request a free trial license (it does not include some functions).
To download Qt, you now need to have a Qt account to get the online installer and download any version of the framework.
Please note that support for Qt 5.9 LTS will expire on May 31, 2020.
Mentioning the issue of Qt updates and not doing it is the same. Readers need to know how large projects like KDE are solving this, to bet on this desktop or abandon it.