Prepare Toolchains and Sources

Obtain a AArch64 cross-compilation toolchain from Linaro:

https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/7.2-2017.11/aarch64-linux-gnu/

Select gcc-linaro-7.2.1-2017.11-x86_64_aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.xz.

Fetch the full Qt source archive:

http://download.qt.io/archive/qt/5.13/5.13.0/single/qt-everywhere-src-5.13.0.tar.xz

Download the Qt Creator installer package for Linux x64:

http://download.qt.io/archive/qt/5.13/5.13.0/qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.13.0.run

Enstall the AArch64 Toolchain

Move the toolchain archive to /opt and extract it:

cd /opt
sudo tar -xf gcc-linaro-7.2.1-2017.11-x86_64_aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.xz

Rename the extracted directory for brevity:

sudo mv gcc-linaro-7.2.1-2017.11-x86_64_aarch64-linux-gnu gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu

Add its bin directory to the system path:

echo 'export PATH="/opt/gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu/bin:$PATH"' | sudo tee -a /etc/profile
source /etc/profile

Confirm installation:

aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc -v

A version string indicates succsess.

Build Qt Libraries for ARM64

Extract Qt sources into /opt:

cd /opt
tar -xf qt-everywhere-src-5.13.0.tar.xz
cd qt-everywhere-src-5.13.0

Configure platform-specific compiler flags:

sudo nano qtbase/mkspecs/linux-aarch64-gnu-g++/qmake.conf

Append:

QT_QPA_DEFAULT_PLATFORM = linuxfb
QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE += -O2 -march=armv8-a -lts
QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE += -O2 -march=armv8-a -lts

Create an automated configure script:

cat > auto_build.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
./configure \
  -prefix /opt/qt5.13.0-arm \
  -confirm-license \
  -opensource \
  -release \
  -make libs \
  -xplatform linux-aarch64-gnu-g++ \
  -pch \
  -qt-libjpeg \
  -qt-libpng \
  -qt-zlib \
  -no-opengl \
  -no-sse2 \
  -no-openssl \
  -no-cups \
  -no-glib \
  -no-dbus \
  -no-xcb \
  -no-separate-debug-info
EOF

Set execute permission and run:

sudo chmod +x auto_build.sh
./auto_build.sh

After configuration completes, compile and install:

sudo make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

The output directory /opt/qt5.13.0-arm will contain the ARM64 Qt build.

Deploy Qt Creator

Run the installer in /opt:

sudo ./qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.13.0.run

Choose only the Tools component during setup.

Launch Qt Creator:

cd /opt/Qt5.13.0/Tools/QtCreator/bin
sudo ./qtcreator

In Tools → Options → Kits:

• Under Compilers, manually register aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc and aarch64-linux-gnu-g++.
• In Qt Versions, add the qmake binary located at /opt/qt5.13.0-arm/bin/qmake.
• Create a new kit associating the ARM64 compiler and Qt version.

Transfer Qt Runtime to Target Board

Package the compiled Qt runtime:

cd /opt
tar -czf qt5.13.0-arm.tar.gz qt5.13.0-arm

Copy qt5.13.0-arm.tar.gz to the target device (e.g., via scp) and extract under /opt:

cd /opt
tar -xzf qt5.13.0-arm.tar.gz

Configure environment variables on the board:

sudo nano /etc/profile

Insert:

export QT_ROOT=/opt/qt5.13.0-arm
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$QT_ROOT/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH=$QT_ROOT/plugins
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=linuxfb:fb=/dev/fb0
export QT_QPA_FONTDIR=/usr/share/fonts/ttf

Apply changes:

source /etc/profile

Run Applications on Target

Deploy the compiled executable to the board’s filesystem. Launch specifying the framebuffer platform:

./your_app -platform linuxfb