Scriptable Application Example

This example demonstrates how to make a Qt C++ application scriptable.

It has a class MainWindow (files mainwindow.cpp,h) that inherits from QMainWindow, for which bindings are generated using Shiboken.

The header wrappedclasses.h is passed to Shiboken which generates class wrappers and headers in a sub directory called AppLib/ which are linked to the application.

The files pythonutils.cpp,h contain some code which binds the instance of MainWindow to a variable called mainWindow in the global Python namespace (__main___). It is then possible to run Python script snippets like:

mainWindow.testFunction1()

which trigger the underlying C++ function.

Building the project

This example can be built using CMake or QMake, but there are common requirements that you need to take into consideration:

  • Make sure that a –standalone PySide package (bundled with Qt libraries) is installed into the current active Python environment (system or virtualenv)

  • qmake has to be in your PATH:

    • so that CMake find_package(Qt6 COMPONENTS Core) works (used for include headers),

    • used for building the application with qmake instead of CMake

  • use the same Qt version for building the example application, as was used for building PySide, this is to ensure binary compatibility between the newly generated bindings libraries, the PySide libraries and the Qt libraries.

For Windows you will also need: * a Visual Studio environment to be active in your terminal

  • Correct visual studio architecture chosen (32 vs 64 bit)

  • Make sure that your Qt + Python + PySide package + app build configuration is the same (all Release, which is more likely, or all Debug).

  • Make sure that your Qt + Python + PySide package + app are built with a compatible version of MSVC, to avoid mixing of C++ runtime libraries.

Both build options will use the pyside_config.py file to configure the project using the current PySide/Shiboken installation (for qmake via pyside.pri, and for CMake via the project CMakeLists.txt).

Using CMake

To build this example with CMake you will need a recent version of CMake (3.16+).

You can build this example by executing the following commands (slightly adapted to your file system layout) in a terminal:

macOS/Linux:

cd ~/pyside-setup/examples/scriptableapplication

On Windows:

cd C:\pyside-setup\examples\scriptableapplication

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -H.. -B. -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
ninja
./scriptableapplication

Using QMake

The file scriptableapplication.pro is the project file associated to the example when using qmake.

You can build this example by executing:

mkdir build
cd build
qmake ..
make # or nmake / jom for Windows

Windows troubleshooting

Using qmake should work out of the box, there was a known issue with directories and white spaces that is solved by using the “~1” character, so the path will change from: c:\Program Files\Python39\libs to c:\Progra~1\Python39\libs this will avoid the issues when the Makefiles are generated.

It is possible when using CMake to pick up the wrong compiler for a different architecture, but it can be addressed explicitly by setting the CC environment variable:

set CC=cl

passing the compiler on the command line:

cmake -H.. -B. -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cl.exe -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=cl.exe

or using the -G option:

cmake -H.. -B. -G "Visual Studio 14 Win64" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

If the -G "Visual Studio 14 Win64" option is used, a sln file will be generated, and can be used with MSBuild instead of ninja.

MSBuild scriptableapplication.sln "/p:Configuration=Release"

Note that using the “Ninja” generator is preferred to the MSBuild one, because in the latter case the executable is placed into a directory other than the one that contains the dependency dlls (shiboken, pyside). This leads to execution problems if the application is started within the Release subdirectory and not the one containing the dependencies.

Virtualenv Support

If the application is started from a terminal with an activated python virtual environment, that environment’s packages will be used for the python module import process. In this case, make sure that the application was built while the virtualenv was active, so that the build system picks up the correct python shared library and PySide package.

Linux Shared Libraries Notes

For this example’s purpose, we link against the absolute paths of the shared libraries (libshiboken and libpyside) because the installation of the modules is being done via wheels, and there is no clean solution to include symbolic links in the package (so that regular -lshiboken works).

Windows Notes

The build config of the application (Debug or Release) should match the PySide6 build config, otherwise the application will not properly work.

In practice this means the only supported configurations are:

  1. release config build of the application + PySide setup.py without --debug flag + python.exe for the PySide build process + python39.dll for the linked in shared library + release build of Qt.

  2. debug config build of the application + PySide setup.py with --debug flag + python_d.exe for the PySide build process + python39_d.dll for the linked in shared library + debug build of Qt.

This is necessary because all the shared libraries in question have to link to the same C++ runtime library (msvcrt.dll or msvcrtd.dll). To make the example as self-contained as possible, the shared libraries in use (pyside6.dll, shiboken6.dll) are hard-linked into the build folder of the application.

#include "mainwindow.h"

#include <QApplication>
#include <QScreen>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QApplication a(argc, argv);
    MainWindow mainWindow;
    const QRect availableGeometry =  mainWindow.screen()->availableGeometry();
    mainWindow.resize(availableGeometry.width() / 2, availableGeometry.height() / 2);
    mainWindow.show();
    return a.exec();
}

#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "pythonutils.h"

#include <QtWidgets/QApplication>
#include <QtWidgets/QMenu>
#include <QtWidgets/QMenuBar>
#include <QtWidgets/QPlainTextEdit>
#include <QtWidgets/QStatusBar>
#include <QtWidgets/QToolBar>
#include <QtWidgets/QVBoxLayout>

#include <QtGui/QAction>
#include <QtGui/QFontDatabase>
#include <QtGui/QIcon>

#include <QtCore/QDebug>
#include <QtCore/QTextStream>

static const char defaultScript[] = R"(
import AppLib
print("Hello, world")
mainWindow.testFunction1()
)";

MainWindow::MainWindow()
    : m_scriptEdit(new QPlainTextEdit(QString::fromLatin1(defaultScript).trimmed(), this))
{
    setWindowTitle(tr("Scriptable Application"));

    QMenu *fileMenu = menuBar()->addMenu(tr("&File"));
    const QIcon runIcon = QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("system-run"));
    QAction *runAction = fileMenu->addAction(runIcon, tr("&Run..."), this, &MainWindow::slotRunScript);
    runAction->setShortcut(Qt::CTRL | Qt::Key_R);
    QAction *diagnosticAction = fileMenu->addAction(tr("&Print Diagnostics"), this, &MainWindow::slotPrintDiagnostics);
    diagnosticAction->setShortcut(Qt::CTRL | Qt::Key_D);
    fileMenu->addAction(tr("&Invoke testFunction1()"), this, &MainWindow::testFunction1);
    const QIcon quitIcon = QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("application-exit"));
    QAction *quitAction = fileMenu->addAction(quitIcon, tr("&Quit"), qApp, &QCoreApplication::quit);
    quitAction->setShortcut(Qt::CTRL | Qt::Key_Q);

    QMenu *editMenu = menuBar()->addMenu(tr("&Edit"));
    const QIcon clearIcon = QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("edit-clear"));
    QAction *clearAction = editMenu->addAction(clearIcon, tr("&Clear"), m_scriptEdit, &QPlainTextEdit::clear);

    QMenu *helpMenu = menuBar()->addMenu(tr("&Help"));
    const QIcon aboutIcon = QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("help-about"));
    QAction *aboutAction = helpMenu->addAction(aboutIcon, tr("&About Qt"), qApp, &QApplication::aboutQt);

    QToolBar *toolBar = new QToolBar;
    addToolBar(toolBar);
    toolBar->addAction(quitAction);
    toolBar->addSeparator();
    toolBar->addAction(clearAction);
    toolBar->addSeparator();
    toolBar->addAction(runAction);
    toolBar->addSeparator();
    toolBar->addAction(aboutAction);

    m_scriptEdit->setFont(QFontDatabase::systemFont(QFontDatabase::FixedFont));
    setCentralWidget(m_scriptEdit);

    if (!PythonUtils::bindAppObject("__main__", "mainWindow", PythonUtils::MainWindowType, this))
       statusBar()->showMessage(tr("Error loading the application module"));
}

void MainWindow::slotRunScript()
{
    const QStringList script = m_scriptEdit->toPlainText().trimmed().split(QLatin1Char('\n'), Qt::SkipEmptyParts);
    if (!script.isEmpty())
        runScript(script);
}

void MainWindow::slotPrintDiagnostics()
{
    const QStringList script = QStringList()
            << "import sys" << "print('Path=', sys.path)" << "print('Executable=', sys.executable)";
    runScript(script);
}

void MainWindow::runScript(const QStringList &script)
{
    if (!::PythonUtils::runScript(script))
        statusBar()->showMessage(tr("Error running script"));
}

void MainWindow::testFunction1()
{
    static int n = 1;
    QString message;
    QTextStream(&message) << __FUNCTION__ << " called #" << n++;
    qDebug().noquote() << message;
    statusBar()->showMessage(message);
}

#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H

#include <QtWidgets/QMainWindow>

class QPlainTextEdit;

class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
    Q_OBJECT
public:
    MainWindow();

    void testFunction1();

private Q_SLOTS:
    void slotRunScript();
    void slotPrintDiagnostics();

private:
    void runScript(const QStringList &);

    QPlainTextEdit *m_scriptEdit;
};

#endif // MAINWINDOW_H

#include "pythonutils.h"

#include <QtCore/QByteArray>
#include <QtCore/QCoreApplication>
#include <QtCore/QDebug>
#include <QtCore/QOperatingSystemVersion>
#include <QtCore/QStringList>
#include <QtCore/QTemporaryFile>
#include <QtCore/QDir>

#include <sbkpython.h>
#include <sbkconverter.h>
#include <sbkmodule.h>


extern "C" PyObject *PyInit_AppLib();
static const char moduleName[] = "AppLib";

// This variable stores all Python types exported by this module.
extern PyTypeObject **SbkAppLibTypes;

// This variable stores all type converters exported by this module.
extern SbkConverter **SbkAppLibTypeConverters;

namespace PythonUtils {

static State state = PythonUninitialized;

static void cleanup()
{
    if (state > PythonUninitialized) {
        Py_Finalize();
        state = PythonUninitialized;
    }
}

static const char virtualEnvVar[] = "VIRTUAL_ENV";

// If there is an active python virtual environment, use that environment's
// packages location.
static void initVirtualEnvironment()
{
    // As of Python 3.8, Python is no longer able to run stand-alone in a
    // virtualenv due to missing libraries. Add the path to the modules instead.
    if (QOperatingSystemVersion::currentType() == QOperatingSystemVersion::Windows
        && (PY_MAJOR_VERSION > 3 || (PY_MAJOR_VERSION == 3 && PY_MINOR_VERSION >= 8))) {
        const QByteArray virtualEnvPath = qgetenv(virtualEnvVar);
        qputenv("PYTHONPATH", virtualEnvPath + "\\Lib\\site-packages");
    }
}

State init()
{
    if (state > PythonUninitialized)
        return state;

    if (qEnvironmentVariableIsSet(virtualEnvVar))
        initVirtualEnvironment();

    if (PyImport_AppendInittab(moduleName, PyInit_AppLib) == -1) {
        qWarning("Failed to add the module '%s' to the table of built-in modules.", moduleName);
        return state;
    }

    Py_Initialize();
    qAddPostRoutine(cleanup);
    state = PythonInitialized;
    const bool pythonInitialized = PyInit_AppLib() != nullptr;
    const bool pyErrorOccurred = PyErr_Occurred() != nullptr;
    if (pythonInitialized && !pyErrorOccurred) {
        state = AppModuleLoaded;
    } else {
        if (pyErrorOccurred)
            PyErr_Print();
        qWarning("Failed to initialize the module.");
    }
    return state;
}

bool bindAppObject(const QString &moduleName, const QString &name,
                      int index, QObject *o)
{
    if (init() != AppModuleLoaded)
        return false;
    PyTypeObject *typeObject = SbkAppLibTypes[index];

    PyObject *po = Shiboken::Conversions::pointerToPython(typeObject, o);
    if (!po) {
        qWarning() << __FUNCTION__ << "Failed to create wrapper for" << o;
        return false;
    }
    Py_INCREF(po);

    PyObject *module = PyImport_AddModule(moduleName.toLocal8Bit().constData());
    if (!module) {
        Py_DECREF(po);
        if (PyErr_Occurred())
            PyErr_Print();
        qWarning() << __FUNCTION__ << "Failed to locate module" << moduleName;
        return false;
    }

    if (PyModule_AddObject(module, name.toLocal8Bit().constData(), po) < 0) {
        if (PyErr_Occurred())
            PyErr_Print();
        qWarning() << __FUNCTION__ << "Failed add object" << name << "to" << moduleName;
        return false;
    }

    return true;
}

bool runScript(const QStringList &script)
{
    if (init() == PythonUninitialized)
        return false;

    // Concatenating all the lines
    QString content;
    QTextStream ss(&content);
    for (const QString &line: script)
        ss << line << "\n";

    // Executing the whole script as one line
    bool result = true;
    const QByteArray line = content.toUtf8();
    if (PyRun_SimpleString(line.constData()) == -1) {
        if (PyErr_Occurred())
            PyErr_Print();
        result = false;
    }

    return result;
}

} // namespace PythonUtils

#ifndef PYTHONUTILS_H
#define PYTHONUTILS_H

#include <QtCore/QStringList>

class QObject;

namespace PythonUtils {

enum AppLibTypes
{
    MainWindowType = 0 // SBK_MAINWINDOW_IDX
};

enum State
{
    PythonUninitialized,
    PythonInitialized,
    AppModuleLoaded
};

State init();

bool bindAppObject(const QString &moduleName, const QString &name,
                   int index, QObject *o);

bool runScript(const QStringList &script);

} // namespace PythonUtils

#endif // PYTHONUTILS_H

#ifndef WRAPPEDCLASSES_H
#define WRAPPEDCLASSES_H

#include <mainwindow.h>

#endif // WRAPPEDCLASSES_H

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
cmake_policy(VERSION 3.16)

# Enable policy to run automoc on generated files.
if(POLICY CMP0071)
  cmake_policy(SET CMP0071 NEW)
endif()

project(scriptableapplication)

# Set CPP standard to C++11 minimum.
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11)

# Find required Qt packages.
find_package(Qt6 COMPONENTS Core)
find_package(Qt6 COMPONENTS Gui)
find_package(Qt6 COMPONENTS Widgets)

# Use provided python interpreter if given.
if(NOT python_interpreter)
    find_program(python_interpreter NAMES python3 python)
endif()
message(STATUS "Using python interpreter: ${python_interpreter}")

# Macro to get various pyside / python include / link flags.
macro(pyside_config option output_var)
    if(${ARGC} GREATER 2)
        set(is_list ${ARGV2})
    else()
        set(is_list "")
    endif()

    execute_process(
      COMMAND ${python_interpreter} "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/../utils/pyside_config.py"
              ${option}
      OUTPUT_VARIABLE ${output_var}
      OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)

    if ("${${output_var}}" STREQUAL "")
        message(FATAL_ERROR "Error: Calling pyside_config.py ${option} returned no output.")
    endif()
    if(is_list)
        string (REPLACE " " ";" ${output_var} "${${output_var}}")
    endif()
endmacro()

# Query for the shiboken6-generator path, PySide6 path, Python path, include paths and linker flags.
pyside_config(--shiboken-module-path SHIBOKEN_MODULE_PATH)
pyside_config(--shiboken-generator-path SHIBOKEN_GENERATOR_PATH)
pyside_config(--pyside-path PYSIDE_PATH)

pyside_config(--python-include-path PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR)
pyside_config(--shiboken-generator-include-path SHIBOKEN_GENERATOR_INCLUDE_DIR 1)
pyside_config(--pyside-include-path PYSIDE_INCLUDE_DIR 1)

pyside_config(--python-link-flags-cmake PYTHON_LINKING_DATA 0)
pyside_config(--shiboken-module-shared-libraries-cmake SHIBOKEN_MODULE_SHARED_LIBRARIES 0)
pyside_config(--pyside-shared-libraries-cmake PYSIDE_SHARED_LIBRARIES 0)

set(SHIBOKEN_PATH "${SHIBOKEN_GENERATOR_PATH}/shiboken6${CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX}")

if(NOT EXISTS ${SHIBOKEN_PATH})
    message(FATAL_ERROR "Shiboken executable not found at path: ${SHIBOKEN_PATH}")
endif()


# Get all relevant Qt include dirs, to pass them on to shiboken.
get_property(QT_WIDGETS_INCLUDE_DIRS TARGET Qt6::Widgets PROPERTY INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES)
set(INCLUDES "")
foreach(INCLUDE_DIR ${QT_WIDGETS_INCLUDE_DIRS})
    list(APPEND INCLUDES "-I${INCLUDE_DIR}")
endforeach()

# On macOS, check if Qt is a framework build. This affects how include paths should be handled.
get_target_property(QtCore_is_framework Qt6::Core FRAMEWORK)
if (QtCore_is_framework)
    get_target_property(qt_core_library_location Qt6::Core LOCATION)
    # PYSIDE-623: We move up until the directory contains all the frameworks.
    #             This is "lib" in ".../lib/QtCore.framework/Versions/A/QtCore".
    get_filename_component(lib_dir "${qt_core_library_location}/../../../.." ABSOLUTE)
    list(APPEND INCLUDES "--framework-include-paths=${lib_dir}")
endif()

# Set up the options to pass to shiboken.
set(WRAPPED_HEADER ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/wrappedclasses.h)
set(TYPESYSTEM_FILE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/scriptableapplication.xml)

set(SHIBOKEN_OPTIONS --generator-set=shiboken --enable-parent-ctor-heuristic
    --enable-pyside-extensions --enable-return-value-heuristic --use-isnull-as-nb_nonzero
    --avoid-protected-hack
    ${INCLUDES}
    -I${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
    -T${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
    -T${PYSIDE_PATH}/typesystems
    --output-directory=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
    )

# Specify which sources will be generated by shiboken, and their dependencies.
set(GENERATED_SOURCES
    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/AppLib/applib_module_wrapper.cpp
    ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/AppLib/mainwindow_wrapper.cpp)

set(GENERATED_SOURCES_DEPENDENCIES
    ${WRAPPED_HEADER}
    ${TYPESYSTEM_FILE}
    )

# Add custom target to run shiboken.
add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${GENERATED_SOURCES}
                    COMMAND ${SHIBOKEN_PATH}
                    ${SHIBOKEN_OPTIONS} ${WRAPPED_HEADER} ${TYPESYSTEM_FILE}
                    DEPENDS ${GENERATED_SOURCES_DEPENDENCIES}
                    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
                    COMMENT "Running generator for ${TYPESYSTEM_FILE}.")

# Set the CPP files.
set(SOURCES
    mainwindow.cpp
    pythonutils.cpp
    ${GENERATED_SOURCES}
    )

# We need to include the headers for the module bindings that we use.
set(PYSIDE_ADDITIONAL_INCLUDES "")
foreach(INCLUDE_DIR ${PYSIDE_INCLUDE_DIR})
    list(APPEND PYSIDE_ADDITIONAL_INCLUDES "${INCLUDE_DIR}/QtCore")
    list(APPEND PYSIDE_ADDITIONAL_INCLUDES "${INCLUDE_DIR}/QtGui")
    list(APPEND PYSIDE_ADDITIONAL_INCLUDES "${INCLUDE_DIR}/QtWidgets")
endforeach()

# =============================================================================================
# !!! (The section below is deployment related, so in a real world application you will want to
# take care of this properly with some custom script or tool).
# =============================================================================================
# Enable rpaths so that the example can be executed from the build dir.
set(CMAKE_SKIP_BUILD_RPATH FALSE)
set(CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_INSTALL_RPATH TRUE)
set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH ${PYSIDE_PATH} ${SHIBOKEN_MODULE_PATH})
set(CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH_USE_LINK_PATH TRUE)
# =============================================================================================
# !!! End of dubious section.
# =============================================================================================

# Declare executable so we can enable automoc.
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} main.cpp)

# Enable automoc.
set_property(TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTY AUTOMOC 1)

# Add the rest of the sources.
target_sources(${PROJECT_NAME} PUBLIC ${SOURCES})

# Apply relevant include and link flags.
target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR})
target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${SHIBOKEN_GENERATOR_INCLUDE_DIR})
target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${PYSIDE_INCLUDE_DIR})
target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${PYSIDE_ADDITIONAL_INCLUDES})
target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})

target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE Qt6::Widgets)
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${SHIBOKEN_MODULE_SHARED_LIBRARIES})
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${PYSIDE_SHARED_LIBRARIES})

# Find and link to the python library.
list(GET PYTHON_LINKING_DATA 0 PYTHON_LIBDIR)
list(GET PYTHON_LINKING_DATA 1 PYTHON_LIB)
find_library(PYTHON_LINK_FLAGS ${PYTHON_LIB} PATHS ${PYTHON_LIBDIR} HINTS ${PYTHON_LIBDIR})
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${PYTHON_LINK_FLAGS})

# Same as CONFIG += no_keywords to avoid syntax errors in object.h due to the usage of the word Slot
target_compile_definitions(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE QT_NO_KEYWORDS)

if(WIN32)
    # =============================================================================================
    # !!! (The section below is deployment related, so in a real world application you will want to
    # take care of this properly (this is simply to eliminate errors that users usually encounter.
    # =============================================================================================
    # Circumvent some "#pragma comment(lib)"s in "include/pyconfig.h" which might force to link
    # against a wrong python shared library.

    set(PYTHON_VERSIONS_LIST 3 36 37 38 39)
    set(PYTHON_ADDITIONAL_LINK_FLAGS "")
    foreach(VER ${PYTHON_VERSIONS_LIST})
        set(PYTHON_ADDITIONAL_LINK_FLAGS
            "${PYTHON_ADDITIONAL_LINK_FLAGS} /NODEFAULTLIB:\"python${VER}_d.lib\"")
        set(PYTHON_ADDITIONAL_LINK_FLAGS
            "${PYTHON_ADDITIONAL_LINK_FLAGS} /NODEFAULTLIB:\"python${VER}.lib\"")
    endforeach()

    set_target_properties(${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTIES LINK_FLAGS "${PYTHON_ADDITIONAL_LINK_FLAGS}")

    # Add custom target to hard link PySide6 shared libraries (just like in qmake example), so you
    # don't have to set PATH manually to point to the PySide6 package.
    set(shared_libraries ${SHIBOKEN_MODULE_SHARED_LIBRARIES} ${PYSIDE_SHARED_LIBRARIES})
    foreach(LIBRARY_PATH ${shared_libraries})
        string(REGEX REPLACE ".lib$" ".dll" LIBRARY_PATH ${LIBRARY_PATH})
        get_filename_component(BASE_NAME ${LIBRARY_PATH} NAME)
        file(TO_NATIVE_PATH ${LIBRARY_PATH} SOURCE_PATH)
        file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${BASE_NAME}" DEST_PATH)
        add_custom_command(OUTPUT "${BASE_NAME}"
                            COMMAND mklink /H "${DEST_PATH}" "${SOURCE_PATH}"
                            DEPENDS ${LIBRARY_PATH}
                            WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
                            COMMENT "Creating hardlink to PySide6 shared library ${BASE_NAME}")

        # Fake target that depends on the previous one, but has special ALL keyword, which means
        # it will always be executed.
        add_custom_target("fake_${BASE_NAME}" ALL DEPENDS ${BASE_NAME})
    endforeach()
    # =============================================================================================
    # !!! End of dubious section.
    # =============================================================================================
endif()