When Qt (4.7) is built statically (configured with -static -release), applications that use the QtWebKit module fail to link. C:\Users\Kent\dev\qtbugs\QTBUG-8657>nmake Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility Version 7.00.8882 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1988-2000. All rights reserved. nmake -f Makefile.Release Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility Version 7.00.8882 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1988-2000. All rights reserved. cl -c -nologo -Zm200 -Zc:wchar_t- -O2 -MD -GR -EHsc -W3 -w34100 -w34189 -DUNICODE -DWIN32 -DQT_LARGEFILE_SUPPORT -DQT_NO_DEBUG -DQT_WEBKIT_LIB -DQT_GUI_ LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -DQT_THREAD_SUPPORT -I"..\..\qt-oslo-staging-1-4.7-msvc2005\in clude\QtCore" -I"..\..\qt-oslo-staging-1-4.7-msvc2005\include\QtGui" -I"..\..\qt -oslo-staging-1-4.7-msvc2005\include\QtWebKit" -I"..\..\qt-oslo-staging-1-4.7-ms vc2005\include" -I"." -I"..\..\qt-oslo-staging-1-4.7-msvc2005\include\ActiveQt" -I"release" -I"..\..\qt-oslo-staging-1-4.7-msvc2005\mkspecs\default" -Forelease\ @C:\Users\Kent\AppData\Local\Temp\nm335E.tmp main.cpp link /LIBPATH:"c:\Users\Kent\dev\qt-oslo-staging-1-4.7-msvc2005\lib" /NO LOGO /INCREMENTAL:NO /MANIFEST /MANIFESTFILE:"release\QTBUG-8657.intermediate.ma nifest" /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS "/MANIFESTDEPENDENCY:type='win32' name='Microsoft.Win dows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' langua ge='*' processorArchitecture='*'" /OUT:release\QTBUG-8657.exe @C:\Users\Kent\App Data\Local\Temp\nm68D0.tmp LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file '../JavaScriptCore/release\js core.lib' NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'link' : return code '0x49d' Stop. NMAKE : fatal error U1077: '"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2\Bin\nmake.exe"' : return code '0x2' Stop. It's looking for "../JavaScriptCore/release\jscore.lib". There is a jscore.lib, but it's in src/3rdparty/webkit/JavaScriptCore/Release.
Can be worked around by copying jscore.lib from src/3rdparty/webkit/JavaScriptCore/Release to ../JavaScriptCore/release relative to where the app is built (so the linker will find it).
Unfortunately with Qt 4.7 we decided to remove support for static linking of QtWebKit. Change 4221d629e2cf37ee8c5ba7cb595b05ab8c82f113 in Qt 4.7 will disable the build of WebKit if Qt is configured for static linking.