As with most libraries, there is no configuration to do, save that the library directory /opt/qt/lib should appear in /etc/ld.so.conf so that ldd can find the shared libraries. The following command will add it if it is missing: cat >> /etc/ld.so.conf << "EOF" # Begin qt addition to /etc/ld.so.conf /opt/qt/lib # End qt addition EOF ldconfig You need to add the path for the Qt man pages to the man.conf file. This can be done with the following command: cat >> /etc/man.conf << "EOF" # Begin qt addition to man.conf MANPATH /opt/qt/doc/man # End qt addition to man.conf EOF Most of the Qt based applications (such as KDE) require the QTDIR to be set during compilation. This can be achieved by the following command. For convenience, this command may be added to /etc/profile or $HOME/.bash_profile. export QTDIR=/opt/qt