Blog post about 2.4.0 release (#14)

* Blog post about 2.4.0 release

content/blog/release-2.4.0.md

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+---
+title: Qbs 2.4.0 released
+date: '2024-07-30'
+author: Ivan Komissarov
+---
+
+The [Qbs build tool](http://qbs.io) version 2.4.0 is available.
+
+## What's new
+
+The main feature in this release is the support for the [Conan](https://conan.io) package
+manager. We've added the new [conan](https://qbs.io//docs/qml-qbsmoduleproviders-conan/) module
+provider which creates Qbs modules from JSON files generated by Conan.
+
+<!--more-->
+
+### Conan Module provider
+
+The Conan module provider requires the `QbsDeps` generator which is present in Conan 2.5.0.
+For each dependency specified in the `conanfile`, this generator creates a JSON file with
+the information required for the conan module provider. This information includes paths to
+libraries, include directories, build tools, compiler and linker flags.
+Conan module provider reads those files and converts them to Qbs modules.
+
+Condider an example of an application that uses the `zlib` compression library:
+```
+CppApplication {
+    Depends { name: "zlib" }
+    qbsModuleProviders: "conan"
+    consoleApplication: true
+    files: "main.c"
+}
+```
+
+In order to install and build an application, we would also need a `conanfile.py`:
+```
+from conan import ConanFile
+from conan.tools.qbs import Qbs
+
+class Recipe(ConanFile):
+    name = "conan-zlib"
+    version = "1.0"
+
+    exports_sources = "*.c", "*.qbs",
+    settings = "os", "compiler", "arch", "build_type"
+    generators = ["QbsDeps"]
+
+    def build(self):
+        qbs = Qbs(self)
+        qbs.resolve()
+        qbs.build()
+```
+
+Now we can easily build the application using Conan:
+```
+$ conan create . --build=missing
+```
+
+Note that the new provider only works with Conan version 2.5.0 and above; for Conan version 1.x
+please use the [ConanfileProbe](http://localhost/~abbapoh/qbs-io//docs/qml-qbsprobes-conanfileprobe/).
+
+For more details on the provider as well as how to use Conan only for installing dependencies,
+see the [provider](https://qbs.io//docs/qml-qbsmoduleproviders-conan/) page in the documentation.
+
+### Other changes
+* We've added new FlatBuffers modules, for [C](https://qbs.io//docs/qml-qbsmodules-flatbuf-c/)
+  and [C++](https://qbs.io//docs/qml-qbsmodules-flatbuf-cpp/) languages. These modules require
+  runtime dependencies that can be installed using Conan module provider
+  ([QBS-1666](https://bugreports.qt.io/projects/QBS/issues/QBS-1666)).
+* Rules trying to create artifacts outside the build directory is now a hard error
+  ([QBS-1268](https://bugreports.qt.io/projects/QBS/issues/QBS-1268)).
+* More details are now printed when a command times out
+  ([QBS-1750](https://bugreports.qt.io/projects/QBS/issues/QBS-1750)).
+* Updated the bundled quickjs library.
+* The pkg-config based fallback provider was removed. That provider was not flexible enough and
+  didn't give users control over providers priorities. Also, that provider created files
+  even for non-present modules which also happens in case of misconfiguration. This was
+  inconvenient since those files had to be cleaned up manually.
+* It is no longer allowed to attach a QML `id` to a module item. This feature violated various
+  preconditions and triggered asserts in debug builds of Qbs. Please update you modules and remove
+  usages of `id` property. You can replace it with the raw `propertyName` in module context, with
+  `parent.propertyName` in module sub items, e.g. `Probes` or with
+  `product.yourModule.propertyName` in `Rules`.
+
+### What's next
+
+Currently, we are [working](https://github.com/conan-io/conan/pulls) on even better Conan
+integration - the one thing that is still missing, is the generator that sets up Qbs settings
+and profiles based on Conan toolhain.
+Another big feature we are [working](https://codereview.qt-project.org/c/qbs/qbs/+/387822) on, is
+the support for C++20 modules. All basic cases are already working, but such a huge feature
+requires some additional changes in Qbs internals. Stay tuned!
+
+## Try it
+
+Qbs is available for download on the
+[download page](https://download.qt.io/official_releases/qbs/2.4.0/).
+
+Please report issues in our [bug tracker](https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QBS/).
+
+Join our [Discord server](https://discord.gg/zhMHvC5GNa) for live discussions.
+
+You can use our [mailing list](https://lists.qt-project.org/mailman/listinfo/qbs) for questions
+and discussions.
+
+The [documentation](https://qbs.io/docs/index.html)
+and [wiki](https://wiki.qt.io/Qbs) are also good places to get started.
+
+Qbs is also available from a number of package repositories
+([Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/packages/qbs),
+[MacPorts](https://www.macports.org/ports.php?by=name&substr=qbs),
+[Homebrew](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/qbs)) and is updated on each
+release by the Qbs development team. It can also be installed through
+the native package management system on a number of Linux distributions.
+Please find a complete overview on
+[repology.org](https://repology.org/project/qbs/versions).
+
+Qbs 2.4.0 is also included in Qt Creator 14.0.0.
+
+### Contribute
+If You are a happy user of Qbs, please tell others about it. But maybe you would
+like to contribute something. Everything that makes Qbs better is highly
+appreciated. Contributions may consist of reporting bugs or fixing them right
+away. But also new features are very welcome. Your patches will be automatically
+sanity-checked, built and verified on Linux, macOS and Windows by our CI bot.
+Get started with instructions in the [Qbs Wiki](https://wiki.qt.io/Qbs).
+
+Thanks to everybody who made the 2.4 release happen:
+
+* Christian Kandeler
+* Ivan Komissarov
+* Kai Dohmen
+* Raphael Cotty

content/blog/release-2.4.0.md.license

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+SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2024 Ivan Komissarov <[email protected]>
+
+SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-only