# QMake ignores my `PREFIX`/`INSTALL_PREFIX`/etc. variables!

<p class="callout info">This article was originally published at [https://gist.github.com/joepie91/b0041188c043259e6e1059d026eff301](https://gist.github.com/joepie91/b0041188c043259e6e1059d026eff301). </p>

QMake does not have a standardized configuration variable for installation prefixes - `PREFIX` and `INSTALL_PREFIX` only work if the project files for the software you're building specify it explicitly.

If the project files have a hardcoded path, there's still a workaround to install it in `$out` anyway, *without* source code or project file patches:

```
{
  # ...
  preInstall = "export INSTALL_ROOT=$out";
  # ...
}
```

This `INSTALL_ROOT` environment variable will be picked up and used by `make install`, *regardless* of the paths specified by QMake.