QAppImage can compiled with both QMake and CMake , I recommend you to use QMake if you are building your application statically with Qt. Use CMake for normal compilation and other stuff, This is because CMake is easy to use than QMake when compiling with shared libraries of Qt. But CMake is very hard to work with when using a static version of Qt , So to save some madness be a good boy/girl and use QMake instead.

Using QMake.

The Simple Way for Single Application.

Go to your project folder.
Install QAppImageUpdate as a git submodule or just clone it.
Add this line to your project file.

include(QAppImageUpdate/QAppImageUpdate.pri)

Add QAppImageUpdate headers to your source file.

#include <QAppImageUpdate>

Finally , Just Compile.

 $ mkdir build ; cd build ; qmake .. ; make -j$(nproc)

The Hard And Standard Way for Large Applications and Libraries.

Since your project uses qmake as the makefile generator then you have to follow a specific directory hierarchy , The structure is show below.

 -MyCoolApplication
  --libs
     ---QAppImageUpdate
     ---libs.pro
  --src
     ---main.cpp
     ---mainwindow.hpp
     ---mainwindow.cpp
     ---src.pro
  --MyCoolApplication.pro

The Library Subdir Project file (libs.pro)

This is where you keep all third party libraries including QAppImageUpdate. Just add a git submodule or execute the steps mentioned in the Installation
in the libs directory of your project folder.

TEMPLATE = subdirs
CONFIG += ordered
SUBDIRS = QAppImageUpdate

Your Source's Project file (src.pro)

TEMPLATE = app
TARGET = ../MyCoolApplication

QT += core gui # Modules thats needed by your app.

# Put your dynamic libs after QAppImageUpdate. 
LIBS += ../libs/QAppImageUpdate/libQAppImageUpdate.a 

INCLUDEPATH += . .. \
               ../libs/QAppImageUpdate/ # This is important

SOURCES += main.cpp mainwindow.cpp # All your source files.
HEADERS += mainwindow.hpp # All your header files.

Your Main Project file ( MyCoolApplication.pro )

TEMPLATE = subdirs
CONFIG += ordered
SUBDIRS = libs \ # Always use this order
      src

Including QAppImageUpdate in your Source

Whenever you want to use QAppImageUpdate, you just need to include it!

#include <QAppImageUpdate>

Thats it, All you have to do is to build your project with qmake.

 $ mkdir build; cd build ; qmake .. ; make -j$(nproc)

Using CMake

It is recommended for you to keep your source files at the top level and then add QAppImageUpdate as a subdirectory in your CMakeList.txt

Here is a small example on how it is done!

CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED( VERSION 3.2)
project(MyCoolApplication)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11)

set(CMAKE_INCLUDE_CURRENT_DIR ON)
# Instruct CMake to run moc automatically when needed.
set(CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON)

# Find the QtCore library
find_package(Qt5Core)
find_package(Qt5Network)
find_package(Qt5Widgets)

include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}) # just in case!

# include subdirectories 
add_subdirectory(QAppImageUpdate)

add_executable(MyCoolApplication MyMain.cpp)
target_link_libraries(MyCoolApplication QAppImageUpdate
                    Qt5::Core 
                    Qt5::Network
                    Qt5::Widgets)

Where MyCoolApplication is the application that you are currently working with.

Using CMake (When QAppImageUpdate installed to system)

QAppImageUpdate can be installed to the system with the following commands,

 $ git clone https://github.com/antony-jr/QAppImageUpdate
 $ cd QAppImageUpdate
 $ cmake .
 $ make -j$(nproc)
 $ sudo make install

Then it can be simply used using CMake's find_package().

CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED( VERSION 3.2)
project(MyCoolApplication)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11)

set(CMAKE_INCLUDE_CURRENT_DIR ON)
# Instruct CMake to run moc automatically when needed.
set(CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON)

# Find the QtCore library
find_package(Qt5Core)
find_package(Qt5Network)
find_package(Qt5Widgets)

# Get QAppImageUpdate
find_package(QAppImageUpdate)

add_executable(MyCoolApplication MyMain.cpp)
target_link_libraries(MyCoolApplication QAppImageUpdate
                    Qt5::Core 
                    Qt5::Network
                    Qt5::Widgets)

Disable Logging in QMake or CMake

For some reasone if you think you don't want logging support whatsoever , i.e no signal from logger signal in AppImageDeltaRevisioner.

In QMake like this ,

 $ qmake "CONFIG+=LOGGING_DISABLED" [ProjectFolder]

and

In CMake like this ,

 $ cmake -DLOGGING_DISABLED=ON [ProjectFolder]

Compiling without logger support can reduce your binary by approx. 100 KiB and also saves some runtime overhead and memory usage.

Disable GUI Support

QAppImageUpdate gives a basic gui implementation, if you don't want it use this.

In QMake ,

 $ qmake "CONFIG+=NO_GUI" [ProjectFolder]

and

In CMake ,

 $ cmake -DNO_GUI=ON [ProjectFolder]

Enable Torrent Update Feature

As of v2.0 QAppImageUpdate supports updating AppImages via Bittorrent protocol.

But you should have torrent rasterbar installed, At least v1.2.8 is needed for QAppImageUpdate.

NOTE: Torrent Rasterbar v2.x is not supported yet.