It should be enough to do just:

make
make install

then change back to your user account and type:

make install-config

to create your private ~/.qlwm configuration directory. 

The build was tested with Qt-4.4.1. If it fails, take a look at the 
Makefile and make sure that you use the correct qmake for your version. 
If this fails, check if the QMAKESPEC environment variable needs manual 
setting (something like export QMAKESPEC=/usr/local/share/qt4/mkspecs/<ostype>).

Make install will place all files in a common hierarchy below /usr/local/qlwm
(you can change this in the toplevel makefile), one additional link to 
qlwm in /usr/local/bin, and the manpage. The simplest way to make X11 aware
of it is however by running qlwm from your ~/.xinitrc file if you start X11
with a startx command or from ~/.xsession if you use xdm login. You should
see something that is preconfigured enough to start work with it.

See the manpage for usage information. The latest version can be found at
http://www.alinden.mynetcologne.de/qlwm