Trolltech Adopts GPL 3 for Qt

Funkmaster F writes "At the KDE Developer Conference today, Trolltech CEO Havaard Nord announced that its Qt application development toolkit will be released under GPL 3. 'Here at the KDE release event, Nord's announcement was met with applause. Like Trolltech's initial decision to move from its own QPL license to the GPL, this announcement and the company's more recent decision to adopt the GPL for all platforms rather than just Linux, demonstrate the company's ongoing commitment to openness.'"

Comments

Re:Gnome

[philipp-de]

Actually, the LGPL gives you somewhat more "freedom" than the GPL does. LGPL allows you to integrate code into commercial products, without putting your "derivative" application under the LGPL too. The GPL requires this.

Re:I am not applauding.

[AJWM]

So I can no longer use QT to make whatever application I choose..

Sure you can; just pay Trolltech for a commercial license. That's always been an option.

Re:I am not applauding.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are plain wrong. Qt is released under GPL v3 and GPL v2. Just chose the license you prefer at your convenience.

Do your research.

[AJWM]

Trolltech first released its Qt toolkit (for X11) under the GPL (v2) back in 2000. The Mac version was GPL'd in 2003 and the Windows version in 2005.

This announcement just means that they're adding GPL v3 to the licensing (it will remain licensed under GPL v2 also).

You can still use GPL v2 with Qt

[knuty]

The press statement says:
  Qt is already available under the GPL v2 and will continue to be so in addition to the GPL v3.

Re:I am not applauding.

[Fry-kun]

Wrong again: if you pay for a commercial QT license, you can develop ANYTHING YOU WANT on top of it.

Re:The problem I have with QT's licensing

[Brandybuck]

The problem I have is that they require that any software written for their commercial-license library be only written for their commercial-license library.

Nonsense! You can use the commercial version to write BOTH commercial and Free Software.

Write your editor with their free library, then never be able to distribute it in any way without GPL'ing it

Not entirely correct. Their GPL license includes disclaimers for several common Open Source licenses. You still need to open your source, but you are not limited to a single license.

As for the future of your app, decide before you start which license you will be using. It is not fair to the Qt developers (who get paid from license sales) to "cheat" by developing under the Free Software license and then switching to the commercial license when you release it.

You may use the GPL version for training and learning the library. And there is an Evaluation license if you wish to evaluate Qt for your own project. But when you start the actual coding of your software, purchase a commercial license if you intend for your software to commercial itself.

It's quid pro quo. Do unto Trolltech as you would have Trolltech do unto you.

Re:The problem I have with QT's licensing

[dschl]

Ummm.....no.

As others have noted already in this thread, that sort of behaviour is expressly forbidden under the QT licensing. The GPL licensing only applies to open source code developed with QT. If you wish to release commercially, you have to make that decision before you start writing code, and follow their commercial license terms (not the GPL). Their commercial license overview is fairly clear in stating that you cannot legally release commercial code that was developed using the GPL edition.

From Trolltech:

You must purchase a Qt Commercial License from Trolltech or from any of its authorized resellers before you start developing proprietary software. The Commercial license does not allow the incorporation of code developed with the Open Source Edition of Qt into a proprietary product.

Re:I am not applauding.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong again: if you pay for a commercial QT license, you can develop ANYTHING YOU WANT on top of it. Actually, that's not exactly true.

Qt's commercial license indeed has a restriction, that you can not develop an application that was *previously* developed on the GPL version of Qt. So you can't develop your software against the GPLed Qt, test the waters, and only when there looks like to be profit, buy a commercial lincense and ship it.

This is a very reasonable restriction, but a restriction nontheless. So it's not "anything you want" as you claimed.

Re:I am not applauding.

[PeterBrett]

But by doing so I cannot make a GPL 2 app, or an other Open Source app.

( -1, RTFA )

Qt is now triple-licensed :

For clients and users who are somehow constrained to the GPLv2, nothing changes. Qt is now a triple-licensed toolkit: commercial, GPL version 2 and GPL version 3 (technically, the X11 version is even quadruple-licensed). In the Open Source version, you get to choose which one you want to apply to your code. And if neither option is suitable for your needs, theres always the commercial alternative. One other thing I would like to point out is the fact that we are future-proofing it. The new license headers say specifically that you may:

(at your option) use any later version of the GNU General Public License if such license has been publicly approved by Trolltech ASA (or its successors, if any) and the KDE Free Qt Foundation.

So, I hope your fears are thoroughly allayed, and you can go about your business today with piece of mind that at least on commercial software vendor understands your software licensing worries.

Re:The problem I have with QT's licensing

[Brandybuck]

I am not a Trolltech employee, but I do work closely with them.. I have a commercial license. What you are telling me does not describe Trolltech. Not at all. I have never heard of a workstation inspection. What I have heard instead, is offering waivers for those developers who genuinely did change their mind later on. And I have seen cheaters. I have seen companies release a signficant product two months after purchasing a single license.