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qt 2.0 released
kris writes "Those funky Trolls up there north have released Version 2.0 of the Qt library.
Unlike Version 1, this one is available under the QPL Open Source license, which is in compliance with the Debian Free Software Guidelines and qualifies as Open Source. Qt 2.0 also contains tons of changes and improvements, such as Unicode support, better I18N, rich text, theming and thousands of other things. You want to download their stuff to give it a try.
"
The KDE Team tries to have a developers release
of KDE based on Qt2.0 out by the end of this summer.
A stable KDE release based on Qt2.0 can be
expected in the first quarter of '00.
Those who don't mind hacking a bit themselves
can of course always have a look at the
tgz-snapshots or follow KDE development from
day to day via CVSup.
KDE development has been based on beta versions
of Qt 2.0 for some time already. As of today
all development will be based on the released
version of Qt2.0.
Cheers,
Waldo Bastian
bastian@kde.org
I've read the QPL. I do like some of it's ideas. First and foremost the requirement that the Free Edition is limited to use with the X Window system is a wonderful idea. But it seems like Troll Tech wants to force requirements on people that it isn't willing to undertake itself. For instance, the QPL states that the author of programs using the QPL has to allow others to make modifications to their programs and they have to allow others to redistribute the modified version of their program. This all sounds well and good, but Troll Tech isn't willing to submit to the same restrictions. Specifically with regards to QT:
people are forbidden from distributing modified versions of QT,
and their programs can't require a user to make changes to QT.
So, while the license is somewhat better, it ain't the GPL (any version); and I still have hope for the Harmony Project.
_____
It's ironic that Microsoft's goal is to write good software and Linux's goal is world domination.
It appears that the 'stuff' url on the short description should be ftp://ftp.troll.no/qt/source/qt-2.00.ta r.gz
I am a lawyer and this constitutes legal advice and I shall indemnify you against any losses arising from taking it.
Okay, I'm not going to speak in any official capacity here, but after all the conversations I've read on debian-devel and the #Debian IRC channel, here's the situation as I see it:
Debian does not and will not immediately include KDE, even with the release of the DFSG-free Qt 2.0, because KDE's license, namely the GPL, does not allow linking with libraries with licenses other than the GPL.
The GPL also includes this clause:
The problem with this is that if KDE and Qt 2.0 are both put into main, then the second part of this clause ("unless that component itself accompanies the executable") comes into effect. I'm not sure exactly about what happens if KDE is put into another section, but then, I'm sure that's been discussed also, and anyway, if it were in another section, it wouldn't be part of the official Debian distribution, anyway.
So one of the following has to happen, I believe, before KDE can be included:
I believe 3 has been looked at, and been decided against. I believe that Joseph Carter is working with KDE to resolve that part of the problem, and if they is successful, then it will be included.
Anyway, if I'm wrong in any way, I'm sure someone will correct me... this is just as I understand it.
I won't be downloading it (not because of any GTK zealotry; I'm waiting for 2.0.1 and all the inevitable bug fixes the Troll guys missed). Besides, I have a few questions concerning themes:
1) How compatible are the themes with those from GTK (at least for pixmap-based themes; I know the engine-based themes have no hope of compatibility)? It'd be nice if I could use the same theme for all my apps, and since work on Qt's themes didn't even start until after GTK's was cemented the only reason to make them incompatible is for incompatibility's sake.
2) Assume that GTK and Qt themes are incompatible (which is likely, unfortunately). How easy is it to convert the themes between toolkits? Might we be seeing a program in the future to do this?
3) Suppose the second isn't possible. Might it be possible for either toolkit to eventually gain the ability to read in the other's theme format?
As you can see, my biggest concern is interoperability between the two. While I don't have any Qt/KDE apps (never saw the need for any of the current batch, again I don't consider myself a zealot) it'd really be nice to use them seamlessly with GTK/Gnome apps (this is also why I'm pushing for a common desktop API which both KDE and Gnome could support, so a developer could write the code once and support both DE's. XDND is a start, but drag-and-drop isn't the only thing which needs the help a common API gives).
No. Qt can (and will) however now be included in Debian proper ("main"), rather than being available in "non-free".
Or are the licensing concerns still as valid as they ever were?
The licensing concerns are that Qt's license is incompatible with KDE's (GPL). This has regrettably not changed with the QPL. Knghtbrd, one of Debian's developers, provided a lot of input to Troll Tech regarding the QPL, but they couldn't be convinced to make the QPL GPL-compatible.
If the licensing issue had been about Qt1's non-freeness by itself, KDE could simply be in the "contrib" section. But the licensing issue is an interaction between licenses that prevents us from redistributing KDE binaries.
Luckily, there are strong indications that the KDE developers will be changing KDE's license to one that does not interact badly with the QPL (e.g. an Artistic-like license); once that happens, KDE can go in Debian proper.
What Qt 2 being free means to Debian is that Qt itself will now become a part of Debian proper, and that Qt-using software that doesn't suffer from the licensing issue (e.g. like pi-address, which is GPL + exception clause) can go in Debian.