Re: tlug: KDE, GTK...etc. etc

["Manuel M. T. Chakravarty" <chak@example.com>]

Chris Sekiya <chris@example.com> wrote,

> On Mon, 12 Apr 1999, Jonathan Byrne wrote:
> 
> > KDE is developed using the Qt libraries, which are not Free, but the
> > stuff needed for KDE may be freely distributed, if I understand
> > correctly (but isn't open source?).
> 
> Qt is distributed via the Troll Public License, which prohibits the
> following:
> 
> * distribution of _any_ patches to Qt, even to fix bugs
> * development of non-open source software with Qt (for UNIX platforms,
>   that is)
> 
> Obviously, this is not free software.
> 
> Troll wised up and fixed their license so that it resembles the BSD
> license, but no code has yet been issued under that license -- so their
> new license is moot, in my opinion.

It is more restrictive than BSD, I think:

(1) all modifications must be distributed separate from the
    original source (eg, as patch files) and
(2) you have to grant Troll Tech the right to use your
    modifications with any other license that they choose
    (even if you don't make them publicly available).

> Is it legal to distribute a GPL'd program that uses Qt?  Probably not.
> The licenses conflict.

Good questions.  When Qt would become a standard component
of a system, I think, you can use the GPL for Qt-based
applications on that system, but as it stands, I think, they 
conflict.

> These are some of the reasons why I use GNOME[1].

Me too :-)  All these different licenses only hinder code reuse...

BTW, I think, GTK+ is the more interesting toolkit in the
long run anyway.  With Qt, you are basically restricted to
develop in C++ (*yuck*), but for GTK+ there are bindings for
many different languages.

Manuel
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