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Is there a good explanation somewhere as to what someone can and cannot make/sell/open/close with Qt? Last I saw, platforms that allow precompiled dynamically-l
by johnhattan 9y ago
Is there a good explanation somewhere as to what someone can and cannot make/sell/open/close with Qt? Last I saw, platforms that allow precompiled dynamically-linked libraries (i.e. everything but iOS) could have the LGPL stuff in a separate binary file. But if you linked the code in directly, you couldn't distribute your application without the source.
I wish there was a FAQ with easy answers like "If you write an iOS app with Qt, you can close the source if you pay us a license fee" or something along that line.
IIRC, Xamarin had similar problems, but that went away when they were purchased.
- zerr 9y ago> you couldn't distribute your application without the source. No, only "re-link-ability" is required, thus you can dump only obj files somewhere. They don't make FAQ about this, because they don't want to publicly state that it is possible to use free Qt for commercial mobile apps.
- cannam 9y agoTurns out they do have a FAQ about this: https://www.qt.io/faq/#_Toc_3_12 https://www.qt.io/faq/#_Toc_3_12 It suggests that LGPL + iOS app store is not OK, but doesn't fully explore why not.
- jononor 9y agoThat is because in the iOS app store, Apple is distributing the app. And they are not willing to obey the obligations of the (L)GPL regarding offering the recipients the source code they have the right so. So Apple has banned code with such licenses from the appstore.