5 ms·

What? Qt is mostly LGPL. You don't need a lawyer.

nottorp 8y ago
Try to download it from qt.io. You will have to go through several screens saying "Are you sure you are able to comply with the LGPL? Wouldn't you rather get the commercial version for peace of mind?". If that isn't an implied threat, i don't know what is.
- 77pt77 8y ago
  All you have to do is link dynamically.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- freedomben 8y ago
  I don't approve of that tactic (in fact it drives me nuts), but I will say, Qt's license fees are quite reasonable, and then you get to link statically with no risk of violating the GPL.
  - kristoffer 8y ago
    Reasonable? It's about $500 / month / developer with additional royalties if you are shipping devices with Qt firmware. Sure I think Qt/QML is the best UI toolkit available but this crazy pricing is driving me towards any possible alternative. So I'm really hoping Flutter will take off (for desktop/embedded as well, not only mobile). Note that Qt is GPL3 nowadays so you can't really ship embedded devices with Qt without paying.
    - gcb0 8y ago
      only if there was a startup doing embedded chips with gpl firmware...
    - pjmlp 8y ago
      A great toolkit like Qt, including Qt Creator and UI designers, doesn't get written during late nights and weekends. They are pretty cheap considering the typical prices on their target markets, embedded tooling, medical devices, enterprise solutions. Naturally they decided to pivot to those markets, as Trolltech has hardly seen any significant monetary profit from FOSS. So it is only fair that those that don't want to pay, also ship code free to the others.
      - kristoffer 8y ago
        Most embedded tooling is free nowadays. Free software has eaten the world and will continue to do so. I will use a free UI toolkit when I can. Qt will kill itself with their current pricing model. Automotive is moving towards Android. Qt is not good for medical either because it is not really certifiable.
        pjmlp 8y ago
        Actually what I predict is the return to shareware/public domain models, where the free software is only the tip of the iceberg of the stack one actually needs for production code. The trend is already visible with SaaS, Cloud, IoT,... Qt is certainly certified for medical use, https://www.qt.io/qt-in-medical/ https://www.qt.io/qt-in-medical/. I have hardly seen any big Android Auto adoption. The biggest foe of Qt in Automotive is Web stack.
        kristoffer 8y ago
        Ok I'll admit I'm not familiar with medical certification. I know that the so called Qt Safe Renderer for ISO26262 compliance is a bit of a joke at least. I have seen two very big Qt projects being cancelled due to Android. Not the Android Auto app but native Android for IVI. I don't see any indication of your vision for shareware. The trend is towards more and more software being licensed under licenses such as MIT.
        pjmlp 8y ago
        > The trend is towards more and more software being licensed under licenses such as MIT. Which is exactly my point. Give the tip of the iceberg for free, charge for everything else and give as little back to upstream, if anything.
- kbumsik 8y ago
  I don't like this but I also kinda understand why they do so. Many devs around me (I live in Korea) don't care about GPL/LGPL and it is important for Qt to let them know. Qt is commercial software anyway.
- irishcoffee 8y ago
  Yum install epel-release Yum install qt5-

Try to download it from qt.io. You will have to go through several screens saying "Are you sure you are able to comply with the LGPL? Wouldn't you rather get the commercial version for peace of mind?". If that isn't an implied threat, i don't know what is.

77pt77 8y ago
All you have to do is link dynamically.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
freedomben 8y ago
I don't approve of that tactic (in fact it drives me nuts), but I will say, Qt's license fees are quite reasonable, and then you get to link statically with no risk of violating the GPL.
- kristoffer 8y ago
  Reasonable? It's about $500 / month / developer with additional royalties if you are shipping devices with Qt firmware. Sure I think Qt/QML is the best UI toolkit available but this crazy pricing is driving me towards any possible alternative. So I'm really hoping Flutter will take off (for desktop/embedded as well, not only mobile). Note that Qt is GPL3 nowadays so you can't really ship embedded devices with Qt without paying.
  - gcb0 8y ago
    only if there was a startup doing embedded chips with gpl firmware...
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    A great toolkit like Qt, including Qt Creator and UI designers, doesn't get written during late nights and weekends. They are pretty cheap considering the typical prices on their target markets, embedded tooling, medical devices, enterprise solutions. Naturally they decided to pivot to those markets, as Trolltech has hardly seen any significant monetary profit from FOSS. So it is only fair that those that don't want to pay, also ship code free to the others.
    - kristoffer 8y ago
      Most embedded tooling is free nowadays. Free software has eaten the world and will continue to do so. I will use a free UI toolkit when I can. Qt will kill itself with their current pricing model. Automotive is moving towards Android. Qt is not good for medical either because it is not really certifiable.
      - pjmlp 8y ago
        Actually what I predict is the return to shareware/public domain models, where the free software is only the tip of the iceberg of the stack one actually needs for production code. The trend is already visible with SaaS, Cloud, IoT,... Qt is certainly certified for medical use, https://www.qt.io/qt-in-medical/ https://www.qt.io/qt-in-medical/. I have hardly seen any big Android Auto adoption. The biggest foe of Qt in Automotive is Web stack.
        kristoffer 8y ago
        Ok I'll admit I'm not familiar with medical certification. I know that the so called Qt Safe Renderer for ISO26262 compliance is a bit of a joke at least. I have seen two very big Qt projects being cancelled due to Android. Not the Android Auto app but native Android for IVI. I don't see any indication of your vision for shareware. The trend is towards more and more software being licensed under licenses such as MIT.
        pjmlp 8y ago
        > The trend is towards more and more software being licensed under licenses such as MIT. Which is exactly my point. Give the tip of the iceberg for free, charge for everything else and give as little back to upstream, if anything.
kbumsik 8y ago
I don't like this but I also kinda understand why they do so. Many devs around me (I live in Korea) don't care about GPL/LGPL and it is important for Qt to let them know. Qt is commercial software anyway.
irishcoffee 8y ago
Yum install epel-release Yum install qt5-