Re: KDE - license issue
On Sat, Aug 21, 1999 at 08:50:42AM -0700, Aaron Van Couwenberghe wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 21, 1999 at 10:39:05PM +0200, Rainer Dorsch wrote:
> > I remember long discussions about the KDE - QT license issue, when
> > distributing binaries of KDE. Is there a summary of the problem(s)/solutions
> > available somewhere?
> >
> > Is it e.g. legal to distribute Solaris binaries?
>
> I would like to close this pandora's box before it wreaks any more havok.
>
> Currently, the QPL (QT 2.0's license) is incompatible with the GPL.
>
> Most KDE apps/components are licensed under the GPL; however, 100% of them
> are linked to Qt.
>
> Hence, it's illegal to redistribute any binaries whatsoever.
>
> Yes, this problem is being dealt with. However, it takes some time to track
> down every single developer in a project and convince them to accept an
> amendment to their software's license. Note the fix is surprisingly trivial.
I havent followed the recent discussion on this topic and from reading the
QPL explecitly i havnt found any problems as long as you dont incorporate
qt code into gpl programs and vice versa ... This is the case if
you do dynamic linking although this is also a discussion topic.
IIRC the problem was from history that debian could not distribute qt in the
main tree though making kde depend on non-free software. From the QPL itself
i understand that it is "open-source" software now but i am unsure how
it complies to the debian-free-software-definition.
But with releasing qt unter the QPL wouldnt it be allowed in the main tree
and thought kde be distributeable with debian easily in main ?
If i am starting old discussions does anyone have pointers to
QPL vs. GPL reviews ?
Flo
--
Florian Lohoff flo@rfc822.org +49-5241-470566
Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick any two (you can't have all three). (RFC 1925)
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