Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 12:11:46 -0500 From: "Pedro F. Giffuni" <pfgiffun@bachue.usc.unal.edu.co> To: "Brian W. Buchanan" <brian@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: A BSD-licensed GUI toolkit? Message-ID: <36E2B352.6C03AF1A@bachue.usc.unal.edu.co> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9903052010250.422-100000@smarter.than.nu>
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I am not sure a BSD license is incompatible with QPL:
The restrictions are very unusual, but it says you must redistribute the
sources fpr the application (which most BSD licensed software I use do)
and to make it possible for everyone to redistribute it (which we do).
I assume if you don't want to redistribute the sources, as the BSD
license permits, it only means you have to buy a Qt license that lets
you do it.
I do agree with the idea that we should have a free object oriented GUI.
I thought about it some time ago, but there are sufficient (almost-free)
GUIs around (Just remembered I have to port UIT one of these days).
Besides, I think I'll be using Modula-3 or Python from now on :-)
cheers,
Pedro.
Brian W. Buchanan wrote:
>
> Well, Troll Tech just unveiled version 1.0 of their QPL (Qt Public
> License) for Qt Free Edition, and after a quick read-over, I don't think
> it's compatible with BSD-licensed software. Excerpt:
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 6. You may develop application programs, reusable components and other
> software items that link with the original or modified versions of the
> Software. These items, when distributed, are subject to the following
> requirements:
>
> a. You must ensure that all recipients of machine-executable forms of
> these items are also able to receive and use the complete
> machine-readable source code to the items without any charge beyond the
> costs of data transfer.
>
> b. You must explicitly license all recipients of your items to use and
> re-distribute original and modified versions of the items in both
> machine-executable and source code forms. The recipients must be able
> to do so without any charges whatsoever, and they must be able to
> re-distribute to anyone they choose.
>
> c. If the items are not available to the general public, and the
> initial developer of the Software requests a copy of the items, then
> you must supply one.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> First and foremost, this is invalid. One cannot assert a copyright on an
> API, and therefore they cannot declare that anything that will link with
> their library falls under their license.
>
> The previous clause, however, states ("Software" == Qt):
>
> 5. You may use the original or modified versions of the Software to
> compile, link and run application programs legally developed by you
> or by others.
>
> If one takes the phrase 'legally developed' to mean 'compliant with section
> 6', this means that BSD-licensed software cannot be linked with Qt, but
> GPLed software can. This, well, sucks. Basically, if one wants to
> distribute software linked with Qt, or that the end-user can legally link
> with Qt upon compiling, it must be released under a GPL-like license.
>
> So...
>
> I think that it's about time that a good GUI toolkit for X be developed
> and released under the two-clause BSD license, both so that developers
> like myself can release software with a clean conscience, knowing that's
> *free* and completely unencumbered, not just "Open Source(r)", and to
> encourage commercial developers to port their software to Unix/X11, as
> they would not have to purchase a Motif or Qt license, use some LGPLed
> library, or write their own toolkit from scratch.
>
> Would anyone here be interested in participating in such a project by
> leading it, hosting it, writing code for it, helping to design it, or in
> any other way?
>
> --
> Brian Buchanan brian@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> FreeBSD - The Power to Serve! http://www.freebsd.org
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