[Development] Qt LTS & C++11 plans

[Kevin Kofler]

Bo Thorsen wrote:
> With an LTS release that has almost all of the modules of the Qt 5
> lifetime, I'd be fine with dropping the compilation requirements of
> webkit and quick1 from 5.7.
> 
> IMO that's the benefit that an LTS support should give - to allow us to
> completely drop support for old modules. This gives the option of
> shifting resources from keeping f.e. webkit compiling with the latest
> version to keeing it running with the LTS release.

GNU/Linux distributions will require QtWebKit to keep compiling for a LONG 
time to go.

In fact, it is already a big problem for us that it is being deprecated at 
all. QtWebEngine is not an adequate replacement, neither for developers 
(insufficient API), nor for packagers (bundling Chromium that itself bundles 
dozens of libraries makes this a completely unacceptable package for at 
least Fedora and Debian). But even if it were, applications are not going to 
be ported to it overnight.

We cannot just ship the LTS Qt because some applications will definitely 
require the latest Qt, and having 2 different Qt 5.x versions around is NOT 
going to work. Unlike the average application developer, we have MANY 
applications and libraries to care about, and they need to be able to work 
together.

        Kevin Kofler