[Interest] [Development] The place of QML
BRM
bm_witness at yahoo.com
Fri May 11 18:54:08 CEST 2012
----- Original Message -----
>> For starters, there's already a foundation in place -
>> http://www.kde.org/community/whatiskde/kdefreeqtfoundation.php.
>> That Foundation has the right to license Qt under a "BSD-style
>> license or under other open source licenses" regardless of
>> any other licensing. ...
> No, there's no current right for KDE to distribute Qt under
> other terms (than LGPL 2.1 and GPL 3). What there is is an
> "escape clause" if "Nokia discontinue(s) the development
> of Qt". Summarized at the site you cited, it reads:
>
> "The Foundation has a license agreement with Nokia. This
> agreement ensures that the Qt will continue to be available
> under both the LGPL 2.1 and the GPL 3. Should Nokia discontinue
> the development of the Qt Free Edition under these licenses,
> then the Foundation has the right to release Qt under a BSD-
> style license or under other open source licenses. The
> agreement stays valid in case of a buy-out, a merger or
> bankruptcy."
>
> Now ask yourself how many millions of Euros could be
> spent at some future point litigating whether or not
> Nokia has "discontinued" the development of Qt. They
> could entirely stop work on QWidget but the QML work
> would probably prevent the triggering of the escape
> clause.
My guess is that the contract that set it up (done under TrollTech, and updated when TrollTech was sold to Nokia)
probably outlines it very well; and that is it probably in the hands of the 4 member board for the KDE Free Qt Foundation.
However, that is purely a guess - you'd have to talk to someone involved with the foundation to get the real diagnosis.
Either way, I think it is presently a moot point as the KDE folks are likely to agree with Nokia on the current direction and usage of QML.
Of course, you are free to fork Qt under LGPL+GPL if you like and head in another direction.
$0.02
Ben
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