[Qt-creator] Question about "kate/ktexteditor" highlighting implementation in QtCreator

[Dr.-Ing. Christoph Cullmann]

Hi,

>> Hi,
>> 
>> at the moment, the KTextEditor team ports away from its old syntax highlighting
>> engine (which was reimplemented some years ago in QtCreator) to the new
>> KSyntaxHighlighting framework (a Qt only KF5 framework).
>> 
>> https://api.kde.org/frameworks/syntax-highlighting/html/index.html
>> https://cgit.kde.org/syntax-highlighting.git/about/
>> 
>> After this is done, we will do some incompatible changes to the xml files (that
>> are reused by QtCreator at the moment).
>> 
>> I know that in the past there was no chance to reuse the KTextEditor/Kate
>> implementation
>> due to licensing/dependencies issues.
>> 
>> Would it be possible to reuse the framework above to stay compatible and share
>> code/maintenance
>> effort?
> 
> That would be desirable goal :)
I hoped some, too.

> 
>> At the moment the framework is LGPLv2+, but even relicensing to something
>> more liberal is at the moment still possible, if that would allow better
>> collaboration.
> 
> Thanks for contacting us on that question! I’ve added Lars as our Chief
> Maintainer to CC.
I added the maintainer of syntax-highlighting Volker Krause in CC.
Actually both are at akademy at the moment and perhaps can just talk
about the thing in person if wanted.

> 
> Our 3rd-party license policy is documented here:
> https://quips-qt-io.herokuapp.com/quip-0004.html#acceptable-licenses
> 
> It boils down to:
> * MIT or BSD or anything that is basically the same is no problem to include for
> us
> * L(GPL) might be ok in some cases, but usually not for “core” parts
> 
> (That last part about “core” parts is written in the policy with the Qt hat on
> as “part of Qt Essentials", but for Qt Creator I’d interpret that in a similar
> manner.)
> 
> I’d say that the generic text highlighting is a “core” part in Qt Creator, so it
> would be good if a 3rd-party library for that would be MIT/BSD-style, otherwise
> we probably cannot use it.

I think if the license would be the last issue, we can try to find some common ground
for that.

Thanks already for the quick response.

> 
> Best regards, Eike

Greetings
Christoph

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