[Qt-interest] Qt 4.5 Open Source (Windows) -- is it legal to redistribute the Qt DLLs?

[Arnold Krille]

On Friday 20 March 2009 20:14:55 Ed Sutton wrote:
> Please confirm. LGPL means that if you make a GUI application using the
> LGPL version of the QTCreator IDE tool, then you must make your application
> source code publicly available?

Yes and no.
 - No, because as others have answered, the license of the tools doesn't affect 
the license of the product.
 - Yes, because if you use the open source qt sdk, you most likely use the 
open source (GPL) version of the Qt libs and that enforces you to make your 
own product GPL or something compatible.
 - No, because Qt is also licensed as LGPL which can be used from within 
closed source apps. Only you have to state in your products description that 
you use open source stuff and provide pointers on where to get them.

So, using Qt4.5 and higher you can create closed source apps linking to the 
LGPL version of Qt (unless I missed a non-commercial-clause in the Qt 
licenses). But if you use Qt4.4 and lower you have to make your app GPL or buy 
a license...

But I am not a lawyer. To be sure check with Qts support (which is different 
from this list:) and for second opinions ask a lawyer but don't be supprised 
if he gives you five answers instead of one.

Arnold
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