[Qt-interest] LGPL and static linking

[Neville Dastur]

I wish a Nokia representative would state their position. From a legal 
point of view the case can be argued both ways. The basic fact is, it 
comes down to what Nokia want to achieve by the LGPL and what their 
intention is. The issue will only truly come about if Nokia decides to 
challenge someone using Qt with a static closed source project.

AFAIK the aim of releasing Qt with LGPL is to achieve greater use so 
Nokia why don't you clear this up. State intentions and lets us all get 
on with coding apps using this great library. And while you are at it 
put an exception into the LGPL so that it is in writing for the lawyer 
types.


Stefan Josefsson wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I am planning to develop a commercial closed source application on top 
> of Qt/E and would like to use Qt statically linked to my application 
> as this gives a substantial boost to the startup time and also reduces 
> the RAM usage. The question is whether I am allowed to use the LGPL 
> license of Qt. I have read a number of discussions about LGPL and 
> static linking and some say that it is not allowed (those that know a 
> little bit less?) and some say that it is allowed (those that know a 
> bit more?) as long as you provide the rest of the world with a way to 
> recompile the application with a modified version of the LPGL:d code 
> (Qt in this case). See for instance these links:
> http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=541047
> http://www.ics.com/files/docs/Qt_LGPL.pdf
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1066632
>
> What is Nokias view of static linking and LGPL?
>
> I also just read on the blog that the QtScript module from now on will 
> be under LPGL even if you buy a commercial license of Qt, so a 
> commercial license is not the solution for using static linking with 
> Qt if you want to use QtScript.
>
> Thanks,
> Stefan
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