[Qt-interest] Licensing

[Constantin Makshin]

On Saturday 29 May 2010 22:41:40 Steven Doerfler wrote:
> On 5/29/2010 2:14 PM, Constantin Makshin wrote:
> > On Saturday 29 May 2010 19:36:51 Colin S. Miller wrote:
> >   
> >> ...
> >> Assuming that your product is shipped on a CD/DVD,
> >> then placing the code on the disc is sufficient.
> >>     
> > AFAIR, [L]GPL doesn't require distributing the source code along the program/library, they only require that the code can be easily retrieved and the user has related information (how to get the code). And since Qt code is freely available to everyone, Phil can simply put a Qt address (http://qt.nokia.com) somewhere in his program's docs (unless he uses modified version of Qt, of course).
> >   
> 
> I think if you read the LGPL license, you'll discover that merely
> including a URL isn't sufficient to comply.  (It's OK only when you're
> distributing your own software online, and even then, you have to
> provide your users with the Qt sources from the same place your users
> get your program.  You can't just point them to Nokia.  See section 6d.)
But section 4 says "third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code". I understand this sentence so that developers of closed-source Qt applications don't have to distribute Qt source code (if it wasn't modified) along with their programs, just like developers of GPL software don't have to provide copies of all third-party libraries they use.

> Steven