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Qt-interest Archive, January 2007
How come KDELibs can use LGPL?


Message 1 in thread

Hi,

By using the Open Source version of QT in my project I must also GPL my 
program meaning that I must attached full program source when I redist.

So, how come KDELibs is not GPL but LGPL? I mean, isn't KDELibs built 
upon the QT framework? What am I missing here?



Regards,
Martin

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Message 2 in thread

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Hi Martin,

May be are some issues in GPL licensing aren't clear to you. If you
have some lib GPL-Licensed, you can create another lib that's are
linked with the GPL lib and choose a GPL compatible license to your
lib. Then, you can write libs based on Qt and choose an BSD ( most
recent version ), LGPL and other compatible license.
That's are valid for an application too. I'm not a lawyer, but that's
I think about this issue.
And, if a guy needs to develop an commercial app using KDE libs, ok,
but this guy needs a commercial Qt license.

Regards,

Wagner


Martin Olsson wrote:
> Hi,
>
> By using the Open Source version of QT in my project I must also GPL
> my program meaning that I must attached full program source when I
> redist.
>
> So, how come KDELibs is not GPL but LGPL? I mean, isn't KDELibs
> built upon the QT framework? What am I missing here?
>
>
>
> Regards,
> Martin
>
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Message 3 in thread

Martin Olsson wrote:
> 
> By using the Open Source version of QT in my project I must also GPL my 
> program meaning that I must attached full program source when I redist.

No, you've misunderstood.  TT did not say that you have to release your 
program under the GPL.  TT says that *if* you distribute your program, 
you must do it under a GPL-compatible license.  (See 
http://www.trolltech.com/developer/knowledgebase/187/)

A list of GPL-compatible licenses (and what that means) can be found 
here:  http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses

> So, how come KDELibs is not GPL but LGPL? I mean, isn't KDELibs built 
> upon the QT framework? What am I missing here?

Qt is not embedded into KDE.  KDE did not repackage Qt under a new 
license.  KDE is an application that utilizes the Qt library (KDE libs 
links to the Qt libs).  Since the FSF says that LGPL and GPL are 
compatible licenses, that means that you can distribute them together 
and link the programs together.  Linking an LGPL program to a GPL 
program like this is OK according to the licenses, to the FSF, and to 
Trolltech.

-Gabriel



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Message 4 in thread

Gabriel M. Beddingfield wrote:

> Qt is not embedded into KDE.  KDE did not repackage Qt under a new 
> license.  KDE is an application that utilizes the Qt library (KDE libs 
> links to the Qt libs).  Since the FSF says that LGPL and GPL are 
> compatible licenses, that means that you can distribute them together 
> and link the programs together.  Linking an LGPL program to a GPL 
> program like this is OK according to the licenses, to the FSF, and to 
> Trolltech.

But then, if one uses the resulting library, which license can be used GPL, LGPL, both ?

Consider this case: I take a cool GPL lib, I add some extra code around it in order to create a new 
lib, that I release under the LGPL. Then I use my modified lib as a black box in my commercial 
application. Seems to break the GPL principles right ?

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Message 5 in thread

On Wednesday 31 January 2007 10:49:15 Gilles Debunne wrote:
> Gabriel M. Beddingfield wrote:
> > Qt is not embedded into KDE.  KDE did not repackage Qt under a new
> > license.  KDE is an application that utilizes the Qt library (KDE libs
> > links to the Qt libs).  Since the FSF says that LGPL and GPL are
> > compatible licenses, that means that you can distribute them together
> > and link the programs together.  Linking an LGPL program to a GPL
> > program like this is OK according to the licenses, to the FSF, and to
> > Trolltech.
>
> But then, if one uses the resulting library, which license can be used GPL,
> LGPL, both ?
>
> Consider this case: I take a cool GPL lib, I add some extra code around it
> in order to create a new lib, that I release under the LGPL. Then I use my
> modified lib as a black box in my commercial application. Seems to break
> the GPL principles right ?

You cannot take a GPL library, add extra code and release the code under a new 
license (LGPL) without having the rights to relicense the original GPL code. 
There is obviously a difference between relicensing code and license 
compatibility. In your example it is perfectly fine to redistribute the 
library that contains GPL and LGPL code because the two licenses are 
compatible, but it means that you're distributing it under the terms 
of /both/ licenses, not just one. It is not dual licensing where you can 
choose, you have to comply with all used licenses.


Simon

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Message 6 in thread

On 31.01.07 10:49:15, Gilles Debunne wrote:
> Gabriel M. Beddingfield wrote:
> 
> >Qt is not embedded into KDE.  KDE did not repackage Qt under a new license.  KDE is an 
> >application that utilizes the Qt library (KDE libs links to the Qt libs).  Since the FSF says 
> >that LGPL and GPL are compatible licenses, that means that you can distribute them together and 
> >link the programs together.  Linking an LGPL program to a GPL program like this is OK according 
> >to the licenses, to the FSF, and to Trolltech.
> 
> But then, if one uses the resulting library, which license can be used GPL, LGPL, both ?
> 
> Consider this case: I take a cool GPL lib, I add some extra code around it in order to create a 
> new lib, that I release under the LGPL. Then I use my modified lib as a black box in my 
> commercial application. Seems to break the GPL principles right ?

Right that doesn't work. However you miss the point that one is
perfeclty able to buy a commercial licnse for Qt and then link lgpl
KDElibs against that and then build a commercial app on top of both.

The important thing here is that Qt is both GPL and commercial (and
there are differences between both versions).

Andreas

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Message 7 in thread

Andreas Pakulat wrote:
> On 31.01.07 10:49:15, Gilles Debunne wrote:
>   
>> Gabriel M. Beddingfield wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Qt is not embedded into KDE.  KDE did not repackage Qt under a new license.  KDE is an 
>>> application that utilizes the Qt library (KDE libs links to the Qt libs).  Since the FSF says 
>>> that LGPL and GPL are compatible licenses, that means that you can distribute them together and 
>>> link the programs together.  Linking an LGPL program to a GPL program like this is OK according 
>>> to the licenses, to the FSF, and to Trolltech.
>>>       
>> But then, if one uses the resulting library, which license can be used GPL, LGPL, both ?
>>
>> Consider this case: I take a cool GPL lib, I add some extra code around it in order to create a 
>> new lib, that I release under the LGPL. Then I use my modified lib as a black box in my 
>> commercial application. Seems to break the GPL principles right ?
>>     
>
> Right that doesn't work. However you miss the point that one is
> perfeclty able to buy a commercial licnse for Qt and then link lgpl
> KDElibs against that and then build a commercial app on top of both.
>
> The important thing here is that Qt is both GPL and commercial (and
> there are differences between both versions).
>
> Andreas
>
>   

Is that to say that if you make a commercial closed sourced application 
that runs on KDE with KDELibs then you have to buy a QT commercial license?
Is it a GPL loop hole?


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Message 8 in thread

Karl Hiramoto wrote:
> Andreas Pakulat wrote:
>> On 31.01.07 10:49:15, Gilles Debunne wrote:
>>  
>>> Gabriel M. Beddingfield wrote:
>>>
>>>    
>>>> Qt is not embedded into KDE.  KDE did not repackage Qt under a new 
>>>> license.  KDE is an application that utilizes the Qt library (KDE 
>>>> libs links to the Qt libs).  Since the FSF says that LGPL and GPL 
>>>> are compatible licenses, that means that you can distribute them 
>>>> together and link the programs together.  Linking an LGPL program 
>>>> to a GPL program like this is OK according to the licenses, to the 
>>>> FSF, and to Trolltech.
>>>>       
>>> But then, if one uses the resulting library, which license can be 
>>> used GPL, LGPL, both ?
>>>
>>> Consider this case: I take a cool GPL lib, I add some extra code 
>>> around it in order to create a new lib, that I release under the 
>>> LGPL. Then I use my modified lib as a black box in my commercial 
>>> application. Seems to break the GPL principles right ?
>>>     
>>
>> Right that doesn't work. However you miss the point that one is
>> perfeclty able to buy a commercial licnse for Qt and then link lgpl
>> KDElibs against that and then build a commercial app on top of both.
>>
>> The important thing here is that Qt is both GPL and commercial (and
>> there are differences between both versions).
>>
>> Andreas
>>
>>   
>
> Is that to say that if you make a commercial closed sourced 
> application that runs on KDE with KDELibs then you have to buy a QT 
> commercial license?
> Is it a GPL loop hole?
>
It is not a loop hole.  After googling i see:

http://kdemyths.urbanlizard.com/myth/59
http://developer.kde.org/documentation/books/kde-2.0-development/ch19.html


**Myth
You can't write closed source KDE applications because, while the KDE 
libraries are LGPLed, Qt is under the GPL.

**Facts

You can write closed source applications for KDE, if you aquire a Qt 
license from Trolltech to do so.

While the GPL requires that all program that link against GPL'd code 
also be GPL'd, the LGPL makes no such restrictions.

Therefore, the KDE libraries (which are LGPLed) do not restrict the 
licensing of code they are linked against. The limiting factor becomes 
Qt itself (commercial, GPL or QPL).

If you develop using a commercially licensed Qt, you can distribute your 
KDE program under a commercial license of your choice.

If you develop using Qt Free Edition, your program must also be Free (it 
must be released under a license that is compatible with either the GPL 
or the QPLv2).


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