Qt Free Edition

Free (or open source) software is software that comes with a license that gives users certain rights. In particular the right to use the software, to modify it, to obtain its source, and to pass it on (under the same terms). Notice that the term "free" is about rights, not money. The Free Software Foundation (creators of the GNU GPL) speak of free in this context as in "free speech", not as in "free beer".

Trolltech supports the free software concept by providing the Qt Free Edition. You can use this edition of Qt to create free software, i.e. software that is licensed under the GNU GPL or a similarly recognized open source license. Trolltech's support of open source with the Qt Free Edition has enabled large successful software projects like KDE, to thrive, with thousands of developers around the world using the Qt Free Edition at no cost to themselves. Qt Free edition is available for Unix/X11, Macintosh and Linux/embedded.

The Free Edition can be downloaded from here: http://www.trolltech.com/dl/qtfree-dl.html.

It is also possible to develop commercial software using Qt: but to do so you must buy a commercial license for the Professional or Enterprise Edition. If you buy a commercial edition of Qt you can sell your software for any price and with any license you like. Thousands of commercial companies use commercial editions of Qt to develop the products they sell.

If you use the Qt Free Edition, there are certain licensing conditions that the GNU GPL imposes on you, to ensure that your users enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by the GPL. Users are entitled to:

1. Run your software for any purpose.
2. Obtain and study your software's source code, and adapt it to their needs.
3. Redistribute your software and its source code to others (under the same terms).
4. Improve or modify your software, and release these changes to the public.

These freedoms apply to all the source code for all the modules your software is based on, regardless of whether they have been written by you or by others. The freedoms also apply to any associated interface definition files, and even include the scripts and control files used to control compilation and installation of the executable; otherwise users could not exercise their rights.

This means that you cannot use the Qt Free Edition if your software must be built with any modules that impose conditions on you that contradict the conditions of the GNU GPL, including, but not limited to, software patents, commercial license agreements, copyrighted interface definitions or any sort of non-disclosure agreement. In these circumstances you must use a commercial edition of Qt.

See the FAQ for answers to frequently asked questions on Qt Free Edition licensing and its implications.

More information on Free and Open Source software is available online:

• GNU GPL http://www.gnu.org
• Open Source licensening http://www.opensource.org

Information about Qt Commercial License Agreements is available at http://www.trolltech.com/pricing.html or email sales@trolltech.com.

If you are in doubt what edition of Qt is right for your project, please contact info@trolltech.com.