PySide on Phytec i.MX Pollux Board — Licensing and Platform Support

Pritha Suresh

Hi,

I’m working on developing a GUI application on a Phytec i.MX Pollux board and would like to use Qt for Python (PySide) for the development. I couldn’t find clear documentation about:

Whether PySide (Qt for Python) is officially supported or compatible with the NXP/Phytec i.MX Pollux platform.
The licensing details for deploying applications using PySide on embedded Linux systems.

Could someone please clarify the current support status and any licensing considerations for using PySide in this setup?

VladimirMinenko

Hi Pritha!

I’m the Product Manager for Qt for Python in The Qt Group. First of all, thank you for your interest in Qt for Python and in PySide as a part of the former! I need to address few general aspects along with my answer.

Speaking of “licensing considerations for using PySide in this setup”: PySide, actually PySide6 in particular, is in no way different from the “regular” Qt in that aspects. This page https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-6/commercial/index.html in the docs outlines this. This also applies to terms for deployment. For commercial users, we outline this and other terms here https://www.qt.io/terms-conditions/qt-dev-framework-2025-02 in general, where deployment is covered in Exhibit 1 in particular. If you are a FOSS user, you have to comply with the terms of applicable OSS licenses, which are for PySide6 LGPLv3 and GPLv3.

Speaking of more technical topics and the board you use: I googled a bit and found this one https://www.phytec.eu/en/produkte/development-kits/phyboard-pollux-imaging-kit/#technische-details/. This page mentions it uses Yocto. This is already a good start. Yocto is split into meta-layers. Here, initially, there is not much difference from “regular” Qt when it comes to how Qt is integrated there. Our commercial offering is Boot2Qt. It sits on top of the OSS “meta-Qt6” layer, see https://doc.qt.io/Boot2Qt/b2qt-meta-qt6.html. Boot2Qt has included PySide6 since Qt 6.8.2, see https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-6/tutorials/embedded/boot2qt.html. This page actually mentions that it is applicable to Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi is one of our Tier 1 reference targets, see https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/supported-platforms.html#tier-1-reference-targets. iMX8 is also on the same list as “i.MX 8QuadMax MEK”, but I do not know what is different in your edition of iMX8 compared to “i.MX 8QuadMax MEK.” This is something that one of the embedded folks should answer. Generally, NXP is a good partner with Qt, and we know that Qt (including PySide6) is used in a large number of projects with iMX8. So your board should not be far off. If you are a commercial customer, you could also use Qt Support. In the case of OSS, you might have quite a more to take care of aside from your actual project since all boards are still a bit different and you also need to build Python and Qt for Python for your emebedded target and deploy it as a runtime. This is pre-made in Boot2Qt which I mentioned before.

I hope it helps!

Pritha Suresh

Hi!

Thank you for the quick response.

We are not going for deployments as of now. We will be showcasing the PySide capabalities as a product demo on Phytec Board. So two points from your response,

Do we need commercial license for Pyside demo on Phytec board?
Can I get more info on LGPLv3 and GPLv3?

Thanks in advance!