LGPL licensing questions
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Hello,
I want to build iOS Apps via Qt and wonder which restrictions apply when using Qt SDK (LGPL - open source license) in a commercial environment.
Here are some scenarios:
Development closed source (proprietary) - with a free app on apple app store
Development closed source (proprietary) - with a paid app on apple app store
Development closed source (proprietary) - with a free app including ads on apple app store
Development open source - with a free app on apple app store
Most of our planned apps are free software-clients on mobile while the backend is a php-software the customer needs to buy.
Thank you.
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All 4 scenarios can be done without violating the LGPL license. See my posts "here":http://qt-project.org/forums/viewthread/9762/P45/#133994 and "here":https://qt-project.org/forums/viewthread/24108.
On the other hand, Qt Project could use some additional funds ;) So please also consider buying Qt Mobile Edition, or the full Commercial package.
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Thanks for your reply!
I like to hear that. The last info I got from the Digia Qt sales team is, that I would need the multi OS license which costs thousends of dollars to develop commercial apps for all OSs. As I am not a full time developer, just some small products on demand, I am not going to spend this amount...
I realy want to support the Qt team. If there would be a starter version (single dev) for several hundred dollars with unlimited updates in the future (maybe without support) it would be great.
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I agree, the commercial license price is very high, especially for small companies/ individuals.
AFAIK, Digia is planning to provide some more flexible pricing options in the future.
I'm not sure how iOS port works, if it uses static linking you might be in trouble. You would need to investigate that. Otherwise, my previous post should be correct :)
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Seems like it uses dylibs by default:
http://qt-project.org/wiki/Licensing-talk-about-mobile-platformsI will just try with a small app... If it's getting declined I will know. I don't realy think it's a problem, because libs can't be changed in an app compared to a computer where the files are not protected.
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AFAIK currently, on iOS the libraries are built statically. It's at least the result of the default build