Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: The story of KDE
Author: William Crim Posted: 9/8/2000; 1:05:07 PM Topic: Free Speech or Free Stuff Msg #: 21021 (In response to 20989) Prev/Next: 21020 / 21022
Here is a general scoop on the KDE thing.KDE and most KDE apps are GPLed.
QT, the toolkit it uses, is an Open Source, but non-GPL compliant library.
GPL apps can't link with QT unless they are
A.a necessary part of the OS, which is why you could have Motif GPL apps B. have a dispensation from the author or copyright holder.
The KDE apps have an implicit authorization, since they were designed to work with QT on purpose. This isn't a problem.
The whole problem came when KDE developers included GPLed code from OTHER programs into their KDE apps. On its face, this doesn't seem like a problem, since both are GPLed. However, they aren't both GPLed only. KDE apps are GPL+QTException and the OTHER apps were just GPLed. Since the authors of the plain GPLed programs weren't asked(or could not be asked) to give a Qt exception, this means they violated the GPL.
Lots of people knew about this, they just didn't care. However Debian cared, and would not include KDE in their distribution until the issue was resolved. Debian likes KDE, but won't ship a possibly infringing piece of software.(even though all parts are open sourced)
It is an issue of contract law, not really a GPL or Stallman problem.
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