A: We will continue to release free versions for the X Window System, and they will be free for free software development.
A: The Qt toolkit is available under several licenses; the free license for X, a license for shareware developers for X and a fully-fledged professional license.
A: You can write commercial software using the professional license. The library itself is the same. You also get one year of free support when you buy a professional license.
A: No, if you want to use the free license within an organization, your software must be intended for the free software community. Your software must be usable outside your organization, you must notify Troll Tech before starting to use it, you have to allow free distribution and you have to make your source code available.
A: Yes.
A: Really yes. We require cooperation from you, in return you can use Qt. We could have demanded money (actually, we do for the professional licence) and still not have been in conflict with the GPL.
A: Qt is not free for Windows. We do however sell professional licenses.
A: Now!
A: Then you need a shareware or professional license.
A: If you have a professional license; of course. If you have a free license your software must be freely distributable and you must include the source.
The free license is intended for free software. We realize that CD-ROMs cost money to produce, for example, so you can charge a copying fee.
A: The latest version of Qt can be downloaded from http://www.troll.no/ or from ftp.troll.no, or (less often updated) from sunsite.unc.edu in /pub/Linux/X11/devel/ (or /pub/Linux/Incoming).
We encourage all developers of software that use Qt to upload their work to ftp.troll.no.
A: Troll Tech consists of four talented, hard-working programmers who work day and night to improve Qt, and enjoy it. We started the company in 1994, but parts of Qt were written for earlier projects. The first line of code was written in 1992.
Our income comes from selling Qt licenses and from a development contract with a beta customer; we develop code based on Qt for the Norwegian division of NCR (previously AT&T).
A: Quite a few of the classes can be used independently of the user interface. See utility classes, There are also a few classes that will work without the GUI only by chance.
A: If the new platform is POSIX-like and runs the X Window System, it's simple. Read the file PORTING for details. If you succeed you can send us the patches. When we've added your patches to our source tree, Qt will officially support the new platform.
A: At present, Qt only works well on X11 and Win32 (Windows 95 and Windows NT). Porting to other platforms is a lower priority. Currently, we concentrate on the Windows and X versions.
A: Yes, if you do not make changes to Qt and include all the files present in our distribution of Qt. (That is, you must include the source code.)
A: Yes and yes, as long as you do not modify Qt.
A: Are you sure? Inheritance is very often a better alternative. If you do change Qt, you may not distribute the modified toolkit or programs using it.
We encourage you to send patches to qt-bugs@troll.no. We will try to evaluate the patches and reply as soon as they come in. If we like what we see, we'll incorporate it in the next Qt release.
A: In several ways. Pick and choose.
If the library is small, a widget or two, perhaps the best way is to submit it as a contribution to Qt.
If it's larger, you can distribute it, and you can include Qt along with it. But you cannot include Qt as part of your library (e.g. by making a shared library which includes Qt and your library).
People must still be aware that they are using Qt, and they must have a license for Qt.
This applies to wrapper libraries as well, of course. If you write Ada or Perl bindings, fine. But anyone who uses your bindings must also have a license for Qt.
A: We sell support and maintenance contracts. We try to support the free users, and we take all bug reports seriously, no matter who they come from.
But, of course, if there's too much to do we have to put more emphasis on paying customers.
A: Yes, qt-interest@nvg.unit.no. To join, send mail containing the single word "subscribe" to qt-interest-request@nvg.unit.no.
A: We are working on it now. There will be further announcements on qt-interest.