is there really no good gui builder

[Duncan Booth]

Ben Finney wrote:

>> It is a novel interpretation of the GPL. Qt Software have every
>> right to impose this sort of condition, but it makes me want to
>> avoid them.
>
> No, they have no such right to interpret the GPL this way; it would be
> entirely incompatible with the GPL since it would be an imposition of
> additional restrictions, resulting in work that could not legally be
> redistributed at all.

Thay aren't claiming that Qt itself is governed by the GPL, what they
are claiming is that the 'Qt Open Source License' permits you to use it
for development of "Open Source software governed by the GNU General
Public License versions 2 and 3". I believe they can make whatever
conditions they like for their own license.

The GPL doesn't actually say you cannot redistribute work which adds
additional restrictions. It says "If the Program as you
 received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating that it is
 governed by this License along with a term that is a further
 restriction, you may remove that term."

> In fact, I don't think they are making such an interpretation, though
> their poorly-worded web page that you quoted certainly encourages
> readers to make such a false interpretation.

It looks very much to me as though they are trying to make
that interpretation, it is repeated in a variety of forms across the
website. But it doesn't really matter whether they can make it stick or
not, I simply choose to avoid worrying about the issue by choosing
another platform where possible. (Which is a shame really as the small
amount of playing I did with Qt indicates it to be a very nice
platform.)

The license itself says:

"This means that you cannot use a Qt Open Source 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 (NDA). In these circumstances you must use a commercial
edition of Qt."

That I guess taken literally that means you cannot use Qt Open Source
Edition if your software uses Qt Open Source Edition.