Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Releasing open source software

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Slovenia
    Posts
    14
    Qt products
    Qt4
    Platforms
    Unix/X11 Windows

    Default Releasing open source software

    I have been writing a program (library) in Qt4 and I would like to "release" it somewhere.

    The program (library) that I am writing is an EDA (Electronic Design Automation). I am currently writing the back-end part (library in library form) in Qt4 and later I intend to make a front-end part in KDE4. Since I am using Qt4 (and later KDE4) it will work on Linux and Windows (maybe even Mac). At the moment I don't intend to use any external library (except Qt4 and KDE4), so it should be portable...

    I have some questions:
    1) Which open source license should I use (GPL v2/v3, LGPL...)?
    2) Which "software hosting system" should I use (SourceForge, BerliOS...)?

    I have no experience with this, so I am asking you guys to guide me.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Mountain View, California
    Posts
    489
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked 74 Times in 54 Posts
    Qt products
    Qt3 Qt4 Qt/Embedded
    Platforms
    MacOS X Unix/X11 Windows

    Default Re: Releasing open source software

    For a library, please use the LGPL (or BSD). I believe this is a strong KDE suggestion for libraries, and required for anything going into the core KDE libraries.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Slovenia
    Posts
    14
    Qt products
    Qt4
    Platforms
    Unix/X11 Windows

    Default Re: Releasing open source software

    Thanks for the info.

    Now I have to decide which version of the LGPL to use: v2, "v2 or later" or v3?
    At the moment I think "v2 or later" looks like the best choice... (if I understood it correctly it is compatible with GPLv2 and GPLv3)

    Since SourceForge has the most users/projects I will probably register there.

    I have another question: what is the procedure for licensing a program under GPL/LGPL?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    2
    Qt products
    Qt4
    Platforms
    Unix/X11

    Default Re: Releasing open source software

    Here is "the procedure", as given straight from the FSF:

    http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    81
    Qt products
    Qt4
    Platforms
    MacOS X Unix/X11 Windows

    Default Re: Releasing open source software

    Does anyone have any tips for automating the actual process of sticking license information into the source code? I have a TON of files in my project and I don't want to copy paste it all in each file. Also, is there a general tutorial for which files to put where and exactly what to say where in each directory of a project, or is that important? I would really like to do this whole licensing thing right, but I'm not sure where to start...

    thanks for the help,

    dave

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Warsaw, Poland
    Posts
    5,372
    Thanks
    28
    Thanked 976 Times in 912 Posts
    Qt products
    Qt3 Qt4
    Platforms
    Unix/X11 Windows

    Default Re: Releasing open source software

    Quote Originally Posted by dvmorris View Post
    Does anyone have any tips for automating the actual process of sticking license information into the source code?
    You can try something like this:
    bash Code:
    1. LICENCE=/.../licence
    2. for f in `find ...`; do
    3. cat $LICENCE $f > $f.x
    4. mv $f.x $f
    5. done
    To copy to clipboard, switch view to plain text mode 
    (make sure you make a backup of your sources before trying it).

    Quote Originally Posted by dvmorris View Post
    Also, is there a general tutorial for which files to put where and exactly what to say where in each directory of a project, or is that important? I would really like to do this whole licensing thing right, but I'm not sure where to start...
    You have to add a comment in every source file you wrote with information about copyright and licence (see the link in previous post for exact text) and you have to add a file with full licence text to your sources (it's usually named COPYING or LICENCE).

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    81
    Qt products
    Qt4
    Platforms
    MacOS X Unix/X11 Windows

    Default Re: Releasing open source software

    I seem to remember someone telling me that emacs has a script that does this for you, but i also just found this site that will help a lot:

    http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Bl...eFileTemplates

    thanks for your advice,
    dave

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 3
    Last Post: 7th October 2015, 20:43
  2. Qtopia 4.2 Open Source edition released!
    By lpotter in forum Qt for Embedded and Mobile
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 21st December 2006, 21:45
  3. Is there designer for Qt4.2 open source
    By nimmyj in forum Newbie
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 6th December 2006, 06:52
  4. Licencing issue with Qt Open source
    By thepasty in forum General Discussion
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 26th July 2006, 15:56
  5. Replies: 11
    Last Post: 24th March 2006, 07:40

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Digia, Qt and their respective logos are trademarks of Digia Plc in Finland and/or other countries worldwide.