Editing Qt (software) (section)

== History of Qt ==

=== Early developments ===
In the summer of 1990, Haavard Nord and Eirik Chambe-Eng (the original developers of Qt and the CEO and President, respectively, of [[Trolltech]]) were working together on a database application for ultrasound images written in C++ and running on [[Classic Mac OS|Mac OS]], [[Unix]], and [[Microsoft Windows]].<ref name="oreilly-qt"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qt.io/qt20/|title=Qt - Qt20|work=Qt}}</ref> They began development of "Qt" in 1991, three years before the company was incorporated as Quasar Technologies, then changed the name to Troll Tech and then to Trolltech.<ref name="oreilly-qt" />

The toolkit was called Qt because the letter [[Q]] looked appealing in Haavard's [[Emacs]] typeface, and "t" was inspired by [[X Toolkit Intrinsics|Xt]], the X toolkit.<ref name="oreilly-qt">{{cite book|title=C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4 |last1=Blanchette |first1=Jasmin |last2=Summerfield |first2=Mark |publisher=[[Prentice-Hall]] |chapter=A Brief History of Qt |pages=xv–xvii |edition=1st |date=June 2006 |chapter-url=http://my.safaribooksonline.com/0131872494/pref04 |access-date=5 August 2013|archive-date=23 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923193951/https://my.safaribooksonline.com/0131872494/pref04}}</ref>

The first two versions of Qt had only two flavors: Qt/X11 for Unix and Qt/Windows for Windows.

On 20 May 1995 Trolltech publicly released Qt 0.90 for X11/Linux with the [[source code]] under the ''Qt Free Edition License''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://quickgit.kde.org/?p=qt1.git&a=blob&h=2b98366d82a95f66988a7206290120e8c698ea40&f=LICENSE&o=plain |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014010101/https://quickgit.kde.org/?p%3Dqt1.git%26a%3Dblob%26h%3D2b98366d82a95f66988a7206290120e8c698ea40%26f%3DLICENSE%26o%3Dplain|title=Qt Free Edition License |year=1992|publisher=Trolltech|access-date=14 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.qt.io/blog/2015/05/20/happy-20th-anniversary-qt/|title=Happy 20th Anniversary Qt! |work=Qt Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sdtimes.com/qt-framework-celebrates-its-20th-anniversary/|title=Qt framework celebrates its 20th anniversary|work=SD Times|date=21 May 2015}}</ref> This license was viewed as not compliant with the free software definition by [[Free Software Foundation]] because, while the source was available, it did not allow the redistribution of modified versions. Trolltech used this license until version 1.45. Controversy erupted around 1998 when it became clear that the [[K Desktop Environment 1|K Desktop Environment]] was going to become one of the leading desktop environments for Linux. As it was based on Qt, many people in the [[free software movement]] worried that an essential piece of one of their major operating systems would be proprietary.

The Windows platform was available only under a proprietary license, which meant free/open source applications written in Qt for X11 could not be ported to Windows without purchasing the proprietary edition.

=== Becoming free software–friendly ===
With the release of version 2.0 of the toolkit in mid-1999, the license was changed to the [[Q Public License]] (QPL), a [[free software]] license, but one regarded by the [[Free Software Foundation]] as incompatible with the GPL. Compromises were sought between KDE and Trolltech whereby Qt would not be able to fall under a more restrictive license than the QPL, even if Trolltech was bought out or went bankrupt. This led to the creation of the KDE Free Qt foundation,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kde.org/community/whatiskde/kdefreeqtfoundation.php|title=KDE Free Qt Foundation}}</ref> which guarantees that Qt would fall under a [[BSD-style license]] should no free/open source version of Qt be released during 12 months.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kde.org/community/whatiskde/kdefreeqt_announcement.php|title=KDE Free Qt Foundation announcement|date=June 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kde.org/community/whatiskde/Software_License_agreement_2013.pdf|title=Software License Agreement|date=13 April 2013|publisher=Digia}}</ref>

In 2000, Qt/X11 2.2 was released under the GPL v2,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://qt.nokia.com/about/news/archive/00000043 |title=Trolltech offers a choice in licensing with the addition of GPL licensing for the upcoming release of Qt |publisher=Qt.nokia.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313182431/http://qt.nokia.com/about/news/archive/00000043 |archive-date=13 March 2012|access-date=13 November 2011}}</ref> ending all controversy regarding [[License compatibility|GPL compatibility]].

At the end of 2001, Trolltech released Qt 3.0, which added support for Mac OS X (now known as [[macOS]]). The Mac OS X support was available only in the proprietary license until June 2003, when Trolltech released Qt 3.2 with Mac OS X support available under the GPL.

In 2002, members of the [[KDE on Cygwin]] project began porting the GPL licensed Qt/X11 code base to Windows.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://qtwin.sourceforge.net/qt3-win32/history.php|title=Q../Windows Edition history|date=5 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731070812/http://qtwin.sourceforge.net/qt3-win32/history.php|archive-date=31 July 2010}}</ref> This was in response to Trolltech's refusal to license Qt/Windows under the GPL on the grounds that Windows was not a free/open source software platform.<ref>[https://marc.info/?l=kde-cygwin&m=104431728920022&w=2 E-mail to the kde-cygwin mailing list] by Chris January, 4 February 2003
</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trolltech.com/developer/faqs/noncomm.html |title=Qt Non-commercial FAQ |publisher=Trolltech |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031005175911/http://www.trolltech.com/developer/faqs/noncomm.html |archive-date=5 October 2003}}</ref> The project achieved reasonable success although it never reached production quality.

This was resolved when Trolltech released Qt 4.0 also for Windows under the GPL in June 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dot.kde.org/2005/06/28/trolltech-releases-qt-40 |title=Trolltech Releases Qt 4.0 &#124; KDE.news |date=28 June 2005 |publisher=KDE.News |access-date=13 November 2011}}</ref> Qt&nbsp;4 supported the same set of platforms in the free software/open source editions as in the proprietary edition, so it is possible, with Qt 4.0 and later releases, to create GPL-licensed free/open source applications using Qt on all supported platforms. The GPL v3 with special exception<ref>{{cite web |url=http://doc.trolltech.com/4.4/license-gpl-exceptions.html |title=Nokia Corporation Qt GPL Exception Version 1.3 |publisher=Doc.trolltech.com |date=22 July 1999 |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101003074912/http://doc.trolltech.com/4.4/license-gpl-exceptions.html |archive-date=3 October 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was later added as an added licensing option. The GPL exception allows the final application to be licensed under various GPL-incompatible [[free software license|free software]]/[[open source license|open source]] licenses such as the [[Mozilla Public License]] 1.1.

=== Acquisition by Nokia ===
[[Nokia]] acquired Trolltech ASA on 17 June 2008 and changed the name first to Qt Software, then to Qt Development Frameworks.

Nokia focused on turning Qt into the main development platform for its devices, including a port to the [[Symbian]] [[S60 (software platform)|S60 platform]]. Version 1.0 of the Nokia Qt SDK was released on 23 June 2010.<ref>{{cite web|first=Niels|last=Weber |url=https://blog.qt.io/blog/2010/06/23/nokia-qt-sdk-10-released/ |title=Nokia Qt SDK 1.0 released |publisher=Labs.trolltech.com |date=23 June 2010 |access-date=13 November 2011}}</ref> The source code was made available over Gitorious, a community oriented [[Git (software)|git]] source code repository, with a goal of creating a broader community using and improving Qt.

On 14 January 2009, Qt version 4.5 added another option, the [[LGPL]],<ref>{{cite web|first=Sebastian|last=Nyström |url=https://blog.qt.io/blog/2009/01/14/nokia-to-license-qt-under-lgpl/|title=Nokia to license Qt under LGPL|date=14 January 2009 |access-date=17 September 2013}}</ref> to make Qt more attractive for both non-GPL open source projects and closed applications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ics.com/files/docs/Qt_LGPL.pdf |title=ICS Whitepaper on the Implications of Qt under LGPL for Commercial and Government users |access-date=13 November 2011}}</ref>

In February 2011, Nokia announced its decision to drop Symbian technologies and base their future smartphones on the [[Windows Phone]] platform instead (and since then support for that platform has also been dropped).<ref name="MSNokiaPressRelease2011">
{{cite press release |title= Nokia and Microsoft Announce Plans for a Broad Strategic Partnership to Build a New Global Mobile Ecosystem |url= http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2011/feb11/02-11partnership.mspx |publisher= [[Microsoft]] |date= 10 February 2011 |access-date= 27 October 2011|archive-date= 1 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401153916/http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2011/feb11/02-11partnership.mspx}}</ref> One month later, Nokia announced the sale of Qt's commercial licensing and professional services to Digia, with the immediate goal of taking Qt support to [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[iOS]] and [[Windows 8]] platforms, and to continue focusing on desktop and embedded development, although Nokia was to remain the main development force behind the framework at that time.

=== Merging and demerging with Digia ===
In March 2011, Nokia sold the commercial licensing part of Qt to Digia, creating Qt Commercial.<ref name="Nokia and Digia">{{cite web |url=https://blog.qt.io/blog/2011/03/07/nokia-and-digia-working-together/ |title=Nokia and Digia working together to grow the Qt community |date=7 March 2011 |access-date=8 July 2011 |first=Sebastian |last=Nystrom}}</ref> In August 2012, Digia announced that it would acquire Qt from Nokia.<ref>{{cite web|author=Digia Plc |url=https://www.digia.com/en/Home/Company/Press/2012/Digia-to-acquire-Qt-from-Nokia/ |title=Digia to acquire Qt from Nokia |publisher=Digia Plc |date=9 August 2012 |access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref> The Qt team at Digia started their work in September 2012.<ref>{{cite web|author=Digia Plc |url=https://www.digia.com/en/Home/Company/Press/2012/Digia-to-acquire-Qt-from-Nokia/ |title=The journey starts today |publisher=Digia Plc |date=18 September 2012 |access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref> They released Qt 5.0 within a month and newer versions every six months with new features and additional supported platforms.

In September 2014, Digia transferred the Qt business and copyrights to their wholly owned subsidiary, The Qt Company, which owns 25 brands<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/bookmark?q=anm:%22qt%20company%22|title=TMview search result shown on September 12th, 2016|website=TMDN.org|access-date=15 June 2017}}</ref> related to Qt. In May 2016, Digia and Qt demerged completely into two independent companies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digia.com/en/actual/news/2016/digia-and-qt-have-demerged-into-two-companies--digias-new-strategys-main-themes-revealed/|title=Digia and Qt have demerged into two companies – Digia's new strategy's main themes revealed|website=Digia|access-date=15 June 2017|archive-date=17 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617092521/http://www.digia.com/en/actual/news/2016/digia-and-qt-have-demerged-into-two-companies--digias-new-strategys-main-themes-revealed/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== The Qt Project and open governance ===
{{Main|Qt Project}}

Qt 5 was officially released on 19 December 2012. This new version marked a major change in the platform, with hardware-accelerated graphics, [[QML]] and [[JavaScript]] playing a major role. The traditional C++-only QWidgets continued to be supported, but did not benefit from the performance improvements available through the new architecture.<ref>{{cite mailing list|url=https://www.mail-archive.com/qt5-feedback@qt.nokia.com/msg01420.html|title=Concern about removal of QWidget classes|mailing-list=Qt5-feedback|date=7 October 2011}}</ref> Qt 5 brings significant improvements to the speed and ease of developing user interfaces.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.qt.io/blog/2011/05/09/thoughts-about-qt-5/ |title=Thoughts about Qt 5 |access-date=9 May 2011 |first=Lars |last=Knoll|publisher=Digia|date=9 May 2011}}</ref>

Framework development of Qt 5 moved to open governance at qt-project.org, which made it possible for developers outside Digia to submit patches for review.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.qt.io/blog/2011/10/21/the-qt-project-is-live/|title=The Qt Project is live!|first=Lars|last=Knoll|publisher=[[Nokia]]|date=21 October 2011|access-date=8 February 2012}}</ref>

=== Qt contributors ===
[[File:Qt contributors 2013W18 without Digia.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Distribution of non-Digia Qt contributors (2013, Week 18)]]
Aside from The Qt Company, many organizations and individuals using Qt as their development platform participate in the open development of Qt via the Qt Project.<ref name="Stats2012">{{cite web|last=Macieira |first=Thiago |url=http://www.macieira.org/blog/2012/04/qt-project-statistics/ |title=Qt Project Statistics | work=Thiago Macieira's blog |publisher=Macieira.org |access-date=8 May 2013}}</ref>

One such Qt contributor is Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB, a Swedish Qt consulting company.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kdab.com/kdab-contributions-to-qt-5-0-part-1/ |title=contributions to Qt 5.0 (part 1) |publisher=KDAB |date=20 December 2012 |access-date=8 May 2013}}</ref> KDAB is involved in many areas, including maintenance of several components.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kdab.com/kdab-contributions-to-qt-5-0-part-2/ |title=contributions to Qt 5.0 (part 2) |publisher=KDAB |date=21 December 2012 |access-date=8 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kdab.com/maintaining-qt3d/ |title=Maintaining Qt3D |publisher=KDAB |date=21 December 2012 |access-date=8 May 2013}}</ref>

Together with [[BlackBerry (company)|RIM/BlackBerry]], KDAB is maintaining the [[QNX]] and [[BlackBerry 10]] ports of Qt.<ref name="Stats2012" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kdab.com/qt5-on-the-qnx-operating-system/ |title=Qt5 on the QNX operating system |publisher=KDAB |date=19 April 2012 |access-date=8 May 2013}}</ref>

Another participator is [[Intel]], contributing for example [[Wayland (display server protocol)|Wayland]] support.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODYyNQ |title=[Phoronix&#93; Qt Is Now Drawing On Wayland |publisher=Phoronix.com |date=21 September 2010 |access-date=8 May 2013}}</ref> [[AudioCodes]]  maintains [[IBM Rational ClearCase|IBM ClearCase]] support in [[Qt Creator]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.qt.io/Maintainers |title=Maintainers &#124; Qt Wiki |publisher=Qt Project |date=12 April 2013 |access-date=8 May 2013}}</ref>

As a heavy user of Qt, the [[KDE]] project submits many patches and features from its developer library [[KDE Frameworks]] back to Qt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.kde.org/Frameworks/Epics/Contributions_to_Qt5|title=Frameworks/Epics/Contributions to Qt5|publisher=KDE Community Wiki|access-date=27 April 2015}}</ref>