Regarding the situation with the Qt Company, KDE relies on the KDE Free Qt Foundation to always seek the most beneficial outcome for all Free Software developers and advocates. Read more at
https://ev.kde.org/2020/04/06/changes-in-qt-and-the-kde-free-qt-foundation/
The Qt Company has recently adopted new policies regarding binaries and Long Term Support of their Qt framework product for Q1 of 2020. The installation of Qt binaries will require a Qt Account and the long-term-supported (LTS) releases and the offline installer will become available to commercial licensees only. It’s worth noting that The Qt Company has publicly stated it will support Qt 5.12 under a free license until December 2021.
Even though the new policies might be legitimate for a for-profit enterprise, they have the unfortunate secondary effect of putting at risk benefits historically enjoyed by users of the non-commercial branch of Qt, in addition to the privacy and security concerns that are raised. This is a challenge to FOSS developers, but KDE remains strong, as our community are assessing the situation and plan for the best path forward through the KDE Free Qt Foundation (KFQF).
@kde Thank you for your effort. I hope that all FLOSS developers will be able to access every Qt release without any restrictions
@plfiorini They will.
Thank you for fighting the good fight. We'll all be watching with baited breath... ready to riot if necessary.
@kde no sustainable alternative?
@sphyphes Yes. KDE could fork the Qt, but we prefer a more diplomatic solution and keep everybody happy.
@kde petition for KDE, if they ever fork Qt, to call it QTK
@kde
Worst case scenario, are you technically prepared to switch frameworks and if so, what are your current candidates?
@csolisr That is not the worst case scenario. The very worst case scenario is that KDE forks Qt and maintains it along with with the support from all the other projects that use it.
There is no scenario in which Qt becomes proprietary, as the agreement is future-proof (see https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/kdefreeqtfoundation.php "Fifth Agreement (2015)") or that KDE has to switch frameworks.
The KDE Free Qt Foundation is currently negotiating with The Qt Company and updates will be released as new developments arise.