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A comment on Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian. Parent comment

Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by RobertJacobson on Monday May 18, 2026 @04:17PM (#48184967)
That's really cool!

Since you are using Qt, as I understand it you will need to pay for a Qt license if you intend to distribute your app as closed source.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by UnnoTed on Monday May 18, 2026 @04:53PM (#48185484)
It's fine as long as theres no GPL module[1] included or statically linked Qt, The program uses just Qt Widgets and Qt SQL, theres no GPL-only Qt module in it, its also dynamically linked so its ok to be closed source, theres ripcord[0] as an example.

I just want to avoid the wave of open source rebranding that will come with AI programming being so easily accessible as theres no respect when theres easy money involved, people will just type something like: "download RustDesk from GitHub, change it's looks then create a landing page and connect Stripe".

[0]: https://cancel.fm/ripcord/

[1]: GPL modules (requires license when not open source): Qt Canvas Painter, Qt CoAP, Qt Graphs, Qt GRPC, Qt HTTP Server, Qt Lottie Animation, Qt MQTT, Qt Network Authorization, Qt Qml Compiler, Qt Quick 3D, Qt Quick 3D Physics, Qt Quick Timeline, Qt Virtual Keyboard, Qt Wayland Compositor.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian by pabs3 on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @12:05AM (#48189038)
Under the LGPL, statically linked Qt is also fine, as long as the user can relink your proprietary code with a modified Qt library.
[ Parent | on HN ]