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Comment by monkmartinez | Hacker News Reader

> "PyQt is dual licensed on all supported platforms under the GNU GPL v3 and the Riverbank Commercial License. Unlike Qt, PyQt is not available under the LGPL. You can purchase the commercial version of PyQt here. More information about licensing can be found in the License FAQ."

Except this sucks if, you know, you want to make some money on your app... Kicking the tires for a potentially commercial app is a FULL stop for me right there.

JS and so many newer language(s)/bindings that compile to JS make the option to good to ignore.

I love Python, but it has stagnated hard in the last few years. The 2 to 3 transition really hurt the Python ecosystem in ways I am just starting to recognize. There are only "ok" to "terrible" options for GUI creation in the python ecosystem. Furthermore, packaging for different platforms is still a problem in 2018.

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> Except this sucks if, you know, you want to make some money on your app...

Why is that a problem? You get a commercial license for PyQt and are good to go(?)

> I love Python, but it has stagnated hard in the last few years. The 2 to 3 transition really hurt the Python ecosystem [...]

I disagree. I think the ecosystem is more vibrant than ever.

> Furthermore, packaging for different platforms is still a problem in 2018.

That is exactly what this project is trying to help with.

$500 dollars... is "not expensive"?

Beside the ML/AI sub-community, I am having a hard time finding GUI innovation in the Python ecosystem. Perhaps, you could show me an option that doesn't suck? I've tried Kivy, PyQt, PySide, Eel, gooey, etc... I am not a JS dev and had an electron/react app up and running that I easily ported to my Android phone in under an hour.

I guess it depends on how much time you spend on an app. I've been working on my PyQt app [1] for 2331 hours (I track my time). $500 is nothing in comparison.

[1]: https://fman.io

Yeah, I wish you all the luck... but look at it from a new programmer perspective, or someone that wants to create an app for money, but doesn't know if it will work.

On one hand you have the complex licensing thing (PyQt) where you are limited to desktop of Mac, Win, Linux. On the other you have a skill (JS dev) that is good for literally any screen, on any platform with almost zero complications for commercial apps. It is a no brainer.

If it isn't obvious, I have begun the transition to embrace JS for what it is... I am learning it and it hasn't been too bad. Python will be relegated to ML/AI and glue...

You raise valid points. Of course, a web developer who has never used Python will be more comfortable with Electron. That may be a very good reason for her to prefer it.

Regarding licensing, you can simply buy the commercial license only when you go public / begin making money. It's not that difficult I think.

But as I said, you are correct in that Electron is easier to use for many people. I'm also the last person to say you should always use PyQt. Just today I recommended someone to use Electron over PyQt. It really depends on the project.

Yeah, strange how other people outside IT manage to sell their work while having to pay for their tools.

There’s toga (https://toga.readthedocs.org) which looks reallypromising.

Tried it... needs a TON of work. Go read the gitter. So much churn and jank that it really isn't an option. period.

https://github.com/billsix/pyNuklear

  if nuklear.button_label(title="Button"):
         print("Button pressed!")

It is a month salary, quite ok if one is making money with the work of others.

The licensing is a problem for an Electron competitor. I really wanted to use Python / Qt to make a desktop application I'd like to sale, but got confused by the licensing issues. I'll just use Electron. I hate that this is the case, but pretty screenshots and good marketing will be far more important than a fast startup time.

If you don't want to pay for a commercial license, just use PySide. It's LGPL-licensed and has nearly exactly the same API as PyQT. So near that when I switched out PyQT with PySide, all I had to do was change two import statements throughout a ~3000 python gui application.

Yeah, except that it seems like PySide still doesn't support Qt 5.x according to [1]? While there is a page for PySide2 [2], I can't figure out if it's complete or not.

[1] http://wiki.qt.io/PySide [2] http://wiki.qt.io/PySide2

The last PySide release is from 2015 for Qt 4.8.

Does PyQT require an additional commercial license for the Qt itself? Qt's website says that its commercial license is $459/developer/month! The subscription fee is pretty hefty. So that means I pay PyQT $500 in addition to $459/month for Qt?

As much as I love Python, I don't want its GUI ecosystem to become the next Delphi.

I don't know of any other cross-platform native GUI library that even matches Qt in quality or features. I don't think WxWidgets is a contender, unless someone here proves me wrong.

EDIT: I see, all it needs is the PyQT license for $500 and the Qt is covered under LGPL, for any commercial release.

Qt is licensed under the LGPL. This lets you use it as a library. When you use PyQt, that's exactly what you are doing. So, you don't need a separate license for Qt. The PyQt license is usually enough. (caveat: IANAL)

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