Quartex Pascal Licensing Overview
Licensing Overview
Quartex Pascal (QTX) is released under a licensing model designed to balance accessibility with the protection of intellectual property. The focus is on ensuring that the tool remains cohesive and free from fragmentation while offering flexible options for different types of users, including educational institutions, open-source projects, and commercial developers.
License Types
- Academic License (Individual, Classroom):
- Individual License: Free for students and educators for non-commercial use. Ideal for personal learning and teaching.
- Classroom License: Free for educational institutions, enabling structured use in classroom settings.
- Community Edition License:
- Free for hobbyists and open-source contributors working on non-commercial projects. This license is designed to foster a strong, collaborative community around Quartex Pascal.
- Professional License:
- Available for individual developers and small teams who require advanced features and intend to use QTX for commercial purposes. Priced reasonably to make piracy unnecessary.
- Enterprise License:
- Tailored for large organizations with extensive needs. This license includes full access to Quartex Pascal’s features, priority support, and custom solutions.
Shareware Model
Quartex Pascal operates under a shareware license, allowing public access to the RTL source code while retaining ownership to prevent fragmentation. This ensures that the project remains cohesive and sustainable, avoiding the pitfalls experienced by other projects where partial GPL licensing led to uncontrolled distribution and misuse.
Piracy and Pricing
Recognizing the inevitability of piracy, Quartex Pascal’s pricing is set at a level that makes unauthorized use unnecessary. A single commercial license will never exceed €300, ensuring that the tool remains affordable while supporting its continued development.
Free Use in Education and Open-Source
- Free for educational institutions (non-profit) and students (non-profit) to use for learning and teaching.
- Free for open-source projects (non-profit) to encourage innovation and collaboration within the developer community.
Responsibilities and License Clauses
- Commercial Use: Developers using the free versions must obtain a commercial license if they start earning revenue from their projects. This is to ensure that those benefiting commercially from Quartex Pascal contribute to its development.
- Non-Compete: Backers with access to the source code are prohibited from creating competing products or distributing modified versions that could fragment the QTX ecosystem.
- Code Sharing: Backers are encouraged to share any improvements or modifications to the IDE, RTL, or libraries with the original author, fostering a collaborative development environment.
Source-Code Access
Upper-tier Patreon backers have access to the full source code. However, this access is governed by strict rules to prevent fragmentation and misuse. Modifications are allowed for internal use but must not be distributed or used to create competing products.