Introduction
PySide is an open source sofware project providing Python bindings for the Qt framework. Qt is a cross-platform application and UI framework, allowing the developers to write applications once and deploy them across many operating systems without rewriting the source code, while Python is a modern, dynamic programming language with a vivid developer community.
Combining the power of Qt and Python, PySide provides the wealth of Qt framework for developers writing software in Python and presents a first-class rapid application development platform purported to be available on all major operating systems.
Licensing
PySide has been published as a response to the lack of suitably licensed Qt bindings for Python. PySide is licensed under the LGPL version 2.1 license, allowing both Free/Open source software and proprietary software development.
Project scope and goals
PySide consists of a full set of Qt bindings for multiple platforms as well as the automated binding generation tools required to produce the bindings. Due to the availability of the whole toolchain, PySide will be of interest not only to developers requiring the Qt bindings, but to developers willing to generate other Qt and C++ based bindings as well.
Although based on a different technology than the existing GPL-licensed PyQt bindings, PySide will initially aim to be API-compatible with them. In addition to the PyQt-compatible API, a more Pythonic API will be provided in the future.
While the PySide project has been initiated and the first set of code provided by Nokia, PySide will be run as a true open source project. Nokia will provide multiple developers working on the project, but contributions will be encouraged and the contributors need not transfer their copyright or accept a code reuse license; merely providing code under the LGPLv2.1 license will be sufficient. All tools expected by open source software developers such as the Git version control system, Bugzilla bug tracker, as well as Wiki pages, mailing lists, and an IRC channel will be provided at the project onset. Furthermore, contributors will be encouraged to partake even on the more deep-grained aspects of PySide such as the API syntax development, or take maintainer roles of subsystems such as specific platform support.
PySide aims to support all the platforms Qt itself does. However, due to practical reasons, initial development efforts are focused on Linux/X11. Developers are encouraged to assist in porting the code to their platform of choice.
The development of PySide will go in lockstep with the Qt framework. To provide maximum utility for developers willing to leverage the functionality of new Qt versions, PySide development will target Qt development versions in addition to the final releases. Thus, PySide final releases will closely follow those of the Qt framework.
Project structure
The project structure is to be determined as the community involvement increases. Initially, the project will be led by one of the Nokia-funded developers, Marcelo Lira <pyside@openbossa.org>. The Nokia contact person for PySide is Matti Airas (mairas) <matti.p.airas@nokia.com>.
Core developers
Anderson Lizardo (lizardo) <anderson.lizardo@openbossa.org>
Bruno Araujo (baraujo) <bruno.araujo@openbossa.org>
Hugo Parente Lima (hlima) <hugo.lima@openbossa.org>
Lauro Moura (lmoura) <lauro.neto@openbossa.org>
Luciano Miguel Wolf (luck) <luciano.wolf@openbossa.org>
Marcelo Lira (setanta) <marcelo.lira@openbossa.org>
Renato Araujo Oliveira Filho (renatofilho) <renato.filho@openbossa.org>
Contributors
If you think your name should appear on the list below, send a mail to pyside@openbossa.org. We try to credit all contributions, no matter how big or small!
Douglas Soares de Andrade (dsa)
Chris Hills (Chaz6)
rowinggolfer (rowinggolfer)
Ahmed Youssef (xmonader)
Brendan Duncan
