Qt Software has completed its plans to release the Qt source code repositories to the developer community. This news opens the door to software engineers who want to help guide and shape the future development of Qt with code contributions, translations, examples, and other offerings.

Qt is a cross-platform C++ GUI toolkit available on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows and is at the center of the UNIX / Linux KDE desktop. In addition to the source code repository release, there is also news that Qt Jambi, a Java version of the Qt GUI library, has been updated to version 4.5.0_01 and released under the LGPL.

Qt Software says that it has also launched a web-based source code management system based on the principles of the Git and Gitorious open source version control and collaboration structure. The contribution model is online and will enable developers from the community to submit patches through a single-click process, avoiding the previous hassle of sending in signed paperwork.

In addition to Qt-based version control data, the company's website details the fact that this contribution portal will also host a number of Qt-related tools and projects, including the Qt Creator IDE, Qt Jambi, and various Qt Labs projects. This relationship appears to be a suitably symbiotic one, as Qt Software says it is also working with the founders of the Gitorious project to develop and improve the Gitorious infrastructure - including adding team support and wikis.

Qt Software is also laying down its future roadmap and says that, "The Qt roadmap provides an overview of the features delivered in the latest Qt release, new features committed for delivery in upcoming Qt releases, and active research projects. Our job at Qt Software is to build the best cross-platform application and UI framework - but we can't (and don't want to) do it alone. Whether you're developing 3D simulation software or creating a UI for a consumer electronics device - or both - we want to hear from you how we can improve Qt to better fit your requirements."