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The story of how QElectroTech was born, evolved, and became a thriving open-source project.
QElectroTech was founded in 2007 by two French students:
- Xavier — Primary architect and lead developer, responsible for the base application architecture and key technical decisions
- Benoit — Co-founder and developer
Version 0.1 launched on March 9, 2008, establishing QElectroTech as a free tool for creating electrical diagrams.
The project was created to provide a free, open-source alternative for designing electrical schematics and diagrams. From the start, it was designed to be:
- Free and open — Licensed under GNU/GPL
- Cross-platform — Supporting Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Flexible — Extensible for various uses beyond electrical work
- Community-driven — Open for contributions from users worldwide
During this period, QElectroTech grew steadily as users discovered its capabilities:
- Released multiple versions (0.1 through 0.6+)
- Expanded element libraries with community contributions
- Established a multilingual interface (French, English, German support)
- Built an active international user community
Xavier and Benoit guided the project's technical direction, making architectural decisions that would shape QET for years to come.
Around 2013, Xavier and Benoit stepped back from active development, having established a solid foundation and community for the project.
"Following this period, new developers and contributors took over the project and kept it alive." The project transitioned from being led by its founders to a collaborative, community-driven model.
The new team of developers maintained the project's momentum:
- Continued releasing stable versions
- Expanded the element collection (grew to 8,000+ symbols)
- Improved performance and features
- Expanded platform support (AppImage, Flatpak, Snap, aarch64/arm64)
- Maintained and expanded translations
Version 0.7.0 - 0.8.0 (2022)
- Consolidation and stabilization following earlier development
Version 0.9.0 (January 6, 2024)
- Major speed improvements across launch, project opening, and functions
- DXF import integration directly in the element editor via dxf2elmt
- HDPI scaling support
- Collection expanded to 8,274 elements across 1,097 categories
Version 0.100 (January 25, 2024)
- Terminal Strip and Terminal Strip Editor support
- Photovoltaic example projects
- 8,000+ symbols in collection
- Enhanced export/print handling
- Improved rotation, flip, and mirror operations
- Better wiring and conductor behavior
- Nightly builds available for cutting-edge features
- Qt6 port in active development for modern framework support
- Planned Version 0.100.1 or 0.200.0 with Qt6 migration
QElectroTech now serves:
- Individual hobbyists creating personal projects
- Educators teaching electrical design and engineering
- Students learning circuit design and electrical concepts
- Professional electricians creating industrial diagrams
- 3,747+ registered users on the forums
- 21,856+ forum posts across 2,959 discussion topics
- Multilingual support — French, English, German, and more
- Active GitHub — Continuous development and community contributions
- Regular releases — Stable versions with ongoing improvements
- 8,000+ electrical symbols in the element collection
- User-contributed elements and libraries
- Shared projects and tutorials
- DXF import capabilities
- External tooling built on the open XML formats (e.g.
qet_tb_generator)
✅ Sustained for 18+ years (2007-2026)
✅ Transitioned from single-team to community-driven project
✅ Grew to 3,700+ active users
✅ Built 8,000+ symbol library
✅ Supports 3+ platforms and multiple languages
✅ Maintained through major framework upgrades (Qt5 → Qt6)
- Qt5 — Primary framework for versions 0.1-0.100
- Qt6 migration — Active work on modernizing the codebase
- SVN → Git — Repository moved to GitHub for community collaboration
From basic Windows/Linux/macOS support to:
- AppImage, Flatpak, Snap packages
- aarch64 and arm64 architecture support
- Better cross-platform compatibility
From basic diagram drawing to:
- Element libraries (8,000+ symbols)
- DXF import/export
- Terminal strip management
- A headless command line for export and batch work
- Custom element creation
- Multi-diagram projects
As QElectroTech matured, accumulated technical debt from the original architecture needed addressing. In 2012, after the original creator's departure, Joshua and subsequent developers recognized the need for a comprehensive refactoring:
The Challenge: Spaghetti code, poor modularity, and band-aid solutions had accumulated over years of development.
The Solution: QET 2.0 — A major architectural redesign addressing:
- Code modularity — Decouple into distinct, well-separated modules
- Action management — Centralize scattered QActions with an ActionPool singleton
- File formats — Modernize from flat XML to structured, efficient formats
- Persistence layer — Abstract serialization from domain logic
- Conductor system — Introduce electrical potential as a first-class concept
File Format Evolution:
-
Elements:
.elmt→.selmt(with proper SVG namespace, direct SVG import) -
Projects:
.qet→ Zipped structure with SQLite database for metadata - Structure: Separate folders for images, elements, title blocks with UUID-based cross-referencing
Additional Improvements:
- Element prefix system standardization
- Intelligent auto-numbering with formula support
- Enhanced cross-reference (xref) system
- Text rendering modernization (points → pixels)
- Simplified independent text handling
This refactoring represents the project's commitment to long-term maintainability and enabling external contributors to work effectively with the codebase.
QElectroTech continues to evolve with:
- Qt6 framework modernization for long-term maintainability
- Performance improvements for large projects
- Enhanced element libraries with community contributions
- Expanded scripting capabilities for automation
- Better multi-user workflows for team collaboration
See Development Roadmap for current initiatives and planned features.
What makes QElectroTech unique is its journey from a student project to a thriving, globally-maintained open-source initiative. The transition from Xavier and Benoit's stewardship to community leadership demonstrates the power of open-source development: once the foundation is solid, the community takes it forward.
Today, QElectroTech is a testament to collaborative development, with volunteers worldwide contributing code, translations, elements, and support.
Learn how you can contribute to QElectroTech's future! Whether you're reporting bugs, creating elements, improving documentation, or writing code, you can be part of the next chapter.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| First Release | March 9, 2008 |
| Current Version | 0.100 (Jan 2024) |
| Community Users | 3,747+ |
| Forum Posts | 21,856+ |
| Elements/Symbols | 8,000+ |
| Supported Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| License | GNU/GPL |
| Development Years | 18+ years |
