Xavier — Primary architect and lead developer, responsible for the base application architecture and key technical decisions
Benoit — Co-founder and developer

First Release

Version 0.1 launched on March 9, 2008, establishing QElectroTech as a free tool for creating electrical diagrams.

Early Vision

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

Early Development (2008-2013)

Growing Popularity

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

Founder Stewardship

Xavier and Benoit guided the project's technical direction, making architectural decisions that would shape QET for years to come.

Transition to Community Leadership (2013+)

Founders' Departure

Around 2013, Xavier and Benoit stepped back from active development, having established a solid foundation and community for the project.

New Era Begins

"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.

Sustained Growth

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

Modern Era (2022-Present)

Recent Releases

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

Current Development

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

Community Today

Global User Base

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

Active Community

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

Community-Created Content

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)

Key Achievements

✅ 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)

Technical Evolution

Framework & Libraries

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

Platform Expansion

From basic Windows/Linux/macOS support to:

AppImage, Flatpak, Snap packages
aarch64 and arm64 architecture support
Better cross-platform compatibility

Feature Growth

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

QET 2.0 Refactoring Initiative

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.

Future Direction

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.

The Open Source Spirit

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.

Want to Join the Story?

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.

Quick Stats

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