Table of Contents
Advertisement
a de-facto standard. To achieve this, non-free
programs must be allowed to use the library. A
more frequent case is that a free library does
the same job as widely used non-free libraries.
In this case, there is little to gain by limiting the
free library to free software only, so we use the
Lesser General Public License. In other cases,
permission to use a particular library in non-free
programs enables a greater number of people to
use a large body of free software. For example,
permission to use the GNU C Library in non-free
programs enables many more people to use the
whole GNU operating system, as well as its vari-
ant, the GNU/Linux operating system. Although
the Lesser General Public License is Less
protective of the users' freedom, it does ensure
that the user of a program that is linked with the
Library has the freedom and the wherewithal to
run that program using a modified version of the
Library. The precise terms and conditions for
copying, distribution and modification follow. Pay
close attention to the difference between a "work
based on the library" and a "work that uses the
library". The former contains code derived from
the library, whereas the latter must be combined
with the library in order to run.
GNU LESSER GENERAL PULIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING,
DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License Agreement applies to any
software library or other program which
contains a notice placed by the copyright
holder or other authorized party saying it
may be distributed under the terms of this
Lesser General Public License (also called
"this License").Each licensee is addressed
as "you". A "library" means a collection of
software functions and/or data prepared so
as to be conveniently linked with application
programs (which use some of those func-
tions and data) to form executables.
The "Library", below, refers to any such
software library or work which has been
distributed under these terms. A "work based
on the Library" means either the Library or
any derivative work under copyright law: that
is to say, a work containing the Library or a
portion of it, either verbatim or with modifica-
tions and/or translated straightforwardly into
another language. (Hereinafter, translation is
included without limitation in the term "modi-
fication".) "Source code" for a work means
the preferred form of the work for making
modifications to it. For a library, complete
source code means all the source code for
all modules it contains, plus any associated
interface definition files, plus the scripts used
to control compilation and installation of the
library. Activities other than copying, distribu-
tion and modification are not covered by this
License; they are outside its scope. The act
of running a program using the Library is not
restricted, and output from such a program
is covered only if its contents constitute a
work based on the Library (independent of
the use of the Library in a tool for writing it).
Whether that is true depends on what the
Library does and what the program that uses
the Library does.
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies
of the Library's complete source code as you
receive it, in any medium, provided that you
conspicuously and appropriately publish on
each copy an appropriate copyright notice
and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all
the notices that refer to this License and to
the absence of any warranty; and distribute
a copy of this License along with the Library.
You may charge a fee for the physical act
of transferring a copy, and you may at your
option offer warranty protection in exchange
for a fee.
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the
Library or any portion of it, thus forming a
work based on the Library, and copy and dis-
tribute such modifications or work under the
terms of Section 1 above, provided that you
also meet all of these conditions:
a) The modified work must itself be a soft-
ware library.
b) You must cause the files modified to
carry prominent notices stating that you
changed the files and the date of any
change.
c) You must cause the whole of the work to
be licensed at no charge to all third par-
ties under the terms of this License.
d) If a facility in the modified Library refers
to a function or a table of data to be sup-
plied by an application program that uses
the facility, other than as an argument
passed when the facility is invoked, then
you must make a good faith effort to
ensure that, in the event an application
does not supply such function or table,
the facility still operates, and performs
whatever part of its purpose remains
meaningful.
(For example, a function in a library to
compute square roots has a purpose that
is entirely well-defined independent of
83
Advertisement
Table of Contents
