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20 ETERNUS CS800 3.2 Open-Source Software
must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. If you
link other code with the library, you must provide complete object files to
the recipients, so that they can relink them with the library after making
changes to the library and recompiling it. And you must show them these
terms so they know their rights.
We protect your rights with a two-step method: (1) we copyright the
library, and (2) we offer you this license, which gives you legal
permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the library.
To protect each distributor, we want to make it very clear that there is no
warranty for the free library. Also, if the library is modified by someone
else and passed on, the recipients should know that what they have is not
the original version, so that the original author's reputation will not be
affected by problems that might be introduced by others.
Finally, software patents pose a constant threat to the existence of any
free program. We wish to make sure that a company cannot effectively
restrict the users of a free program by obtaining a restrictive license
from a patent holder. Therefore, we insist that any patent license obtained
for a version of the library must be consistent with the full freedom of
use specified in this license.
Most GNU software, including some libraries, is covered by the ordinary GNU
General Public License. This license, the GNU Lesser General Public
License, applies to certain designated libraries, and is quite different
from the ordinary General Public License. We use this license for certain
libraries in order to permit linking those libraries into non-free
programs.
When a program is linked with a library, whether statically or using a
shared library, the combination of the two is legally speaking a combined
work, a derivative of the original library. The ordinary General Public
License therefore permits such linking only if the entire combination fits
its criteria of freedom. The Lesser General Public License permits more lax
criteria for linking other code with the library.
We call this license the "Lesser" General Public License because it does
Less to protect the user's freedom than the ordinary General Public
License. It also provides other free software developers Less of an
advantage over competing non-free programs. These disadvantages are the
reason we use the ordinary General Public License for many libraries.
However, the Lesser license provides advantages in certain special
circumstances.
ETERNUS CS800
543
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