Table of Contents
Advertisement
15. Disclaimer of Warranty.
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT
PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE
STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER
PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.
SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE
COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
16. Limitation of Liability.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED
TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER
PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS
PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING
ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR
DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO
OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR
OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES.
17. Interpretation of Sections 15 and 16.
If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided above cannot
be given local legal effect according to their terms, reviewing courts shall
apply local law that most closely approximates an absolute waiver of all
civil liability in connection with the Program, unless a warranty or
assumption of liability accompanies a copy of the Program in return for a
fee.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2.1, February 1999
Copyright (C) 1991, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.
[This is the first released version of the Lesser GPL.
It also counts as the successor of the GNU Library Public License, version
2, hence the version number 2.1.]
Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to
share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public Licenses are
intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software to
make sure the software is free for all its users.
This license, the Lesser General Public License, applies to some specially
designated software packages--typically libraries--of the Free Software
Foundation and other authors who decide to use it. You can use it too, but
we suggest you first think carefully about whether this license or the
ordinary General Public License is the better strategy to use in any
particular case, based on the explanations below.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom of use, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this
service if you wish); that you receive source code or can get it if you want
it; that you can change the software and use pieces of it in new free
programs; and that you are informed that you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid distributors
to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender these rights. These
restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute
copies of the library or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of the library, whether gratis or for a
fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that we gave you. You 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.
For example, on rare occasions, there may be a special need to
encourage the widest possible use of a certain library, so that it becomes 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 variant, 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.
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 functions and data) to form executables.
Advertisement
Table of Contents
