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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.
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