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When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom,
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 or use pieces of it in new free programs;
and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the
rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for
you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program,
whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the
rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive
or can get the source code. And you must show them these
terms so they know their rights.
We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the
software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal
permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software. Also,
for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
software. If the software is modified by someone else and
passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have
is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others
will not reflect on the original authors' reputations.
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect
making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made
it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use
or not licensed at all. The precise terms and conditions for
copying, distribution and modification follow.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION
AND MODIFICATION
0) This License applies to any program or other work which
contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may
be distributed under the terms of this General Public License.
The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and
a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or
any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work
containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with
modifications and/or translated into another language.
(Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term
"modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you". Activities
other than copying, distribution and modification are not
covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the
Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based
on the Program (independent of having been made by running
the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the
Program does.
Manufacturer's Warranty
29
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