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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.
36
Manufacturer's Warranty
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. 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 modifications and/or translated
straightforwardly into another language. (Hereinafter, translation
is included without limitation in the term "modification".)
"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, distribution 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
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