NEC ViVid Office 2020 Quick Reference Manual page 166

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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 Gen-
eral 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.
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 run-
ning 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 of the Library in a tool for writing it). Whether that is true depends on what the Library
does and what the program that uses the Library does.
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Library's complete source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that
you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all
the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and distribute a copy of this License along with the Library.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for
a fee.
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Library or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Library, and copy and dis-
tribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
a) The modified work must itself be a software library.
b) You must cause the files modified to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
Appendix-12

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