Nicholas Paul Sheppard's Licence Version 1.00 11th February 1998 Preamble -------- This licence is intended to guarantee the free distribution, use and modification of the accompanying package for non-profit purposes, to protect the intellectual property rights of the author(s) of the package, and to dissolve the author(s) of all responsibility for use of the package. It is the intention that software and documentation licensed under this licence is available for everyone to use for the good of the general community, but not for personal or corporate (financial) gain. It is also the intention of this document to prevent dishonest claims to ownership of software and documentation, as is usual in licensing conditions. It is usual practice in software licensing to deny all responsibility for the quality and usefulness of the product, even for products for which large sums are charged and which carry great promises in advertising material. This licence continues this dubious tradition by arguing that the user gets what he or she pays for. While the author(s) offer every hope that the package is defect-free, and that the user finds the package useful for its stated purpose, as this licence precludes the author(s) from receiving payment for their work, they cannot guarantee that earning a living may not take precedence over assuring perfection of the software package. The author(s) certainly will not take any responsibility for anything the user did over which they have no control. The Agreement ------------- By using or distributing this package, either as-is or in an essentially unmodified form, either alone or in conjunction with another product, indicates acceptance of the terms of this licence. The package may not be used, distributed and modified under any conditions other than those set out in this licence. No one may to be refused permission to obtain, use, distribute or modify the package under the terms of this licence, or actively prevented or impeded from doing so except insofar as they may already have obligations to be doing something else, using equipment otherwise, etc. (e.g. engage in paid employment). There is no obligation to actively assist use, distribution or modification of the package, however. Distribution ------------ This section covers distribution of the package in an unaltered form, that is, a form in which no essential modifications (as described in the 'Modification' section below) have been made to the package. Such an unaltered package may be distributed under the following conditions: (a) a copy of this licence is distributed verbatim with the distribution, and (b) no charge is made for the distribution, other than possibly to cover the reasonable costs incurred in the act of distribution (such as, but not limited to, postage, disks, network charges, etc.), either as-is or as part of another product. The unmodified package must be distributed under this licence. Modification ------------ This section covers distribution of the package in a form in which it has been modified in some essential way. An 'essential modification' is a modification which alters the way in which the resulting distribution is used. For example, distributing the package on a different medium, compressing the package with an archiver and distributing only a verbatim portion of the package are not essential modifications. Modications to this package may be distributed under the following conditions: (a) documentation for the resulting modification duly notes the changes that have been from the original distribution, and the modified distribution is assigned a different name to that of the original distribution, (b) if the original distribution is itself a modification of a package distributed under this licence, the terms of this section of the licence must be applied with respect to the original of the original and all other such forebears of the package, and (c) the contribution of all authors of this package and forebearing packages are duly noted. Such a modified package may be licensed under (a) this licence or (at your option) a later version of this licence, or (b) the GNU General Public License (whichever version is current at the time the modification is made, or a later version). Conditions of Use ----------------- The package may be used for any purpose not resulting in profit in the following scenarios: (a) personal use, (b) use in any non-profit organisation, (c) use in a not-for-profit Government agency (*not* a for-profit corporation owned by the Government in whole or in part), or (d) use in a not-for-profit educational institution. That is to say, it is not to be used for the purpose of making money, either directly or as an assistance to other practices. A link or reference to the package may be made for any purpose. Warranty -------- The package is supplied on an as-is basis in the hope that it will be useful, entertaining, educational, and so forth, but is distributed with no warranty whatsoever, or guarantee for fitness for any particular purpose. Use of the package is at the user's own risk and the author(s) accept no responsibility for any loss, damage, pain, etc. that might be caused by the use of the package, either directly or indirectly, either alone or in conjunction with another product or item.