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GNU LIBRARY GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
Copyright (C) 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, 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 library GPL. It is
numbered 2 because it goes with version 2 of the ordinary GPL.]
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 Library General Public License, applies to some
specially designated Free Software Foundation software, and to any
other libraries whose authors decide to use it. You can use it for
your libraries, too.
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 library, or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of the library, whether gratis
or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that we gave
you. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source
code. If you link a program with the library, you must provide
complete object files to the recipients so that they can relink them
with the library, after making changes to the library and recompiling
it. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
Our method of protecting your rights has two steps: (1) copyright
the library, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal
permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the library.
Also, for each distributor's protection, we want to make certain
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
library. If the library is modified by someone else and passed on, we
want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original
version, 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 companies distributing free
software will individually obtain patent licenses, thus in effect
transforming the program into proprietary software. To prevent this,
we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's
free use or not licensed at all.
Most GNU software, including some libraries, is covered by the ordinary
GNU General Public License, which was designed for utility programs. This
license, the GNU Library General Public License, applies to certain
designated libraries. This license is quite different from the ordinary
one; be sure to read it in full, and don't assume that anything in it is
the same as in the ordinary license.
The reason we have a separate public license for some libraries is that
they blur the distinction we usually make between modifying or adding to a
program and simply using it. Linking a program with a library, without
changing the library, is in some sense simply using the library, and is
analogous to running a utility program or application program. However, in
a textual and legal sense, the linked executable is a combined work, a
derivative of the original library, and the ordinary General Public License
treats it as such.
Because of this blurred distinction, using the ordinary General
Public License for libraries did not effectively promote software
sharing, because most developers did not use the libraries. We
concluded that weaker conditions might promote sharing better.
However, unrestricted linking of non-free programs would deprive the
users of those programs of all benefit from the free status of the
libraries themselves. This Library General Public License is intended to
permit developers of non-free programs to use free libraries, while
preserving your freedom as a user of such programs to change the free
libraries that are incorporated in them. (We have not seen how to achieve
this as regards changes in header files, but we have achieved it as regards
changes in the actual functions of the Library.) The hope is that this
will lead to faster development of free libraries.
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, while the latter only
works together with the library.
Note that it is possible for a library to be covered by the ordinary
General Public License rather than by this special one.
GNU LIBRARY GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License Agreement applies to any software library which
contains a notice placed by the copyright holder or other authorized
party saying it may be distributed under the terms of this Library
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
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The "Library", below, refers to any such software library or work
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and installation of the library.
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
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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
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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
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2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Library or any portion
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stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
c) You must cause