Inhoudsopgave
Advertenties
We protect your rights with a two-step method:
(1) we copyright the library, and (2) we offer
you this license, which gives you legal permis-
sion to copy, distribute and/or modify the
library.
To protect each distributor, we want to make it
very clear that there is no warranty for the free
library. Also, if the library is modified by some-
one else and passed on, the recipients should
know that what they have is not the original
version, so that the original author's reputation
will not be affected by problems that might be
introduced by others.
Finally, software patents pose a constant threat
to the existence of any free program. We wish
to make sure that a company cannot effectively
restrict the users of a free program by obtaining
a restrictive license from a patent holder. There-
fore, we insist that any patent license obtained
for a version of the library must be consistent
with the full freedom of use specified in this
license.
Most GNU software, including some libraries, is
covered by the ordinary GNU General Public
License. This license, the GNU Lesser General
Public License, applies to certain designated
libraries, and is quite different from the ordi-
nary General Public License. We use this license
for certain libraries in order to permit linking
those libraries into non-free programs.
When a program is linked with a library, whe-
ther 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 Les-
ser General Public License permits more lax cri-
teria 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 General Public
License. It also provides other free software
developers Less of an advantage over compe-
ting 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 pro-
grams 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 ope-
rating 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 whe-
rewithal 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 combi-
ned with the library in order to run.
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DIS-
TRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License Agreement applies to any soft-
ware 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 licen-
see is addressed as "you".
A "library" means a collection of software func-
tions and/or data prepared so as to be conveni-
ently linked with application programs (which
use some of those functions and data) to form
executables.
The "Library", below, refers to any such soft-
ware library or work which has been distributed
under these terms. A "work based on the
Library" means either the Library or any deriva-
tive 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 lan-
guage. (Hereinafter, translation is included wit-
hout 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.
Bijlage
53
Advertenties
Inhoudsopgave
