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GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2.1, February 1999
Copyright (C) 1991, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA
02111-1307 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 Lesser GPL. It also counts as the successor of the GNU Library
Public License, version 2, hence the version number 2.1.]
Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By con-
trast, 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 Lesser General Public License, applies to some specially designated software pack-
ages--typically libraries--of the Free Software Foundation and other authors who decide to use it. You
can use it too, but we suggest you first think carefully about whether this license or the ordinary Gen-
eral Public License is the better strategy to use in any particular case, based on the explanations below.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom of use, 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 and use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you are informed that
you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid distributors to deny you these rights or
to ask you to surrender these 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 recip-
ients all the rights that we gave you. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source
code. If you link other code 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.
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 permission 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 someone 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. Therefore, 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 ordinary 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, 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 Gen-
eral Public License therefore permits such linking only if the entire combination fits its criteria of free-
dom. 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 free-
dom than the ordinary General 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
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