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GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
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 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 Lesser General Public License, applies to some specially designated software packages--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 General 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
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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 recipients all the rights that we gave you. You must make sure
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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
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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 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 ordinary
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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
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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”
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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”.)
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