Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this when it
starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author Gnomovision
comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type ‘show w’. This
is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain
conditions; type ‘show c’ for details.
The hypothetical commands ‘show w’ and ‘show c’ should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands
you use may be called something other than ‘show w’ and ‘show c’; they
could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
school, if any, to sign a “copyright disclaimer” for the program, if
necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
‘Gnomovision’ (which makes passes at compilers) written by James
Hacker.
signature of Ty Coon, 1 April 1989 Ty Coon, President of Vice This General
Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary
programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more
useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is
what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead
of this License.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright © 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.
Preamble
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software
and other kinds of works.
The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to
take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, the
GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to
share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free
software for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the GNU
General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to any
other work released this way by its authors. You can apply it to your
programs, 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 them 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 prevent others from denying you these
rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have certain
responsibilities if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it:
responsibilities to respect the freedom of others.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or
for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you
received. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source
code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1)
assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License giving you
legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify it.
For the developers' and authors' protection, the GPL clearly explains that
there is no warranty for this free software. For both users' and authors'
sake, the GPL requires that modified versions be marked as changed, so
that their problems will not be attributed erroneously to authors of previous
versions.
Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run modified
versions of the software inside them, although the manufacturer can do
so. This is fundamentally incompatible with the aim of protecting users'
freedom to change the software. The systematic pattern of such abuse
occurs in the area of products for individuals to use, which is precisely
where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we have designed this version of
the GPL to prohibit the practice for those products. If such problems arise
substantially in other domains, we stand ready to extend this provision to
those domains in future versions of the GPL, as needed to protect the
freedom of users.
Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. States
should not allow patents to restrict development and use of software on
general-purpose computers, but in those that do, we wish to avoid the
special danger that patents applied to a free program could make it
effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL assures that patents
cannot be used to render the program non-free.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification
follow.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
0. Definitions.
“This License” refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
“Copyright” also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of
works, such as semiconductor masks.
“The Program” refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this
License. Each licensee is addressed as “you”. “Licensees” and “recipients”
may be individuals or organizations.
To “modify” a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work in
a fashion requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an
exact copy. The resulting work is called a “modified version” of the earlier
work or a work “based on” the earlier work.
A “covered work” means either the unmodified Program or a work based
on the Program.
To “propagate” a work means to do anything with it that, without
permission, would make you directly or secondarily liable for infringement
under applicable copyright law, except executing it on a computer or
modifying a private copy. Propagation includes copying, distribution (with
or without modification), making available to the public, and in some
countries other activities as well.
To “convey” a work means any kind of propagation that enables other
parties to make or receive copies. Mere interaction with a user through a
computer network, with no transfer of a copy, is not conveying.
An interactive user interface displays “Appropriate Legal Notices” to the
extent that it includes a convenient and prominently visible feature that (1)
displays an appropriate copyright notice, and (2) tells the user that there is
no warranty for the work (except to the extent that warranties are
provided), that licensees may convey the work under this License, and
how to view a copy of this License. If the interface presents a list of user
commands or options, such as a menu, a prominent item in the list meets
this criterion.
1. Source Code.
The “source code” for a work means the preferred form of the work for
making modifications to it. “Object code” means any non-source form of a
work.
