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” and a “work that uses the library”. The former contains code
derived from the library, whereas the latter must be combined with the library in order to run.
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”.)
“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.
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its
scope. The act of running a program using the Library is not restricted, and output from 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.
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 Library.
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 fee.
You may modify your copy or copies of the Library or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the
Library, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided
that you also meet all of these conditions:
a) The modified work must itself be a software library.
b) You must cause the files modified to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of
any change.
c) You must cause the whole of the work to be licensed at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this
License.
d) If a facility in the modified Library refers to a function or a table of data to be supplied by an application
program that uses the facility, other than as an argument passed when the facility is invoked, then you must
make a good faith effort to ensure that, in the event an application does not supply such function or table, the
facility still operates, and performs whatever part of its purpose remains meaningful.
(For example, a function in a library to compute square roots has a purpose that is entirely well-defined
independent of the application. Therefore, Subsection 2d requires that any application-supplied function or table
used by this function must be optional: if the application does not supply it, the square root function must still
compute square roots.)
1.
2.
HT-BD7200_XAA_0317-3.indd 93 2009-03-17 �� 8:07:51
