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 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 recipients 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 General Public License therefore
permits such linking only if the entire combination
fits its criteria of freedom. 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 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 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
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 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
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
