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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
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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)
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To protect each distributor, we want to make it very clear that there is no warranty
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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
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that any patent license obtained for a version of the library must be consistent with
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Most GNU software, including some libraries, is covered by the ordinary GNU Gen-
eral Public License. This license, the GNU Lesser General Public License, applies to
certain designated libraries, and is quite different from the ordinary General Public
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When a program is linked with a library, whether statically or using a shared library,
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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 pro-
vides 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.
GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL2)
