Legal 79
51FranklinStreet,FifthFloor,Boston,MA02110-1301USA
Everyoneispermittedtocopyanddistributeverbatimcopiesof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w ish);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w ith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w ill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