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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.
Copyright (C) 1991, 1999 Free Software
Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin Street, Fifth
Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and
distribute verbatim copies of 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.]
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
50
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2.1, February 1999
Preamble
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
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.
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