Gnu lesser general public license – Siemens C450 IP User Manual

Page 34

Appendix

Gigaset C450 IP / IM-Nord EN / A31008-M1713-R201-3-7643 / appendix.fm / 15.02.2007

ion 4,

.09.

2005

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 permis-

sion 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 some-

one 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. There-

fore, 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 ordi-

nary 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 compet-

ing 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 pro-

grams 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 oper-

ating 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 modi-

fied 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 com-

bined with the library in order to run.

GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DIS-

TRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License Agreement applies to any soft-

ware 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 licen-

see is addressed as "you".
A "library" means a collection of software func-

tions and/or data prepared so as to be conven-

iently linked with application programs (which

use some of those functions and data) to form

executables.
The "Library", below, refers to any such soft-

ware library or work which has been distributed

under these terms. A "work based on the

Library" means either the Library or any deriva-

tive 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 lan-

guage. (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.