LevelOne FCS-1091 - Manual (Page 84)

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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
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.
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND
MODIFICATION
0. This License Agreement applies to any software library or other program which
contains a notice placed by the copyright holder or other authorized party saying it