4
4. Libnl, nopoll, nss-mdns, xz
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
V er sion 2.1, Februar y 1999
Copyright (C) 1991, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 T emple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
Ever yone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allow ed.
[This is the r st released version of the Lesser GPL. It also counts as
the successor of the GNU Librar y Public License , version 2, hence the
version number 2.1.]
Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take awa y your
freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU Gener al 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 Gener al Public License, applies to some
specially designated software packages--typically libraries--of the Free
Software Foundation and other author s who decide to use it. Y ou can
use it too, but w e suggest you r st think carefully about whether this
license or the ordinar y General Public License is the better str ategy to
use in any par ticular 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 ha ve the freedom to distr ibute copies of free software (and
charge for this ser vice if you wish); that you receive source code or
can get it if you want it; that y ou can change the software and use
pieces of it in new free programs; and that you are informed that you
can do these things.
T o protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
distributor s to deny y ou these rights or to ask you to surrender these
rights. These restrictions translate to cer tain responsibilities f or you if
you distribute copies of the librar y or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of the libr ar y , whether gratis or
for a fee, you must giv e the recipients all the r ights that we ga ve you.
Y ou must make sure that they , too, receive or can get the source code .
If you link other code with the librar y , you must pro vide complete
object les to the recipients, so that they can relink them with the
librar y after making changes to the libr ar y and recompiling it. And you
must show them these terms so they know their rights.
W e protect your rights with a two-step method: (1) we copyright
the librar y , and (2) we offer you this license, which gives you legal
permission to copy , distribute and/or modify the librar y .
T o protect each distr ibutor , we want to make it ver y clear that there
is no warr anty for the free librar y . Also, if the libr ar y is modied by
someone else and passed on, the recipients should know that what
they hav e is not the original ver sion, so that the original author’s
reputation will not be affected by prob lems that might be introduced
by others.
Finally , software patents pose a constant threat to the existence of
any free program. W e wish to make sure that a company cannot
effectivel y restrict the user s 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 librar y must be consistent
with the full freedom of use specied in this license.
Most GNU software, including some libr aries, is covered by the
ordinar y GNU General Public License . This license , the GNU Lesser
General Public License , applies to cer tain designated librar ies, and is
quite different from the ordinar y General Public License. W e use this
license for cer tain librar ies in order to permit linking those libr aries
into non-free programs.
When a program is linked with a librar y , whether statically or using
a shared librar y , the combination of the two is legally speaking a
combined work, a der ivative of the original librar y . The ordinar y
General Public License therefore permits such linking only if the
entire combination ts its criter ia of freedom. The Lesser General
Public License permits more lax criter ia for linking other code with
the librar y .
W e call this license the “Lesser” General Public License because it
does Less to protect the user’ s freedom than the ordinar y 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 ordinar y General Public License for many
librar ies. Howev er , the Lesser license provides advantages in cer tain
special circumstances.
For example, on r are occasions, there may be a special need to
encourage the widest possible use of a cer tain libr ar y , so that it
becomes a de-facto standard. T o achieve this, non-free progr ams must
be allowed to use the librar y . A more frequent case is that a free
librar y does the same job as widely used non-free libr aries. In this
case, there is little to gain by limiting the free librar y to free software
only , so we use the Lesser General Public License.
In other cases, permission to use a par ticular librar y 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
Librar y in non-free progr ams 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
user s’ freedom, it
does ensure that the user of a program that is linked with the Librar y
has the freedom and the wherewithal to run that progr am using a
modied version of the Libr ar y .
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modication follow . Pay close attention to the diff erence between a
“work based on the libr ar y” and a “work that uses the librar y”. The
former contains code der ived from the librar y , whereas the latter
must be combined with the librar y in order to r un.
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND
MODIFIC A TION
0. This License Agreement applies to any software libr ar y or other
program which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder
or other authorized par ty saying it may be distributed under
the terms of this Lesser Gener al Public License (also called “this
License”).
Each licensee is addressed as “y ou”.
A “librar y” means a collection of software functions and/or
data prepared so as to be convenientl y linked with application
programs (which use some of those functions and data) to form
executables.
The “Librar y”, below , refer s to any such software librar y or
work which has been distr ibuted under these terms. A “work
based on the Librar y” means either the Libr ar y or any derivative
work under copyright law: that is to say , a work containing the
Librar y or a por tion of it, either verbatim or with modications
and/or translated str aightforwardly into another language.
(Hereinafter , translation is included without limitation in the ter m
“modication”.)
“Source code” for a work means the preferred for m of the
work for making modications to it. For a librar y , complete
source code means all the source code for all modules it
contains, plus any associated interface denition les, plus the
scripts used to control compilation and installation of the libr ar y .
Activities other than copying, distribution and modication are
not covered b y this License; they are outside its scope . The act
of r unning a program using the Librar y is not restricted, and
output from such a program is covered only if its contents
OSS text_MT8507_V2.0_2k15 (A5).indd 4 2015/11/20 11:24:51