47
Appendix E
Software End User License Agreement
Wireless-N Gigabit Router
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 may be distributed under the terms of this Lesser
General Public License (also called “this License”). Each
licensee is addressed as “you”.
A “library” means a collection of software functions
and/or data prepared so as to be conveniently linked
with application programs (which use some of those
functions and data) to form executables.
The “Library”, below, refers to any such software library
or work which has been distributed under these terms.
A “work based on the Library” means either the Library
or any derivative 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 language. (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.
Activities other than copying, distribution and
modification are not covered by this License; they are
outside its scope. The act of running a program using
the Library is not restricted, and output from such a
program is covered only if its contents constitute a
work based on the Library (independent of the use
of the Library in a tool for writing it). Whether that is
true depends on what the Library does and what the
program that uses the Library does.
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the
Library’s complete source code as you receive it, in
any medium, provided that you conspicuously and
appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep
intact all the notices that refer to this License and to
the absence of any warranty; and distribute a copy of
this License along with the Library.
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring
a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty
protection in exchange for a fee.
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Library or
any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the
Library, and copy and distribute such modifications
or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided
that you also meet all of these conditions:
a) The modified work must itself be a software
library.
b) You must cause the files modified to carry
prominent notices stating that you changed the
files and the date of any change.
c) You must cause the whole of the work to be
licensed at no charge to all third parties under the
terms of this License.
d) If a facility in the modified Library refers to a function
or a table of data to be supplied by an application
program that uses the facility, other than as an
argument passed when the facility is invoked, then
you must make a good faith effort to ensure that,
in the event an application does not supply such
function or table, the facility still operates, and
performs whatever part of its purpose remains
meaningful.
To Next Page
Loading...
