2 @unnumbered GNU General Public License
3 @cindex GPL, GNU General Public License
4 @center Version 2, June 1991
6 @c This file is intended to be included in another file.
9 Copyright @copyright{} 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
10 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
12 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
13 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
18 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
19 freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public
20 License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
21 software---to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
22 General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
23 Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
24 using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
25 the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
28 When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
29 price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
30 have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
31 this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
32 if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
33 in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
35 To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
36 anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
37 These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
38 distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
40 For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
41 gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
42 you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
43 source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
46 We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
47 (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
48 distribute and/or modify the software.
50 Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
51 that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
52 software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
53 want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
54 that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
57 Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
58 patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
59 program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
60 program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
61 patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
63 The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
66 @heading TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
70 This License applies to any program or other work which contains
71 a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
72 under the terms of this General Public License. The ``Program'', below,
73 refers to any such program or work, and a ``work based on the Program''
74 means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
75 that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
76 either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
77 language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
78 the term ``modification''.) Each licensee is addressed as ``you''.
80 Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
81 covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
82 running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
83 is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the
84 Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).
85 Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
88 You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
89 source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
90 conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
91 copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
92 notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty;
93 and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
94 along with the Program.
96 You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
97 you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
100 You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
101 of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
102 distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
103 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
107 You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
108 stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
111 You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
112 whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
113 part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
114 parties under the terms of this License.
117 If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
118 when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
119 interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
120 announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
121 notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
122 a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
123 these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
124 License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
125 does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
126 the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
129 These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
130 identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
131 and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
132 themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
133 sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
134 distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
135 on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
136 this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
137 entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
139 Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
140 your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
141 exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
142 collective works based on the Program.
144 In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
145 with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
146 a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
147 the scope of this License.
150 You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
151 under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
152 Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
156 Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
157 source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
158 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
161 Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
162 years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
163 cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
164 machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
165 distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
166 customarily used for software interchange; or,
169 Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
170 to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
171 allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
172 received the program in object code or executable form with such
173 an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
176 The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
177 making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
178 code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
179 associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
180 control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
181 special exception, the source code distributed need not include
182 anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
183 form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
184 operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
185 itself accompanies the executable.
187 If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
188 access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
189 access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
190 distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
191 compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
194 You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
195 except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
196 otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
197 void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
198 However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under
199 this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
200 parties remain in full compliance.
203 You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
204 signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
205 distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are
206 prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by
207 modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
208 Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
209 all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
210 the Program or works based on it.
213 Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
214 Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
215 original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
216 these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
217 restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
218 You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
222 If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
223 infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
224 conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
225 otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
226 excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
227 distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
228 License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
229 may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
230 license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
231 all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
232 the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
233 refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
235 If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
236 any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
237 apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
240 It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
241 patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
242 such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
243 integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
244 implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
245 generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
246 through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
247 system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
248 to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
251 This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
252 be a consequence of the rest of this License.
255 If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
256 certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
257 original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
258 may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
259 those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
260 countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
261 the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
264 The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
265 of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will
266 be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
267 address new problems or concerns.
269 Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
270 specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and ``any
271 later version'', you have the option of following the terms and conditions
272 either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
273 Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of
274 this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
278 If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
279 programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
280 to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free
281 Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
282 make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals
283 of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
284 of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
295 BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
296 FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN
297 OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
298 PROVIDE THE PROGRAM ``AS IS'' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
299 OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
300 MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS
301 TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
302 PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
303 REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
306 IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
307 WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
308 REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
309 INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
310 OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
311 TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
312 YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
313 PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
314 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
318 @heading END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
321 @center END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
326 @heading Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
328 If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
329 possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
330 free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
332 To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
333 to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
334 convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
335 the ``copyright'' line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
338 @var{one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.}
339 Copyright (C) @var{yyyy} @var{name of author}
341 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
342 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
343 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
344 (at your option) any later version.
346 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
347 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
348 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
349 GNU General Public License for more details.
351 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
352 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
353 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
356 Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
358 If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
359 when it starts in an interactive mode:
362 Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) @var{year} @var{name of author}
363 Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
364 This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
365 under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
368 The hypothetical commands @samp{show w} and @samp{show c} should show
369 the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the
370 commands you use may be called something other than @samp{show w} and
371 @samp{show c}; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items---whatever
374 You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
375 school, if any, to sign a ``copyright disclaimer'' for the program, if
376 necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
379 Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
380 `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
382 @var{signature of Ty Coon}, 1 April 1989
383 Ty Coon, President of Vice
386 This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
387 proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may
388 consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
389 library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
390 Public License instead of this License.