If the Program specifies a version number of this
License which applies to it and "any later version",
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published by the Free Software Foundation. If the
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NO WARRANTY
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GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2.1, February 1999
Copyright (C) 1991, 1999 Free Software Foundation,
Inc.
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
02110-1301 USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim
copies
of this license document, but changing it is not
allowed.
[This is the first released version of the Lesser GPL. It
also counts as the successor of the GNU Library
Public License, version 2, hence the version number
2.1.]
Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take
away your freedom to share and change it. By
contrast, the GNU General 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 General Public License,
applies to some specially designated software
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Foundation and other authors who decide to use it.
You can use it too, but we suggest you first think
carefully about whether this license or the ordinary
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When we speak of free software, we are referring to
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To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions
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We protect your rights with a two-step method: (1) we
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To protect each distributor, we want to make it very
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Most GNU software, including some libraries, is
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This license, the GNU Lesser General Public License,
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We use this license for certain libraries in order to
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When a program is linked with a library, whether
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Public License therefore permits such linking only if
the entire combination fits its criteria of freedom. The
Lesser General Public License permits more lax
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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
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However, the Lesser license provides advantages in
certain special circumstances.
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