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.
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
