resources.stdlicenses.LGPL-2.1+.html Maven / Gradle / Ivy
GNU Library General Public License v2 or later | Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX)
GNU Library General Public License v2 or later
Deprecated
This license has been deprecated since 2.0rc2.
Full name
GNU Library General Public License v2 or later
Short identifier
LGPL-2.1+
Other web pages for this license
Notes
DEPRECATED: Use the license identifier LGPL-2.1-or-later; This license was released: February 1999. This refers to when this LGPL 2.1 only is being used (as opposed to "or later).
Text
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
packages--typically libraries--of the Free Software 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 General Public License is the better strategy to use in any particular 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 have the freedom to distribute copies of free software
(and charge for this service if you wish); that you receive source code or can get it if you want it;
that you can change the software and use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you are informed
that you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid distributors to deny you these rights or
to ask you to surrender these rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you
if you distribute copies of the library or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of the library, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the
recipients all the rights that we gave you. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code. If you link other code with the library, you must provide complete object files to the
recipients, so that they can relink them with the library after making changes to the library and
recompiling it. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
We protect your rights with a two-step method: (1) we copyright the library, and (2) we offer you this
license, which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the library.
To protect each distributor, we want to make it very clear that there is no warranty for the free
library. Also, if the library is modified by someone else and passed on, the recipients should know
that what they have is not the original version, so that the original author's reputation will
not be affected by problems that might be introduced by others.
Finally, software patents pose a constant threat to the existence of any free program. We wish to make
sure that a company cannot effectively restrict the users 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 library must be consistent with the full freedom of use specified in this license.
Most GNU software, including some libraries, is covered by the ordinary GNU General Public License. This
license, the GNU Lesser General Public License, applies to certain designated libraries, and is quite
different from the ordinary General Public License. We use this license for certain libraries in order
to permit linking those libraries into non-free programs.
When a program is linked with a library, whether statically or using a shared library, the combination of
the two is legally speaking a combined work, a derivative of the original library. The ordinary
General 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 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.
(For example, a function in a library to compute square roots has a purpose that is entirely
well-defined independent of the application. Therefore, Subsection 2d requires that any
application-supplied function or table used by this function must be optional: if the
application does not supply it, the square root function must still compute square
roots.)
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that
work are not derived from the Library, and can be reasonably considered independent and
separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same
sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Library, the distribution of the
whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend
to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work
written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the
distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Library.
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Library with the Library (or
with a work based on the Library) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not
bring the other work under the scope of this License.
-
3.
You may opt to apply the terms of the ordinary GNU General Public License instead of this License
to a given copy of the Library. To do this, you must alter all the notices that refer to this
License, so that they refer to the ordinary GNU General Public License, version 2, instead of
to this License. (If a newer version than version 2 of the ordinary GNU General Public License
has appeared, then you can specify that version instead if you wish.) Do not make any other
change in these notices.
Once this change is made in a given copy, it is irreversible for that copy, so the ordinary GNU
General Public License applies to all subsequent copies and derivative works made from that
copy.
This option is useful when you wish to copy part of the code of the Library into a program that
is not a library.
-
4.
You may copy and distribute the Library (or a portion or derivative of it, under Section 2) in
object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you
accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be
distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for
software interchange.
If distribution of object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then
offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place satisfies the
requirement to distribute the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy
the source along with the object code.
-
5.
A program that contains no derivative of any portion of the Library, but is designed to work with
the Library by being compiled or linked with it, is called a "work that uses the
Library". Such a work, in isolation, is not a derivative work of the Library, and
therefore falls outside the scope of this License.
However, linking a "work that uses the Library" with the Library creates an executable
that is a derivative of the Library (because it contains portions of the Library), rather than
a "work that uses the library". The executable is therefore covered by this License.
Section 6 states terms for distribution of such executables.
When a "work that uses the Library" uses material from a header file that is part of
the Library, the object code for the work may be a derivative work of the Library even though
the source code is not. Whether this is true is especially significant if the work can be
linked without the Library, or if the work is itself a library. The threshold for this to be
true is not precisely defined by law.
If such an object file uses only numerical parameters, data structure layouts and accessors, and
small macros and small inline functions (ten lines or less in length), then the use of the
object file is unrestricted, regardless of whether it is legally a derivative work.
(Executables containing this object code plus portions of the Library will still fall under
Section 6.)
Otherwise, if the work is a derivative of the Library, you may distribute the object code for the
work under the terms of Section 6. Any executables containing that work also fall under
Section 6, whether or not they are linked directly with the Library itself.
-
6.
As an exception to the Sections above, you may also combine or link a "work that uses the
Library" with the Library to produce a work containing portions of the Library, and
distribute that work under terms of your choice, provided that the terms permit modification
of the work for the customer's own use and reverse engineering for debugging such
modifications.
You must give prominent notice with each copy of the work that the Library is used in it and that
the Library and its use are covered by this License. You must supply a copy of this License.
If the work during execution displays copyright notices, you must include the copyright notice
for the Library among them, as well as a reference directing the user to the copy of this
License. Also, you must do one of these things:
-
a)
Accompany the work with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code for the
Library including whatever changes were used in the work (which must be distributed under
Sections 1 and 2 above); and, if the work is an executable linked with the Library, with
the complete machine-readable "work that uses the Library", as object code
and/or source code, so that the user can modify the Library and then relink to produce a
modified executable containing the modified Library. (It is understood that the user who
changes the contents of definitions files in the Library will not necessarily be able to
recompile the application to use the modified definitions.)
-
b)
Use a suitable shared library mechanism for linking with the Library. A suitable mechanism is
one that (1) uses at run time a copy of the library already present on the user's
computer system, rather than copying library functions into the executable, and (2) will
operate properly with a modified version of the library, if the user installs one, as long
as the modified version is interface-compatible with the version that the work was made
with.
-
c)
Accompany the work with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give the same
user the materials specified in Subsection 6a, above, for a charge no more than the cost
of performing this distribution.
-
d)
If distribution of the work is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, offer
equivalent access to copy the above specified materials from the same place.
-
e)
Verify that the user has already received a copy of these materials or that you have already
sent this user a copy.
For an executable, the required form of the "work that uses the Library" must
include any data and utility programs needed for reproducing the executable from it.
However, as a special exception, the materials to be distributed need not include anything
that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components
(compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless
that component itself accompanies the executable.
It may happen that this requirement contradicts the license restrictions of other proprietary
libraries that do not normally accompany the operating system. Such a contradiction means
you cannot use both them and the Library together in an executable that you
distribute.
-
7.
You may place library facilities that are a work based on the Library side-by-side in a single
library together with other library facilities not covered by this License, and distribute
such a combined library, provided that the separate distribution of the work based on the
Library and of the other library facilities is otherwise permitted, and provided that you do
these two things:
-
a)
Accompany the combined library with a copy of the same work based on the Library, uncombined
with any other library facilities. This must be distributed under the terms of the
Sections above.
-
b)
Give prominent notice with the combined library of the fact that part of it is a work based
on the Library, and explaining where to find the accompanying uncombined form of the same
work.
-
8.
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, link with, or distribute the Library except as expressly
provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, link with, or
distribute the Library is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this
License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License
will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
-
9.
You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else
grants you permission to modify or distribute the Library or its derivative works. These
actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or
distributing the Library (or any work based on the Library), you indicate your acceptance of
this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
the Library or works based on it.
-
10.
Each time you redistribute the Library (or any work based on the Library), the recipient
automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute, link with or
modify the Library subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not
responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties with this License.
-
11.
If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other
reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you
from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously
your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence
you may not distribute the Library at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit
royalty-free redistribution of the Library by all those who receive copies directly or
indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be
to refrain entirely from distribution of the Library.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any particular
circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to apply, and the section as a whole is
intended to apply in other circumstances.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other property
right claims or to contest validity of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of
protecting the integrity of the free software distribution system which is implemented by
public license practices. Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of
software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of that system;
it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through
any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.
This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a consequence of the
rest of this License.
-
12.
If the distribution and/or use of the Library is restricted in certain countries either by
patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Library
under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those
countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In
such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this
License.
-
13.
The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the Lesser General Public
License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version,
but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Library specifies a version number
of this License which applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of
following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by
the Free Software Foundation. If the Library does not specify a license version number, you
may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
-
14.
If you wish to incorporate parts of the Library into other free programs whose distribution
conditions are incompatible with these, write to the author to ask for permission. For
software which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software
Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two
goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting
the sharing and reuse of software generally.
NO WARRANTY
-
15.
BECAUSE THE LIBRARY IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE LIBRARY, TO THE
EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE LIBRARY "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND
PERFORMANCE OF THE LIBRARY IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE LIBRARY PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE
COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
-
16.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER,
OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE LIBRARY AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE LIBRARY (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF
DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A
FAILURE OF THE LIBRARY TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY
HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Libraries
If you develop a new library, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, we
recommend making it free software that everyone can redistribute and change. You can do so by
permitting redistribution under these terms (or, alternatively, under the terms of the ordinary
General Public License).
To apply these terms, attach the following notices to the library. It is safest to attach them to the
start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should
have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
<one line to give the library's name and an idea of what it does.>
Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser
General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser
General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library; if not,
write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your school, if any, to sign a
"copyright disclaimer" for the library, if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in
the library `Frob' (a library for tweaking knobs) written
by James Random Hacker.
<signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1990
Ty Coon, President of Vice
That's all there is to it!
Standard License Header
Copyright (C)
year name of author
This library is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; version 2.1.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
Lesser General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth
Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
