License document 27/7/07 4:45 pm Page 8
Exhibit B
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2.1, February 1999
Copyright ? 1991, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 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 or 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 link them with the library after making changes to the library and
recompiling it. Also 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 original authorsO 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. |
ACEC
