User's Manual

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.