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Open Source Software Notice
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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
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To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid distributors to deny
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We protect your rights with a two-step method: (1) we copyright the library, and (2) we
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