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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
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