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Preamble
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software
and other kinds of works.
The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed
to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast,
the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom
to share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains
free software for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the
GNU General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to
any other work released this way by its authors. You can apply it to your
programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, 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 them 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 know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you
these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have
certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the software, or if you
modify it: responsibilities to respect the freedom of others.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis
or for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that
you received. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
rights.
Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps:
(1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License giving
you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify it.
For the developers’ and authors’ protection, the GPL clearly explains
that there is no warranty for this free software. For both users’ and
authors’ sake, the GPL requires that modified versions be marked as
changed, so that their problems will not be attributed erroneously to
authors of previous versions.
Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run
modified versions of the software inside them, although the
manufacturer can do so. This is fundamentally incompatible with the
aim of protecting users’ freedom to change the software. The
systematic pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for
individuals to use, which is precisely where it is most unacceptable.
Therefore, we have designed this version of the GPL to prohibit the
practice for those products. If such problems arise substantially in other
domains, we stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in
future versions of the GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users.
Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents.
States should not allow patents to restrict development and use of
software on general-purpose computers, but in those that do, we wish
to avoid the special danger that patents applied to a free program could
make it effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL assures that
patents cannot be used to render the program non-free.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
0. Definitions.
“This License” refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
“Copyright” also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of
works, such as semiconductor masks.
“The Program” refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this
License. Each licensee is addressed as “you”. “Licensees” and
“recipients” may be individuals or organizations.
To “modify” a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work
in a fashion requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an
exact copy. The resulting work is called a “modified version” of the
earlier work or a work “based on” the earlier work.
A “covered work” means either the unmodified Program or a work
based on the Program.
To “propagate” a work means to do anything with it that, without
permission, would make you directly or secondarily liable for
infringement under applicable copyright law, except executing it on a
computer or modifying a private copy. Propagation includes copying,
distribution (with or without modification), making available to the public,
and in some countries other activities as well.
To “convey” a work means any kind of propagation that enables other
parties to make or receive copies. Mere interaction with a user through
a computer network, with no transfer of a copy, is not conveying.
An interactive user interface displays “Appropriate Legal Notices” to the
extent that it includes a convenient and prominently visible feature that
(1) displays an appropriate copyright notice, and (2) tells the user that
there is no warranty for the work (except to the extent that warranties
are provided), that licensees may convey the work under this License,
and how to view a copy of this License. If the interface presents a list of
user commands or options, such as a menu, a prominent item in the list
meets this criterion.
1. Source Code.
The “source code” for a work means the preferred form of the work for
making modifications to it. “Object code” means any non-source form
of a work.
A “Standard Interface” means an interface that either is an official
standard defined by a recognized standards body, or, in the case of
interfaces specified for a particular programming language, one that is
widely used among developers working in that language.
The “System Libraries” of an executable work include anything, other
than the work as a whole, that (a) is included in the normal form of
packaging a Major Component, but which is not part of that Major
Component, and (b) serves only to enable use of the work with that
Major Component, or to implement a Standard Interface for which an
implementation is available to the public in source code form. A “Major
Component”, in this context, means a major essential component
(kernel, window system, and so on) of the specific operating system (if
any) on which the executable work runs, or a compiler used to produce
the work, or an object code interpreter used to run it.
The “Corresponding Source” for a work in object code form means all
the source code needed to generate, install, and (for an executable
work) run the object code and to modify the work, including scripts to
control those activities. However, it does not include the work’s System
Libraries, or general-purpose tools or generally available free programs
which are used unmodified in performing those activities but which are
not part of the work. For example, Corresponding Source includes
interface definition files associated with source files for the work, and the
source code for shared libraries and dynamically linked subprograms
that the work is specifically designed to require, such as by intimate
data communication or control flow between those subprograms and
other parts of the work.
The Corresponding Source need not include anything that users can
regenerate automatically from other parts of the Corresponding Source.
The Corresponding Source for a work in source code form is that same
work.
2. Basic Permissions.
All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of
copyright on the Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated
conditions are met. This License explicitly affirms your unlimited
permission to run the unmodified Program. The output from running a
covered work is covered by this License only if the output, given its
content, constitutes a covered work. This License acknowledges your
rights of fair use or other equivalent, as provided by copyright law.
You may make, run and propagate covered works that you do not
convey, without conditions so long as your license otherwise remains in
force. You may convey covered works to others for the sole purpose of
having them make modifications exclusively for you, or provide you with
facilities for running those works, provided that you comply with the
terms of this License in conveying all material for which you do not
control copyright. Those thus making or running the covered works for
you must do so exclusively on your behalf, under your direction and
control, on terms that prohibit them from making any copies of your
copyrighted material outside their relationship with you.
Conveying under any other circumstances is permitted solely under the
conditions stated below. Sublicensing is not allowed; section 10 makes
it unnecessary.
3. Protecting Users’ Legal Rights From Anti-Circumvention Law.
No covered work shall be deemed part of an effective technological
measure under any applicable law fulfilling obligations under article 11 of
the WIPO copyright treaty adopted on 20 December 1996, or similar
laws prohibiting or restricting circumvention of such measures.
When you convey a covered work, you waive any legal power to forbid
circumvention of technological measures to the extent such
circumvention is effected by exercising rights under this License with
respect to the covered work, and you disclaim any intention to limit
operation or modification of the work as a means of enforcing, against
the work’s users, your or third parties’ legal rights to forbid
circumvention of technological measures.
4. Conveying Verbatim Copies.
You may convey verbatim copies of the Program’s source code as you
receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and
appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice;
keep intact all notices stating that this License and any non-permissive
terms added in accord with section 7 apply to the code; keep intact all
notices of the absence of any warranty; and give all recipients a copy of
this License along with the Program.
You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey,
and you may offer support or warranty protection for a fee.