Gnu General Public License Version 2, June 1991: How To Apply These Terms To Your New Programs
Gnu General Public License Version 2, June 1991: How To Apply These Terms To Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to
achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to
most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a
pointer to where the full notice is found.
<one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
Copyright (C) <year> <name of author> GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version. Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A allowed.
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this
Preamble
program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the
Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make
sure the software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail. Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode: Foundation software is covered by the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author Gnomovision comes with programs, too.
ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'. This is free software, and you When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed
are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c' for to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you
details. 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
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate parts of the General Public in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
License. Of course, the commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they could To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to
even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program. surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your school, if any, to sign a "copyright software, or if you modify it.
disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names: For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show
`Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker. them these terms so they know their rights.
<signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989 We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal
permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.
Ty Coon, President of Vice
Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to
is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License. authors' reputations.
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that
redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To
prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying
it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below, refers to any such
program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under
copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications
and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term
"modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".
September 2012
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its 5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you
scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do
contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program). not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the Program),
Whether that is true depends on what the Program does. you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, modifying the Program or works based on it.
provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and 6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives
disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions.
give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.
protection in exchange for a fee. 7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited
2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict
Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so
also meet all of these conditions: as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a
consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-
a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only
any change. way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any particular circumstance, the balance of the
Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this section is intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.
License.
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other property right claims or to contest
c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started validity of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of the free software
running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an distribution system, which is implemented by public license practices. Many people have made generous
appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of
that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other
License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement, your system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.
work based on the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a consequence of the rest of this License.
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from
the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, 8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted
and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit
the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this
and every part regardless of who wrote it. License.
Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, 9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from time
the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program. to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new
problems or concerns.
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on
the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies a version number of this License
License. which applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that
version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software
the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the
your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding sharing and reuse of software generally.
source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for NO WARRANTY
software interchange; or,
11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN
alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS"
executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.) WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE
work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR
exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or CORRECTION.
binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the 12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY
executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable. COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM
If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL,
equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code. PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE
OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE
4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License
will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance. END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS