User's Manual

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isfreeforallitsusers.ThisGeneralPublicLicenseappliesto
mostoftheFreeSoftwareFoundation’ssoftwareandtoany
otherprogramwhoseauthorscommittousingit.(Some
otherFreeSoftwareFoundationsoftwareiscoveredbythe
GNULibraryGeneralPublicLicenseinstead.)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thisservice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makerestrictionsthat
forbidanyonetodenyyoutheserightsortoaskyouto
surrendertherights.Theserestrictionstranslatetocertain
responsibilitiesforyouifyoudistributecopiesofthe
software,orifyoumodifyit.
Forexample,ifyoudistributecopiesofsuchaprogram,
whethergratisorforafee,youmustgivetherecipientsall
therightsthatyouhave.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.
Weprotectyourrightswithtwosteps:(1)copyrightthe
software,and(2)o󱐯eryouthislicensewhichgivesyoulegal
permissiontocopy,distributeand/ormodifythesoftware.
Also,foreachauthor’sprotectionandours,wewanttomake
certainthateveryoneunderstandsthatthereisnowarranty
forthisfreesoftware.Ifthesoftwareismodiedbysomeone
elseandpassedon,wewantitsrecipientstoknowthatwhat
theyhaveisnottheoriginal,sothatanyproblemsintroduced
byotherswillnotreectontheoriginalauthors’reputations.