User's Manual

144
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soft-
ware(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soft-
ware,and(2)oeryouthislicensewhichgivesyoulegalpermis-
sion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.