User's Manual

143
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) offer 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.