HP LaserJet, HP ScanJet - Open-Source Software License Agreements
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know that what they have is not the original version, so that any problems
introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors' reputations.
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We
wish to avoid the danger that companies distributing free software will
individually obtain patent licenses, thus in effect transforming the program
into proprietary software. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
Most GNU software, including some libraries, is covered by the ordinary GNU
General Public License, which was designed for utility programs. This
license, the GNU Library General Public License, applies to certain
designated libraries. This license is quite different from the ordinary one;
be sure to read it in full, and don't assume that anything in it is the same
as in the ordinary license.
The reason we have a separate public license for some libraries is that they
blur the distinction we usually make between modifying or adding to a program
and simply using it. Linking a program with a library, without changing the
library, is in some sense simply using the library, and is analogous to
running a utility program or application program. However, in a textual and
legal sense, the linked executable is a combined work, a derivative of the
original library, and the ordinary General Public License treats it as such.
Because of this blurred distinction, using the ordinary General Public
License for libraries did not effectively promote software sharing, because
most developers did not use the libraries. We concluded that weaker
conditions might promote sharing better.
However, unrestricted linking of non-free programs would deprive the users of
those programs of all benefit from the free status of the libraries
themselves. This Library General Public License is intended to permit
developers of non-free programs to use free libraries, while preserving your
freedom as a user of such programs to change the free libraries that are
incorporated in them. (We have not seen how to achieve this as regards
changes in header files, but we have achieved it as regards changes in the
actual functions of the Library.) The hope is that this will lead to faster
development of free libraries.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification
follow. Pay close attention to the difference between a "work based on the
library" and a "work that uses the library". The former contains code derived
from the library, while the latter only works together with the library.
Note that it is possible for a library to be covered by the ordinary General
Public License rather than by this special one.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License Agreement applies to any software library which contains a
notice placed by the copyright holder or other authorized party saying it may
be distributed under the terms of this Library General Public License (also
called "this License"). Each licensee is addressed as "you".