source: for-distributions/trunk/bin/windows/perl/lib/Pod/perlgpl.pod@ 14489

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1
2=head1 NAME
3
4perlgpl - the GNU General Public License, version 2
5
6=head1 SYNOPSIS
7
8 You can refer to this document in Pod via "L<perlgpl>"
9 Or you can see this document by entering "perldoc perlgpl"
10
11=cut
12
13# Because the following document's language disallows "changing"
14# it, we haven't gone thru and prettied it up with =item's or
15# anything. It's good enough the way it is.
16
17=head1 DESCRIPTION
18
19This is B<"The GNU General Public License, version 2">. It's here so
20that modules, programs, etc., that want to declare this as their
21distribution license, can link to it.
22
23It is also one of the two licenses Perl allows itself to be
24redistributed and/or modified; for the other one, the Perl Artistic
25License, see the L<perlartistic>.
26
27=head1 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
28
29 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
30 Version 2, June 1991
31
32 Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
33 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
34 02111-1307, USA.
35 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
36 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
37
38 Preamble
39
40The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
41freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public
42License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
43software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
44General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
45Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
46using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
47the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
48your programs, too.
49
50When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
51price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
52have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
53this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
54if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
55in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
56
57To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
58anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
59These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
60distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
61
62For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
63gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
64you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
65source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
66rights.
67
68We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
69(2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
70distribute and/or modify the software.
71
72Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
73that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
74software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
75want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
76that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
77authors' reputations.
78
79Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
80patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
81program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
82program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
83patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
84
85The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
86modification follow.
87
88--
89
90 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
91 TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
92
930. This License applies to any program or other work which contains
94a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
95under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below,
96refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program"
97means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
98that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
99either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
100language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
101the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".
102
103Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
104covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
105running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
106is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the
107Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).
108Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
109
1101. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
111source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
112conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
113copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
114notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty;
115and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
116along with the Program.
117
118You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
119you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
120
1212. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
122of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
123distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
124above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
125
126 a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
127 stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
128
129 b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
130 whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
131 part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
132 parties under the terms of this License.
133
134 c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
135 when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
136 interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
137 announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
138 notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
139 a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
140 these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
141 License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
142 does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
143 the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
144
145--
146
147These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
148identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
149and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
150themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
151sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
152distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
153on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
154this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
155entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
156
157Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
158your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
159exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
160collective works based on the Program.
161
162In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
163with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
164a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
165the scope of this License.
166
1673. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
168under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
169Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
170
171 a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
172 source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
173 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
174
175 b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
176 years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
177 cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
178 machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
179 distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
180 customarily used for software interchange; or,
181
182 c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
183 to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
184 allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
185 received the program in object code or executable form with such
186 an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
187
188The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
189making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
190code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
191associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
192control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
193special exception, the source code distributed need not include
194anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
195form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
196operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
197itself accompanies the executable.
198
199If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
200access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
201access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
202distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
203compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
204
205--
206
2074. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
208except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
209otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
210void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
211However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under
212this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
213parties remain in full compliance.
214
2155. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
216signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
217distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are
218prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by
219modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
220Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
221all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
222the Program or works based on it.
223
2246. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
225Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
226original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
227these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
228restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
229You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
230this License.
231
2327. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
233infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
234conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
235otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
236excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
237distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
238License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
239may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
240license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
241all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
242the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
243refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
244
245If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
246any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
247apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
248circumstances.
249
250It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
251patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
252such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
253integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
254implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
255generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
256through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
257system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
258to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
259impose that choice.
260
261This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
262be a consequence of the rest of this License.
263
264--
265
2668. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
267certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
268original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
269may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
270those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
271countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
272the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
273
2749. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
275of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will
276be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
277address new problems or concerns.
278
279Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
280specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any
281later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions
282either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
283Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of
284this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
285Foundation.
286
28710. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
288programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
289to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free
290Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
291make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals
292of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
293of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
294
295 NO WARRANTY
296
29711. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
298FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN
299OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
300PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
301OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
302MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS
303TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
304PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
305REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
306
30712. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
308WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
309REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
310INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
311OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
312TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
313YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
314PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
315POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
316
317 END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
318
319--
320
321 Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
322
323If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
324possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
325free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
326
327To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
328to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
329convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
330the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
331
332 <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
333 Copyright (C) 19yy <name of author>
334
335 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
336 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
337 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
338 (at your option) any later version.
339
340 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
341 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
342 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
343 GNU General Public License for more details.
344
345 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
346 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
347 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
348
349Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
350
351If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
352when it starts in an interactive mode:
353
354 Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
355 Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type "show w".
356 This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
357 under certain conditions; type "show c" for details.
358
359The hypothetical commands "show w" and "show c" should show the appropriate
360parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may
361be called something other than "show w" and "show c"; they could even be
362mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.
363
364You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
365school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
366necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
367
368 Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
369 "Gnomovision" (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
370
371 <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
372 Ty Coon, President of Vice
373
374This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
375proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may
376consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
377library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General
378Public License instead of this License.
379
380[End.]
381
382=cut
383
384
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