1PERLGPL(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLGPL(1)
2
6 perlgpl - the GNU General Public License, version 2
7
9 You can refer to this document in Pod via "L<perlgpl>"
10 Or you can see this document by entering "perldoc perlgpl"
11
13 This is "The GNU General Public License, version 2". It's here so that
14 modules, programs, etc., that want to declare this as their distribu‐
15 tion license, can link to it.
16 It is also one of the two licenses Perl allows itself to be redis‐
18 tributed and/or modified; for the other one, the Perl Artistic License,
19 see the perlartistic.
20
22 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
23 Version 2, June 1991
24 Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
26 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
27 02111-1307, USA.
28 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
29 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
30 Preamble
32 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom
34 to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
35 intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free soft‐
36 ware--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This Gen‐
37 eral Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation's
38 software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it.
39 (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU
40 Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your pro‐
41 grams, too.
42 When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price.
44 Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the
45 freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this ser‐
46 vice if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you
47 want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new
48 free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
49 To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone
51 to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These
52 restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you dis‐
53 tribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
54 For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis
56 or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you
57 have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source
58 code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.
59 We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
61 (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
62 distribute and/or modify the software.
63 Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
65 that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free soft‐
66 ware. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
67 want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
68 that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
69 authors' reputations.
70 Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents.
72 We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will
73 individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program pro‐
74 prietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must
75 be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
76 The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modifi‐
78 cation follow.
79 --
81 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
83 TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
84 0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a
86 notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
87 under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below,
88 refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program"
89 means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
90 that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
91 either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
92 language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
93 the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".
94 Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
96 covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of run‐
97 ning the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is
98 covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program
99 (independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that
100 is true depends on what the Program does.
101 1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source
103 code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously
104 and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice
105 and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to
106 this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other
107 recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Pro‐
108 gram.
109 You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
111 you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
112 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of
114 it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute
115 such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided
116 that you also meet all of these conditions:
117 a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
119 stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
120 b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
122 whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
123 part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
124 parties under the terms of this License.
125 c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
127 when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
128 interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
129 announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
130 notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
131 a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
132 these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
133 License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
134 does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
135 the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
136 --
138 These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifi‐
140 able sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be
141 reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves,
142 then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when
143 you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the
144 same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program,
145 the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License,
146 whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and
147 thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
148 Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
150 your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
151 exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collec‐
152 tive works based on the Program.
153 In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
155 with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a
156 storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the
157 scope of this License.
158 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
160 under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
161 Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
162 a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
164 source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
165 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
166 b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
168 years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
169 cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
170 machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
171 distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
172 customarily used for software interchange; or,
173 c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
175 to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
176 allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
177 received the program in object code or executable form with such
178 an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
179 The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
181 making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
182 code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
183 associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control
184 compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special
185 exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that
186 is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the
187 major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system
188 on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies
189 the executable.
190 If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access
192 to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to
193 copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the
194 source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the
195 source along with the object code.
196 --
198 4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
200 except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise
201 to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will
202 automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, par‐
203 ties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License
204 will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain
205 in full compliance.
206 5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
208 signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
209 distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are pro‐
210 hibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modi‐
211 fying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the Program),
212 you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its
213 terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Program
214 or works based on it.
215 6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
217 Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the orig‐
218 inal licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
219 these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restric‐
220 tions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. You
221 are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this
222 License.
223 7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
225 infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
226 conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
227 otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
228 excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distrib‐
229 ute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License
230 and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not
231 distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would
232 not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who
233 receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way
234 you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely
235 from distribution of the Program.
236 If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
238 any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
239 apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circum‐
240 stances.
241 It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
243 patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
244 such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
245 integrity of the free software distribution system, which is imple‐
246 mented by public license practices. Many people have made generous
247 contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that
248 system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up
249 to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute
250 software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that
251 choice.
252 This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
254 be a consequence of the rest of this License.
255 --
257 8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in cer‐
259 tain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
260 original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may
261 add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those
262 countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries
263 not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limita‐
264 tion as if written in the body of this License.
265 9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
267 of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions
268 will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in
269 detail to address new problems or concerns.
270 Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
272 specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any
273 later version", you have the option of following the terms and condi‐
274 tions either of that version or of any later version published by the
275 Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version
276 number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by
277 the Free Software Foundation.
278 10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
280 programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the
281 author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the
282 Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we
283 sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the
284 two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free
285 software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
286 NO WARRANTY
288 11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WAR‐
290 RANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.
291 EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR
292 OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
293 EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
294 WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
295 THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS
296 WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF
297 ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
298 12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRIT‐
300 ING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
301 REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAM‐
302 AGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAM‐
303 AGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING
304 BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR
305 LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO
306 OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY
307 HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
308 END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
310 --
312 Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
314 If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
316 possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
317 free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
318 terms.
319 To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to
321 attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey
322 the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the
323 "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
324 <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
326 Copyright (C) 19yy <name of author>
327 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
329 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
330 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
331 (at your option) any later version.
332 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
334 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
335 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
336 GNU General Public License for more details.
337 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
339 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
340 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
341 Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
343 mail.
344 If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
346 when it starts in an interactive mode:
347 Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
349 Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type "show w".
350 This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
351 under certain conditions; type "show c" for details.
352 The hypothetical commands "show w" and "show c" should show the appro‐
354 priate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands
355 you use may be called something other than "show w" and "show c"; they
356 could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.
357 You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
359 school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
360 necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
361 Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
363 "Gnomovision" (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
364 <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
366 Ty Coon, President of Vice
367 This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
369 into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library,
370 you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applica‐
371 tions with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU
372 Library General Public License instead of this License.
373 [End.]
375perl v5.8.8 2006-01-07 PERLGPL(1)