Toshiba Blu-Ray Disc Player BDX1200KU User Manual

Page 32

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they can relink them with the library after mak-

ing changes to the library and recompiling it.

And you must show them these terms so they

know their rights.

We protect your rights with a two-step meth-

od: (1) we copyright the library, and (2) we of-

fer you this license, which gives you legal

permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the

library.

To protect each distributor, we want to make

it very clear that there is no warranty for the

free library. Also, if the library is modified

by someone else and passed on, the re-

cipients should know that what they have is

not the original version, so that the original

author's reputation will not be affected by

problems that might be introduced by oth-

ers.

Finally, software patents pose a

constant threat to the existence of

any free program. We wish to make sure

that a company cannot effectively restrict

the users of a free program by obtaining

a restrictive license from a patent holder.

Therefore, we insist that any patent license

obtained for a version of the library must be

consistent with the full freedom of use

specified in this license.

Most GNU software, including some li-

braries, is covered by the ordinary GNU

General Public License. This license, the

GNU Lesser General Public License, ap-

plies to certain designated libraries, and

is quite different from the ordinary General

Public License. We use this license for certain

libraries in order to permit linking those librar-

ies into non-free programs.

When a program is linked with a library,

whether statically or using a shared library, the

combination of the two is legally speaking a

combined work, a derivative of the original li-

brary. The ordinary General Public License

therefore permits such linking only if the

entire combination fits its criteria of freedom.

The Lesser General Public License permits

more lax criteria for linking other code with

the library.

We

call this license the "Lesser" General Public

License because it does Less to protect the us-

er's freedom than the ordinary General Public

License. It also provides other free software

developers Less of an advantage over compet-

ing non-free programs. These disadvantages

are the reason we use the ordinary General

Public License for many libraries. However, the

Lesser license provides advantages in certain

special circumstances. For example, on rare

occasions, there may be a special need to

encourage the widest possible use of a certain

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To achieve this, non-free programs must be

allowed to use the library. A more frequent

case is that a free library does the same job

as widely used non-free libraries. In this case,

there is little to gain by limiting the free library

to free software only, so we use the Lesser

General Public License.

In other cases,

permission to use a particular library in non-

free programs enables a greater number of

people to use a large body of free software.

For example, permission to use the GNU C

Library in non-free programs enables many

more people to use the whole GNU operating

system, as well as its variant, the GNU/Linux

operating system. Although the Lesser

General Public License is Less protective of the

users' freedom, it does ensure that the user

of a program that is linked with the Library

has the freedom and the wherewithal to run

that program using a modified version of the

Library.

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, whereas the latter must be combined

with the library in order to run.

GNU LESSER GENERAL PULIC LICENSE

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING,

DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

0. This License Agreement applies to any

software library or other program which con-

tains a notice placed by the copyright holder or

other authorized party saying it may be

distributed under the terms of this Lesser

General Public License (also called "this

License").Each licensee is addressed as "you".

A "library" means a collection of software

functions and/or data prepared so as to be

conveniently linked with application programs

(which use some of those functions and data)

to form executables.

The "Library", below, refers to any such

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