Konica Minolta bizhub PRO 950 - Manual (Page 24)

Software license list 2
bizhub PRO 950 20
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 indi-
vidually 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 designat-
ed 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 ordi-
nary 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 pro-
gram 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 run-
ning 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 de-
velopers 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 them-
selves. 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 li-
braries.
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.
GNU LIBRARY GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFI-
CATION