Samsung HMX-W300YN-XAA User Manual

Page 25

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developers Less of an advantage over competing 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 library, so that it becomes a de-facto standard. 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.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

0. This License Agreement applies to any software library or other program which contains 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 software library or work which has been distributed
under these terms. A "work based on the Library" means either the Library or any derivative
work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Library or a portion of it, either

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