You are viewing the version of this documentation from Perl 5.39.10. This is a development version of Perl.

CONTENTS

NAME

perlgpl - the GNU General Public License, version 1

SYNOPSIS

You can refer to this document in Pod via "L<perlgpl>"
Or you can see this document by entering "perldoc perlgpl"

DESCRIPTION

Perl is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either:

a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any
later version, or

b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit.

This is the "GNU General Public License, version 1". It's here so that modules, programs, etc., that want to declare this as their distribution license can link to it.

For the Perl Artistic License, see perlartistic.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

                   GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                    Version 1, February 1989

 Copyright (C) 1989 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
               51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA

 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

                           Preamble

  The license agreements of most software companies try to keep users
at the mercy of those companies.  By contrast, our General Public
License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.  The
General Public License applies to the Free Software Foundation's
software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it.
You can use it for your programs, too.

  When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price.  Specifically, the General Public License is designed to make
sure that you have the freedom to give away or sell copies of free
software, that you receive source code or can get it if you want it,
that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free
programs; and that you know you can do these things.

  To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

  For example, if you distribute copies of a such a program, whether
gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
you have.  You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code.  And you must tell them their rights.

  We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software,
and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to
copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

  Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
software.  If the software is modified by someone else and passed on,
we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original,
so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the
original authors' reputations.

  The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.

                   GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

  0. This License Agreement applies to any program or other work which
contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be
distributed under the terms of this General Public License.  The
"Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based
on the Program" means either the Program or any work containing the
Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications.
Each licensee is addressed as "you".

  1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
notices that refer to this General Public License and to the absence of
any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of
this General Public License along with the Program.  You may charge a
fee for the physical act of transferring a copy.

  2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
of it, and copy and distribute such modifications under the terms of
Paragraph 1 above, provided that you also do the following:

    a) cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that
    you changed the files and the date of any change; and

    b) cause the whole of any work that you distribute or publish, that
    in whole or in part contains the Program or any part thereof,
    either with or without modifications, to be licensed at no charge
    to all third parties under the terms of this General Public License
    (except that you may choose to grant warranty protection to some or
    all third parties, at your option).

    c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
    when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
    interactive use in the simplest and most usual way, to print or
    display an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice
    and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you
    provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program
    under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of
    this General Public License.

    d) You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a
    copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in
    exchange for a fee.

Mere aggregation of another independent work with the Program (or its
derivative) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not
bring the other work under the scope of these terms.

  3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a portion or
derivative of it, under Paragraph 2) in object code or executable form
under the terms of Paragraphs 1 and 2 above provided that you also do
one of the following:

    a) accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
    source code, which must be distributed under the terms of
    Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or,

    b) accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
    years, to give any third party free (except for a nominal charge
    for the cost of distribution) a complete machine-readable copy of
    the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of
    Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or,

    c) accompany it with the information you received as to where the
    corresponding source code may be obtained.  (This alternative is
    allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
    received the program in object code or executable form alone.)

Source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making
modifications to it.  For an executable file, complete source code
means all the source code for all modules it contains; but, as a
special exception, it need not include source code for modules which
are standard libraries that accompany the operating system on which the
executable file runs, or for standard header files or definitions files
that accompany that operating system.

  4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or transfer the
Program except as expressly provided under this General Public License.
Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or
transfer the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your
rights to use the Program under this License.  However, parties who
have received copies, or rights to use copies, from you under this
General Public License will not have their licenses terminated so long
as such parties remain in full compliance.

  5. By copying, distributing or modifying the Program (or any work
based on the Program) you indicate your acceptance of this license to
do so, and all its terms and conditions.

  6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
these terms and conditions.  You may not impose any further
restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.

  7. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new
versions of the General Public License from time to time.  Such new
versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number.  If the Program
specifies a version number of the license which applies to it and "any
later version", you have the option of following the terms and
conditions either of that version or of any later version published by
the Free Software Foundation.  If the Program does not specify a
version number of the license, you may choose any version ever
published by the Free Software Foundation.

  8. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the
author to ask for permission.  For software which is copyrighted by the
Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we
sometimes make exceptions for this.  Our decision will be guided by the
two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free
software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

                           NO WARRANTY

  9. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO
WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.
EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR
OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS
WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF
ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

  10. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY
AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU
FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING
RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A
FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF
SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES.

                    END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

       Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

  If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to humanity, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
terms.

  To do so, attach the following notices to the program.  It is safest
to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

    <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it
    does.>
    Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
    modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
    published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at
    your option) any later version.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston MA
    02110-1301 USA


Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
mail.

If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:

    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19xx name of author
    Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type
    'show w'.  This is free software, and you are welcome to
    redistribute it under certain conditions; type 'show c' for
    details.

The hypothetical commands 'show w' and 'show c' should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License.  Of course, the
commands you use may be called something other than 'show w' and 'show
c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
program.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
necessary.  Here a sample; alter the names:

  Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the
  program 'Gnomovision' (a program to direct compilers to make passes
  at assemblers) written by James Hacker.

  <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
  Ty Coon, President of Vice

That's all there is to it!