1 2 NOTE! This copyright does *not* cover user programs that use kernel 3 services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use 4 of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work". 5 Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software 6 Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the linux 7 kernel) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it. 8 9 Linus Torvalds 10 11---------------------------------------- 12 13 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE 14 Version 2, June 1991 15 16 Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 17 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 18 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies 19 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. 20 21 Preamble 22 23 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your 24freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public 25License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free 26software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This 27General Public License applies to most of the Free Software 28Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to 29using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by 30the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to 31your programs, too. 32 33 When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not 34price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you 35have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for 36this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it 37if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it 38in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things. 39 40 To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid 41anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. 42These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you 43distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it. 44 45 For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether 46gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that 47you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the 48source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their 49rights. 50 51 We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and 52(2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, 53distribute and/or modify the software. 54 55 Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain 56that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free 57software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we 58want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so 59that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original 60authors' reputations. 61 62 Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software 63patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free 64program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the 65program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any 66patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all. 67 68 The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and 69modification follow. 70 71 GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE 72 TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION 73 74 0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains 75a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed 76under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below, 77refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" 78means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: 79that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, 80either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another 81language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in 82the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you". 83 84Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not 85covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of 86running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program 87is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the 88Program (independent of having been made by running the Program). 89Whether that is true depends on what the Program does. 90 91 1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's 92source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you 93conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate 94copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the 95notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; 96and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License 97along with the Program. 98 99You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and 100you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee. 101 102 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion 103of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and 104distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 105above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions: 106 107 a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices 108 stating that you changed the files and the date of any change. 109 110 b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in 111 whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any 112 part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third 113 parties under the terms of this License. 114 115 c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively 116 when run, you must cause it, when started running for such 117 interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an 118 announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a 119 notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide 120 a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under 121 these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this 122 License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but 123 does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on 124 the Program is not required to print an announcement.) 125 126These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If 127identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, 128and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in 129themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those 130sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you 131distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based 132on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of 133this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the 134entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it. 135 136Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest 137your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to 138exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or 139collective works based on the Program. 140 141In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program 142with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of 143a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under 144the scope of this License. 145 146 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, 147under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of 148Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following: 149 150 a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable 151 source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 152 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, 153 154 b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three 155 years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your 156 cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete 157 machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be 158 distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium 159 customarily used for software interchange; or, 160 161 c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer 162 to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is 163 allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you 164 received the program in object code or executable form with such 165 an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.) 166 167The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for 168making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source 169code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any 170associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to 171control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a 172special exception, the source code distributed need not include 173anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary 174form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the 175operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component 176itself accompanies the executable. 177 178If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering 179access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent 180access to copy the source code from the same place counts as 181distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not 182compelled to copy the source along with the object code. 183 184 4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program 185except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt 186otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is 187void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. 188However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under 189this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such 190parties remain in full compliance. 191 192 5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not 193signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or 194distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are 195prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by 196modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the 197Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and 198all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying 199the Program or works based on it. 200 201 6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the 202Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the 203original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to 204these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further 205restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. 206You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to 207this License. 208 209 7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent 210infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), 211conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or 212otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not 213excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot 214distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this 215License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you 216may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent 217license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by 218all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then 219the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to 220refrain entirely from distribution of the Program. 221 222If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under 223any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to 224apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other 225circumstances. 226 227It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any 228patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any 229such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the 230integrity of the free software distribution system, which is 231implemented by public license practices. Many people have made 232generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed 233through that system in reliance on consistent application of that 234system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing 235to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot 236impose that choice. 237 238This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to 239be a consequence of the rest of this License. 240 241 8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in 242certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the 243original copyright holder who places the Program under this License 244may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding 245those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among 246countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates 247the limitation as if written in the body of this License. 248 249 9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions 250of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will 251be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to 252address new problems or concerns. 253 254Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program 255specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any 256later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions 257either of that version or of any later version published by the Free 258Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of 259this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software 260Foundation. 261 262 10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free 263programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author 264to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free 265Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes 266make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals 267of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and 268of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally. 269 270 NO WARRANTY 271 272 11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY 273FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN 274OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES 275PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED 276OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF 277MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS 278TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE 279PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, 280REPAIR OR CORRECTION. 281 282 12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING 283WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR 284REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, 285INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING 286OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED 287TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY 288YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER 289PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE 290POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 291 292 END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS 293 294 Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs 295 296 If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest 297possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it 298free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms. 299 300 To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest 301to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively 302convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least 303the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found. 304 305 <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.> 306 Copyright (C) 19yy <name of author> 307 308 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify 309 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by 310 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or 311 (at your option) any later version. 312 313 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 314 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 315 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the 316 GNU General Public License for more details. 317 318 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 319 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software 320 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 321 322Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail. 323 324If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this 325when it starts in an interactive mode: 326 327 Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author 328 Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'. 329 This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it 330 under certain conditions; type `show c' for details. 331 332The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate 333parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may 334be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they could even be 335mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program. 336 337You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your 338school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if 339necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names: 340 341 Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program 342 `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker. 343 344 <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989 345 Ty Coon, President of Vice 346 347This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into 348proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may 349consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the 350library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General 351Public License instead of this License. 352