Root/COPYING

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 Also note that the only valid version of the GPL as far as the kernel
10 is concerned is _this_ particular version of the license (ie v2, not
11 v2.2 or v3.x or whatever), unless explicitly otherwise stated.
12
13            Linus Torvalds
14
15----------------------------------------
16
17            GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
18               Version 2, June 1991
19
20 Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
21                       51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
22 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
23 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
24
25                Preamble
26
27  The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
28freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public
29License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
30software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
31General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
32Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
33using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
34the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
35your programs, too.
36
37  When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
38price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
39have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
40this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
41if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
42in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
43
44  To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
45anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
46These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
47distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
48
49  For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
50gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
51you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
52source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
53rights.
54
55  We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
56(2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
57distribute and/or modify the software.
58
59  Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
60that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
61software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
62want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
63that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
64authors' reputations.
65
66  Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
67patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
68program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
69program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
70patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
71
72  The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
73modification follow.
74
75            GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
76   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
77
78  0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains
79a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
80under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below,
81refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program"
82means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
83that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
84either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
85language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
86the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".
87
88Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
89covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
90running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
91is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the
92Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).
93Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
94
95  1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
96source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
97conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
98copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
99notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty;
100and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
101along with the Program.
102
103You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
104you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
105
106  2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
107of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
108distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
109above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
110
111    a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
112    stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
113
114    b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
115    whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
116    part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
117    parties under the terms of this License.
118
119    c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
120    when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
121    interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
122    announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
123    notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
124    a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
125    these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
126    License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
127    does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
128    the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
129
130These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
131identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
132and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
133themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
134sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
135distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
136on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
137this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
138entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
139
140Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
141your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
142exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
143collective works based on the Program.
144
145In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
146with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
147a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
148the scope of this License.
149
150  3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
151under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
152Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
153
154    a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
155    source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
156    1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
157
158    b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
159    years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
160    cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
161    machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
162    distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
163    customarily used for software interchange; or,
164
165    c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
166    to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
167    allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
168    received the program in object code or executable form with such
169    an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
170
171The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
172making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
173code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
174associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
175control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
176special exception, the source code distributed need not include
177anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
178form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
179operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
180itself accompanies the executable.
181
182If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
183access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
184access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
185distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
186compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
187
188  4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
189except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
190otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
191void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
192However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under
193this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
194parties remain in full compliance.
195
196  5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
197signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
198distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are
199prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by
200modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
201Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
202all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
203the Program or works based on it.
204
205  6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
206Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
207original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
208these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
209restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
210You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
211this License.
212
213  7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
214infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
215conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
216otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
217excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
218distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
219License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
220may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
221license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
222all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
223the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
224refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
225
226If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
227any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
228apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
229circumstances.
230
231It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
232patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
233such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
234integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
235implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
236generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
237through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
238system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
239to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
240impose that choice.
241
242This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
243be a consequence of the rest of this License.
244
245  8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
246certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
247original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
248may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
249those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
250countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
251the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
252
253  9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
254of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will
255be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
256address new problems or concerns.
257
258Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
259specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any
260later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions
261either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
262Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of
263this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
264Foundation.
265
266  10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
267programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
268to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free
269Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
270make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals
271of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
272of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
273
274                NO WARRANTY
275
276  11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
277FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN
278OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
279PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
280OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
281MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS
282TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
283PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
284REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
285
286  12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
287WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
288REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
289INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
290OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
291TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
292YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
293PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
294POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
295
296             END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
297
298        How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
299
300  If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
301possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
302free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
303
304  To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
305to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
306convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
307the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
308
309    <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
310    Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
311
312    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
313    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
314    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
315    (at your option) any later version.
316
317    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
318    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
319    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
320    GNU General Public License for more details.
321
322    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
323    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
324    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
325
326
327Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
328
329If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
330when it starts in an interactive mode:
331
332    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
333    Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
334    This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
335    under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
336
337The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate
338parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may
339be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they could even be
340mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.
341
342You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
343school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
344necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
345
346  Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
347  `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
348
349  <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
350  Ty Coon, President of Vice
351
352This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
353proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may
354consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
355library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General
356Public License instead of this License.
357

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