Perl 5 version 22.4 documentation

perlgpl

SYNOPSIS

  1.  You can refer to this document in Pod via "L<perlgpl>"
  2.  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:

  1.         a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
  2.         Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any
  3.         later version, or
  5.         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

  1.                     GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
  2.                      Version 1, February 1989
  4.   Copyright (C) 1989 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  5.                      51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
  7.   Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
  8.   of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
  10.                             Preamble
  12.    The license agreements of most software companies try to keep users
  13.  at the mercy of those companies.  By contrast, our General Public
  14.  License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
  15.  software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.  The
  16.  General Public License applies to the Free Software Foundation's
  17.  software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it.
  18.  You can use it for your programs, too.
  20.    When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
  21.  price.  Specifically, the General Public License is designed to make
  22.  sure that you have the freedom to give away or sell copies of free
  23.  software, that you receive source code or can get it if you want it,
  24.  that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free
  25.  programs; and that you know you can do these things.
  27.    To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
  28.  anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
  29.  These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
  30.  distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
  32.    For example, if you distribute copies of a such a program, whether
  33.  gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
  34.  you have.  You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
  35.  source code.  And you must tell them their rights.
  37.    We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
  38.  (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
  39.  distribute and/or modify the software.
  41.    Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
  42.  that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
  43.  software.  If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
  44.  want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
  45.  that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
  46.  authors' reputations.
  48.    The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
  49.  modification follow.
  51.                     GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
  52.     TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
  54.    0. This License Agreement applies to any program or other work which
  55.  contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be
  56.  distributed under the terms of this General Public License.  The
  57.  "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based
  58.  on the Program" means either the Program or any work containing the
  59.  Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications.  Each
  60.  licensee is addressed as "you".
  62.    1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source
  63.  code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and
  64.  appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and
  65.  disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this
  66.  General Public License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any
  67.  other recipients of the Program a copy of this General Public License
  68.  along with the Program.  You may charge a fee for the physical act of
  69.  transferring a copy.
  71.    2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of
  72.  it, and copy and distribute such modifications under the terms of Paragraph
  73.  1 above, provided that you also do the following:
  75.      a) cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that
  76.      you changed the files and the date of any change; and
  78.      b) cause the whole of any work that you distribute or publish, that
  79.      in whole or in part contains the Program or any part thereof, either
  80.      with or without modifications, to be licensed at no charge to all
  81.      third parties under the terms of this General Public License (except
  82.      that you may choose to grant warranty protection to some or all
  83.      third parties, at your option).
  85.      c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when
  86.      run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use
  87.      in the simplest and most usual way, to print or display an
  88.      announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice
  89.      that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a
  90.      warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under these
  91.      conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this General
  92.      Public License.
  94.      d) You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a
  95.      copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in
  96.      exchange for a fee.
  98.  Mere aggregation of another independent work with the Program (or its
  99.  derivative) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring
  100.  the other work under the scope of these terms.
  102.    3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a portion or derivative of
  103.  it, under Paragraph 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
  104.  Paragraphs 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
  106.      a) accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
  107.      source code, which must be distributed under the terms of
  108.      Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or,
  110.      b) accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
  111.      years, to give any third party free (except for a nominal charge
  112.      for the cost of distribution) a complete machine-readable copy of the
  113.      corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of
  114.      Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or,
  116.      c) accompany it with the information you received as to where the
  117.      corresponding source code may be obtained.  (This alternative is
  118.      allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
  119.      received the program in object code or executable form alone.)
  121.  Source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making
  122.  modifications to it.  For an executable file, complete source code means
  123.  all the source code for all modules it contains; but, as a special
  124.  exception, it need not include source code for modules which are standard
  125.  libraries that accompany the operating system on which the executable
  126.  file runs, or for standard header files or definitions files that
  127.  accompany that operating system.
  129.    4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or transfer the
  130.  Program except as expressly provided under this General Public License.
  131.  Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or transfer
  132.  the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights to use
  133.  the Program under this License.  However, parties who have received
  134.  copies, or rights to use copies, from you under this General Public
  135.  License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties
  136.  remain in full compliance.
  138.    5. By copying, distributing or modifying the Program (or any work based
  139.  on the Program) you indicate your acceptance of this license to do so,
  140.  and all its terms and conditions.
  142.    6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
  143.  Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original
  144.  licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these
  145.  terms and conditions.  You may not impose any further restrictions on the
  146.  recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
  148.    7. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
  149.  of the General Public License from time to time.  Such new versions will
  150.  be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
  151.  address new problems or concerns.
  153.  Each version is given a distinguishing version number.  If the Program
  154.  specifies a version number of the license which applies to it and "any
  155.  later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions
  156.  either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
  157.  Software Foundation.  If the Program does not specify a version number of
  158.  the license, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
  159.  Foundation.
  161.    8. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
  162.  programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
  163.  to ask for permission.  For software which is copyrighted by the Free
  164.  Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
  165.  make exceptions for this.  Our decision will be guided by the two goals
  166.  of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
  167.  of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
  169.                             NO WARRANTY
  171.    9. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
  172.  FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN
  173.  OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
  174.  PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
  175.  OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
  176.  MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS
  177.  TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
  178.  PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
  179.  REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
  181.    10. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
  182.  WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
  183.  REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
  184.  INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
  185.  OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
  186.  TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
  187.  YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
  188.  PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
  189.  POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
  191.                      END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
  193.         Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
  195.    If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
  196.  possible use to humanity, the best way to achieve this is to make it
  197.  free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
  198.  terms.
  200.    To do so, attach the following notices to the program.  It is safest to
  201.  attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey
  202.  the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the
  203.  "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
  205.      <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
  206.      Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
  208.      This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  209.      it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  210.      the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
  211.      any later version.
  213.      This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  214.      but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  215.      MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  216.      GNU General Public License for more details.
  218.      You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  219.      along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  220.      Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston MA
  221.      02110-1301 USA
  224.  Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
  226.  If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
  227.  when it starts in an interactive mode:
  229.      Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19xx name of author
  230.      Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type 'show w'.
  231.      This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
  232.      under certain conditions; type 'show c' for details.
  234.  The hypothetical commands 'show w' and 'show c' should show the
  235.  appropriate parts of the General Public License.  Of course, the
  236.  commands you use may be called something other than 'show w' and 'show
  237.  c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
  238.  program.
  240.  You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
  241.  school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
  242.  necessary.  Here a sample; alter the names:
  244.    Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the
  245.    program 'Gnomovision' (a program to direct compilers to make passes
  246.    at assemblers) written by James Hacker.
  248.    <signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
  249.    Ty Coon, President of Vice
  251.  That's all there is to it!