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## The GNU General Public License

up: arch Meets hello-world next: Uh....a Little Help Here? prev: Customizing the inventory Naming Conventions

`arch` is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) as published by the Free Software Foundation (and reproduced below).

This software 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 (reproduced below) for more details.

I have chosen to use the GPL for this software because I believe it best reflects the duties to society of a software engineer. It is the best license for users, for my fellow engineers, and for society as a whole. As is beginning to be widely appreciated, this license is a startling profound and influential document and is worthy of study in its own right.

In a commercial climate that grew up mostly under proprietary licenses (those that fall far short of protecting the freedoms and promoting the obligations of the GPL), my choice of this license has, at the moment, made it difficult for me to recover the costs of developing arch and to make a profit from my work going forward. Those are very serious problems, in my opinion. Please see also Uh....a Little Help Here?.

                        GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                           Version 2, June 1991

     Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
         59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
     Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
     of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

                                Preamble

      The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
    freedom to share and change it.  By contrast, the GNU 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.
    This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
    Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit
    to using it.  (Some other Free Software Foundation software is
    covered by the GNU Library General Public License instead.)  You can
    apply it to your programs, too.

      When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
    price.  Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that
    you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and
    charge for this service if you wish), 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 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 show them these terms so they
    know 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.

      Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
    patents.  We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
    program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making
    the program proprietary.  To prevent this, we have made it clear
    that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not
    licensed at all.

      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 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 derivative
    work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the
    Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications
    and/or translated into another language.  (Hereinafter, translation
    is included without limitation in the term "modification".)  Each
    licensee is addressed as "you".

    Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
    covered by this License; they are outside its scope.  The act of
    running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the
    Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on
    the Program (independent of having been made by running the
    Program).  Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.

      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 License and to the absence of any
    warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of
    this License along with the Program.

    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.

      2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any
    portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy
    and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section
    1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

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

        b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that
        in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or
        any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all
        third parties under the terms of this License.

        c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
        when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
        interactive use in the most ordinary 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 License.  (Exception: if the Program itself is
        interactive but does not normally print such an announcement,
        your work based on the Program is not required to print an
        announcement.)

    These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.  If
    identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
    and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
    themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
    sections when you distribute them as separate works.  But when you
    distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work
    based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the
    terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend
    to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of
    who wrote it.

    Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or
    contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the
    intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of
    derivative or collective works based on the Program.

    In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the
    Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a
    volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other
    work under the scope of this License.

      3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
    under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms
    of Sections 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
        Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software
        interchange; or,

        b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
        years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
        cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
        machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
        distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a
        medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

        c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the
        offer to distribute corresponding source code.  (This
        alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and
        only if you received the program in object code or executable
        form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

    The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
    making modifications to it.  For an executable work, complete source
    code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
    associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
    control compilation and installation of the executable.  However, as
    a special exception, the source code distributed need not include
    anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
    form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
    operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
    itself accompanies the executable.

    If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
    access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
    access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
    distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
    compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

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

      5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
    signed it.  However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
    distribute the Program or its derivative works.  These actions are
    prohibited by law if you do not accept this License.  Therefore, by
    modifying or distributing 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 for copying, distributing or modifying
    the Program or works based on it.

      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.  You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by
    third parties to this License.

      7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of
    patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent
    issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
    agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this
    License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License.
    If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your
    obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations,
    then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all.
    For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free
    redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies
    directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could
    satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from
    distribution of the Program.

    If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable
    under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is
    intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in
    other circumstances.

    It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
    patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
    such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
    integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
    implemented by public license practices.  Many people have made
    generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
    through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
    system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is
    willing to distribute software through any other system and a
    licensee cannot impose that choice.

    This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed
    to be a consequence of the rest of this License.

      8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
    certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces,
    the original copyright holder who places the Program under this
    License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation
    excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in
    or among countries not thus excluded.  In such case, this License
    incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this
    License.

      9. 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 this 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 this License, you may choose any version
    ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

      10. 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

      11. 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.

      12. 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

                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 the public, 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) <year> <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 2 of
        the License, 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., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston,
        MA 02111-1307 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) year 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 is a sample; alter the names:

      Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the
      program `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by
      James Hacker.

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

    This General Public License does not permit incorporating your
    program into proprietary programs.  If your program is a subroutine
    library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking
    proprietary applications with the library.  If this is what you want
    to do, use the GNU Library General Public License instead of this
    License.

arch Meets hello-world: A Tutorial Introduction to The arch Revision Control System
The Hackerlab at `regexps.com`