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 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 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., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 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