| 10 | | The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for |
| 11 | | software and other kinds of works. |
| 12 | | |
| 13 | | The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed |
| 14 | | to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, |
| 15 | | the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to |
| 16 | | share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free |
| 17 | | software for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the |
| 18 | | GNU General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to |
| 19 | | any other work released this way by its authors. You can apply it to |
| 20 | | your programs, too. |
| | 10 | The GNU Affero General Public License is a free, copyleft license |
| | 11 | for software and other kinds of works, specifically designed to ensure |
| | 12 | cooperation with the community in the case of network server software. |
| | 13 | |
| | 14 | The licenses for most software and other practical works are |
| | 15 | designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By |
| | 16 | contrast, our General Public Licenses are intended to guarantee your |
| | 17 | freedom to share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it |
| | 18 | remains free software for all its users. |
| 29 | | To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you |
| 30 | | these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have |
| 31 | | certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the software, or if |
| 32 | | you modify it: responsibilities to respect the freedom of others. |
| 33 | | |
| 34 | | For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether |
| 35 | | gratis or for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same |
| 36 | | freedoms that you received. You must make sure that they, too, receive |
| 37 | | or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they |
| 38 | | know their rights. |
| 39 | | |
| 40 | | Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: |
| 41 | | (1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License |
| 42 | | giving you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify it. |
| 43 | | |
| 44 | | For the developers' and authors' protection, the GPL clearly explains |
| 45 | | that there is no warranty for this free software. For both users' and |
| 46 | | authors' sake, the GPL requires that modified versions be marked as |
| 47 | | changed, so that their problems will not be attributed erroneously to |
| 48 | | authors of previous versions. |
| 49 | | |
| 50 | | Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run |
| 51 | | modified versions of the software inside them, although the manufacturer |
| 52 | | can do so. This is fundamentally incompatible with the aim of |
| 53 | | protecting users' freedom to change the software. The systematic |
| 54 | | pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to |
| 55 | | use, which is precisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we |
| 56 | | have designed this version of the GPL to prohibit the practice for those |
| 57 | | products. If such problems arise substantially in other domains, we |
| 58 | | stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in future versions |
| 59 | | of the GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users. |
| 60 | | |
| 61 | | Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. |
| 62 | | States should not allow patents to restrict development and use of |
| 63 | | software on general-purpose computers, but in those that do, we wish to |
| 64 | | avoid the special danger that patents applied to a free program could |
| 65 | | make it effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL assures that |
| 66 | | patents cannot be used to render the program non-free. |
| | 27 | Developers that use our General Public Licenses protect your rights |
| | 28 | with two steps: (1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer |
| | 29 | you this License which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute |
| | 30 | and/or modify the software. |
| | 31 | |
| | 32 | A secondary benefit of defending all users' freedom is that |
| | 33 | improvements made in alternate versions of the program, if they |
| | 34 | receive widespread use, become available for other developers to |
| | 35 | incorporate. Many developers of free software are heartened and |
| | 36 | encouraged by the resulting cooperation. However, in the case of |
| | 37 | software used on network servers, this result may fail to come about. |
| | 38 | The GNU General Public License permits making a modified version and |
| | 39 | letting the public access it on a server without ever releasing its |
| | 40 | source code to the public. |
| | 41 | |
| | 42 | The GNU Affero General Public License is designed specifically to |
| | 43 | ensure that, in such cases, the modified source code becomes available |
| | 44 | to the community. It requires the operator of a network server to |
| | 45 | provide the source code of the modified version running there to the |
| | 46 | users of that server. Therefore, public use of a modified version, on |
| | 47 | a publicly accessible server, gives the public access to the source |
| | 48 | code of the modified version. |
| | 49 | |
| | 50 | An older license, called the Affero General Public License and |
| | 51 | published by Affero, was designed to accomplish similar goals. This is |
| | 52 | a different license, not a version of the Affero GPL, but Affero has |
| | 53 | released a new version of the Affero GPL which permits relicensing under |
| | 54 | this license. |
| 391 | | governed by this License along with a term that is a further |
| 392 | | restriction, you may remove that term. If a license document contains |
| 393 | | a further restriction but permits relicensing or conveying under this |
| 394 | | License, you may add to a covered work material governed by the terms |
| 395 | | of that license document, provided that the further restriction does |
| 396 | | not survive such relicensing or conveying. |
| | 380 | governed by this License along with a term that is a further restriction, |
| | 381 | you may remove that term. If a license document contains a further |
| | 382 | restriction but permits relicensing or conveying under this License, you |
| | 383 | may add to a covered work material governed by the terms of that license |
| | 384 | document, provided that the further restriction does not survive such |
| | 385 | relicensing or conveying. |
| 552 | | 13. Use with the GNU Affero General Public License. |
| 553 | | |
| 554 | | Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have |
| 555 | | permission to link or combine any covered work with a work licensed |
| 556 | | under version 3 of the GNU Affero General Public License into a single |
| 557 | | combined work, and to convey the resulting work. The terms of this |
| 558 | | License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work, |
| 559 | | but the special requirements of the GNU Affero General Public License, |
| 560 | | section 13, concerning interaction through a network will apply to the |
| 561 | | combination as such. |
| | 541 | 13. Remote Network Interaction; Use with the GNU General Public License. |
| | 542 | |
| | 543 | Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the |
| | 544 | Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users |
| | 545 | interacting with it remotely through a computer network (if your version |
| | 546 | supports such interaction) an opportunity to receive the Corresponding |
| | 547 | Source of your version by providing access to the Corresponding Source |
| | 548 | from a network server at no charge, through some standard or customary |
| | 549 | means of facilitating copying of software. This Corresponding Source |
| | 550 | shall include the Corresponding Source for any work covered by version 3 |
| | 551 | of the GNU General Public License that is incorporated pursuant to the |
| | 552 | following paragraph. |
| | 553 | |
| | 554 | Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have permission |
| | 555 | to link or combine any covered work with a work licensed under version 3 |
| | 556 | of the GNU General Public License into a single combined work, and to |
| | 557 | convey the resulting work. The terms of this License will continue to |
| | 558 | apply to the part which is the covered work, but the work with which it is |
| | 559 | combined will remain governed by version 3 of the GNU General Public |
| | 560 | License. |
| 571 | | Program specifies that a certain numbered version of the GNU General |
| 572 | | Public License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the |
| 573 | | option of following the terms and conditions either of that numbered |
| 574 | | version or of any later version published by the Free Software |
| 575 | | Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of the |
| 576 | | GNU General Public License, you may choose any version ever published |
| 577 | | by the Free Software Foundation. |
| | 570 | Program specifies that a certain numbered version of the GNU Affero |
| | 571 | General Public License "or any later version" applies to it, you have |
| | 572 | the option of following the terms and conditions either of that |
| | 573 | numbered version or of any later version published by the Free |
| | 574 | Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number |
| | 575 | of the GNU Affero General Public License, you may choose any version |
| | 576 | ever published by the Free Software Foundation. |
| 652 | | If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short |
| 653 | | notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode: |
| 654 | | |
| 655 | | <program> Copyright (C) <year> <name of author> |
| 656 | | This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'. |
| 657 | | This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it |
| 658 | | under certain conditions; type `show c' for details. |
| 659 | | |
| 660 | | The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate |
| 661 | | parts of the General Public License. Of course, your program's commands |
| 662 | | might be different; for a GUI interface, you would use an "about box". |
| | 651 | If your software can interact with users remotely through a computer |
| | 652 | network, you should also make sure that it provides a way for users to |
| | 653 | get its source. For example, if your program is a web application, its |
| | 654 | interface could display a "Source" link that leads users to an archive |
| | 655 | of the code. There are many ways you could offer source, and different |
| | 656 | solutions will be better for different programs; see section 13 for the |
| | 657 | specific requirements. |