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diff --git a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_21.html b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_21.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..354fb198 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_21.html @@ -0,0 +1,209 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> +<html> +<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. + +Free Software Foundation + +51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor + +Boston, MA 02110-1335 +Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted +worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is +preserved. 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What Is Copyleft?"> +<meta name="resource-type" content="document"> +<meta name="distribution" content="global"> +<meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} +blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} +pre.display {font-family: serif} +pre.format {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} +pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} +pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} +span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} +span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} +ul.toc {list-style: none} +--> +</style> +<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"> + + +</head> + +<body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> + +<a name="Copyleft"></a> +<header><div id="logo"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="What-Is-Copyleft_003f"></a> +<h1 class="chapter"> 21. What Is Copyleft? </h1> + +<a name="index-GPL-2"></a> +<a name="index-copyleft-_0028see-also-copyright_0029-3"></a> +<a name="index-copylefted-software-_0028see-also-software_0029-1"></a> +<p>Copyleft is a general method for making a program (or +other work) free, and requiring all modified and extended versions of the +program to be free as well. +</p> +<a name="index-public-domain-software-_0028see-also-software_0029-4"></a> +<p>The simplest way to make a program free software is to put it in the +public domain, uncopyrighted. This allows people to +share the program and their improvements, if they are so minded. But +it also allows uncooperative people to convert the program into +proprietary software. They can make changes, many or few, +and distribute the result as a proprietary product. People who +receive the program in that modified form do not have the freedom that +the original author gave them; the middleman has stripped it away. +</p> +<p>In the GNU Project, our aim is +to give <em>all</em> users the freedom to redistribute and change GNU +software. If middlemen could strip off the freedom, we might have +many users, but those users would not have freedom. So instead of +putting GNU software in the public domain, we “copyleft” +it. Copyleft says that anyone who redistributes the software, with or +without changes, must pass along the freedom to further copy and +change it. Copyleft guarantees that every user has freedom. +</p> +<p>Copyleft also provides an incentive for other programmers to add to +free software. Important free programs such as the +<a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-C_002b_002b-compiler"></a> +GNU C++ compiler +exist only because of this. +</p> +<p>Copyleft also helps programmers who want to contribute improvements to +free software get permission to +do so. These programmers often work for companies or universities +that would do almost anything to get more money. A programmer may +want to contribute her changes to the community, but her employer may +want to turn the changes into a proprietary software product. +</p> +<p>When we explain to the employer that it is illegal to distribute the +improved version except as free software, the employer usually decides +to release it as free software rather than throw it away. +</p> +<p>To copyleft a program, we first state that it is copyrighted; then we +add distribution terms, which are a legal instrument that gives +everyone the rights to use, modify, and redistribute the program’s +code, <em>or any program derived from it,</em> but only if the +distribution terms are unchanged. Thus, the code and the freedoms +become legally inseparable. +</p> +<p>Proprietary software developers use copyright to take away the users’ +freedom; we use copyright to guarantee their freedom. That’s why we +reverse the name, changing “copyright” into +“copyleft.” +</p> +<p>Copyleft is a way of using of the copyright on the program. It +doesn’t mean abandoning the copyright; in fact, doing so would make +copyleft impossible. The “left” in +“copyleft” is not a reference to the verb “to +leave”—only to the direction which is the inverse of +“right.” +</p> +<p>Copyleft is a general concept, and you can’t use a general concept +directly; you can only use a specific implementation of the concept. +In the GNU Project, the specific distribution terms that we use for +most software are contained in the GNU General Public License (p. @refx{GPL-pg}{). The GNU General Public License is often called the GNU GPL for +short. There is also a Frequently Asked Questions page about the GNU +GPL, at <a href="http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html">http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html</a>. You can also +read about why the FSF gets copyright assignments from contributors, +at <a href="http://gnu.org/copyleft/why-assign.html">http://gnu.org/copyleft/why-assign.html</a>. +</p> +<a name="index-libraries-_0028comp_002e_0029_002c-LGPL-and"></a> +<a name="index-LGPL_002c-and-GNU-libraries"></a> +<a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-libraries"></a> +<a name="index-libraries-_0028comp_002e_0029_002c-GNU-1"></a> +<p>An alternate form of copyleft, the GNU Lesser General Public License +(LGPL) (p. @refx{LGPL-pg}{), applies to a few (but not all) GNU libraries. To +learn more about properly using the LGPL, please read the article +“Why You Shouldn’t Use the Lesser GPL for Your Next Library,” +available at <a href="http://gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html">http://gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html</a>. +</p> +<a name="index-manuals_002c-FDL-and"></a> +<a name="index-FDL-_0028see-also-both-manuals-and-documentation_0029-1"></a> +<p>The GNU Free Documentation License (FDL) (p. @refx{FDL-pg}{) is a form of +copyleft intended for use on a manual, textbook or other document to +assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, +with or without modifications, either commercially or noncommercially. +</p> +<p>The appropriate license is included in many manuals and in each GNU +source code distribution. +</p> +<p>All these licenses are designed so that you can easily apply them to +your own works, assuming you are the copyright holder. You don’t have +to modify the license to do this, just include a copy of the license +in the work, and add notices in the source files that refer properly +to the license. +</p> +<a name="index-LGPL_002c-altering-distribution-terms-to-GPL"></a> +<p>Using the same distribution terms for many different programs makes it +easy to copy code between various different programs. When they all +have the same distribution terms, there is no problem. The Lesser +GPL, version 2, includes a provision that lets you alter the +distribution terms to the ordinary GPL, so that you can copy code into +another program covered by the GPL. Version 3 of the Lesser GPL is +built as an exception added to GPL version 3, making the compatibility +automatic. +</p> +<p>If you would like to copyleft your program with the GNU GPL or the GNU +LGPL, please see the license instructions page, at +<a href="http://gnu.org/copyleft/gpl-howto.html">http://gnu.org/copyleft/gpl-howto.html</a>, for advice. +Please note that you must use the entire text of the license you +choose. Each is an integral whole, and partial copies are not +permitted. +</p> +<p>If you would like to copyleft your manual with the GNU FDL, please see +the instructions at the end of the FDL text (p. @refx{FDL Instructions-pg}{), and the GFDL +instructions page, at +<a href="http://gnu.org/copyleft/fdl-howto.html">http://gnu.org/copyleft/fdl-howto.html</a>. Again, partial +copies are not permitted. +<a name="index-copylefted-software-_0028see-also-software_0029-2"></a> +<a name="index-copyleft-_0028see-also-copyright_0029-4"></a> +<a name="index-GPL-3"></a> +</p><hr size="2"> +<table cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" border="0"> +<tr><td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_20.html#Freedom-or-Copyright" title="Previous section in reading order"> < </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_22.html#Pragmatic" title="Next section in reading order"> > </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left"> </td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[Contents]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_U.4.html#Index" title="Index">Index</a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_abt.html#SEC_About" title="About (help)"> ? </a>]</td> +</tr></table> +<p> + <font size="-1"> + This document was generated by <em>Christian Grothoff</em> on <em>February 18, 2016</em> using <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/"><em>texi2html 1.82</em></a>. + </font> + <br> + +</p> +</body> +</html> |