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Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1) assert
copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License giving you legal permission to
copy, distribute and/or modify it.
For the developers' and authors' protection, the GPL clearly explains that there is no
warranty for this free software. For both users' and authors' sake, the GPL requires
that modified versions be marked as changed, so that their problems will not be
attributed erroneously to authors of previous versions.
Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run modified versions of
the software inside them, although the manufacturer can do so. This is fundamentally
incompatible with the aim of protecting users' freedom to change the software. The
systematic pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to use,
which is precisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we have designed this
version of the GPL to prohibit the practice for those products. If such problems arise
substantially in other domains, we stand ready to extend this provision to those
domains in future versions of the GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users.
Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. States should not
allow patents to restrict development and use of software on general-purpose
computers, but in those that do, we wish to avoid the special danger that patents
applied to a free program could make it effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL
assures that patents cannot be used to render the program non-free.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.
TE RM S AND C O NDITIO NS
0. Definitions.
'This License' refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
'Copyright' also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of works, such as
semiconductor masks.
'The Program' refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License. Each
licensee is addressed as 'you'. 'Licensees' and 'recipients' may be individuals or
organizations.
