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FOX Library License [Remove Frame]
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Also, a number of stipulations in the GNU Lesser Public License statement have evidently been an impediment to truely wide-spread adoption of the FOX Library.
Thus, the intent of the License Addendum has been to provide clarification of a number of obscure issues in the GNU Lesser General Public License, and to relax a few of its stipulations with an eye to solving a couple of practical issues.
Below follows the GNU Lesser Public License, followed by the FOX Library License addendum.
Finally, detailed rationale behind the License Addendum is presented.
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2.1, February 1999
Copyright (C) 1991, 1999 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.
[This is the first released version of the Lesser GPL. It also counts
as the successor of the GNU Library Public License, version 2, hence
the version number 2.1.]
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END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
ADDENDUM TO LICENSE
March 2003
Copyright (C) 2002,2005 Jeroen van der Zijp.
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license addendum document, but changing it is not allowed.
FOX Toolkit Library License Addendum.
1. License. The FOX Toolkit Library ("The Library") is licensed under GNU
Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
2. Relinking Exemption. You may distribute a combined work using a
statically linked, unmodified copy of the FOX Library under terms of your
choice, without the relinking requirement stipulated under the GNU Lesser
Public License, subject to the following conditions:
a. This static relinking exemption covers only the FOX Toolkit Library.
Other libraries which the FOX Library may need are covered by their own
respective licenses.
b. Modification of the configure scripts, makefiles, or installation
tools of the FOX Library to support a specific platform does not
constitute creating a modified copy based on the FOX Library.
c. Programs or binaries statically linked with the FOX Library must be
identified as such by including, in the Documentation or by other means
(for example in the About Box or Online Help), the following statement:
"This software uses the FOX Toolkit Library (http://www.fox-toolkit.org)."
d. Subclassing from Objects or Widgets supplied by the Library involves
no modifications to the source code of the Library itself, and does not
constitute creating a modified copy based on the Library.
3. If you do not accept or are unable to meet the conditions under (2), you
may continue to distribute the combined work under the original GNU Lesser
General Public License.
END OF ADDENDUM
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Rationale
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Linking a program dynamically is usually the easiest way to comply with this stipulation. However, there are sometimes practical or logistical problems which make it difficult to comply with this requirement.
We have taken the position that static linking is functionally equivalent to dynamic linking, and we're not really denying the recipient of a statically linked program any source code he or she wouldn't be able to obtain otherwise, as long as the program is linked with an unmodified copy of the Library.
Static linking with a modified copy of the Library, however, would deny the community the benefit of these modifications, as these modifications would now be locked up inside a closed binary executable, so therefore we must insist on the original GNU Lesser General Public License when the Library has been modified.
This concludes our remarks on the License revision; please feel free to contact me if you have additional questions. The rationale section will likely be expanded when there are still questions left unanswered.
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Copyright © 1997-2005 Jeroen van der Zijp
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