
are the reason we use the ordinary General Public License for many
libraries.  However, the Lesser license provides advantages in certain
special circumstances.

  For example, on rare occasions, there may be a special need to
encourage the widest possible use of a certain library, so that it becomes
a de-facto standard.  To achieve this, non-free programs must be
allowed to use the library.  A more frequent case is that a free
library does the same job as widely used non-free libraries.  In this
case, there is little to gain by limiting the free library to free
software only, so we use the Lesser General Public License.

  In other cases, permission to use a particular library in non-free
programs enables a greater number of people to use a large body of
free software.  For example, permission to use the GNU C Library in
non-free programs enables many more people to use the whole GNU
operating system, as well as its variant, the GNU/Linux operating
system.

  Although the Lesser General Public License is Less protective of the
users&#x27; freedom, it does ensure that the user of a program that is
linked with the Library has the freedom and the wherewithal to run
that program using a modified version of the Library.

  The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.  Pay close attention to the difference between a
&quot;work based on the library&quot; and a &quot;work that uses the library&quot;.  The
former contains code derived from the library, whereas the latter must
be combined with the library in order to run.
