LICENCE.txt

Preamble to the Gnu Lesser General Public License 

Copyright (c) 2000 Franz Incorporated, Berkeley, CA 94704

The concept of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 ("LGPL") has
been adopted to govern the use and distribution of above-mentioned
application. However, the LGPL uses terminology that is more appropriate for a
program written in C than one written in Lisp. Nevertheless, the LGPL can still
be applied to a Lisp program if certain clarifications are made. This document
details those clarifications. Accordingly, the license for the open-source Lisp
applications consists of this document plus the LGPL. Wherever there is a
conflict between this document and the LGPL, this document takes precedence over
the LGPL.

A "Library" in Lisp is a collection of Lisp functions, data and foreign
modules. The form of the Library can be Lisp source code (for processing by an
interpreter) or object code (usually the result of compilation of source code or
built with some other mechanisms). Foreign modules are object code in a form
that can be linked into a Lisp executable. When we speak of functions we do so
in the most general way to include, in addition, methods and unnamed
functions. Lisp "data" is also a general term that includes the data structures
resulting from defining Lisp classes. A Lisp application may include the same
set of Lisp objects as does a Library, but this does not mean that the
application is necessarily a "work based on the Library" it contains.

The Library consists of everything in the distribution file set before any
modifications are made to the files. If any of the functions or classes in the
Library are redefined in other files, then those redefinitions ARE considered a
work based on the Library. If additional methods are added to generic functions
in the Library, those additional methods are NOT considered a work based on the
Library. If Library classes are subclassed, these subclasses are NOT considered
a work based on the Library. If the Library is modified to explicitly call other
functions that are neither part of Lisp itself nor an available add-on module to
Lisp, then the functions called by the modified Library ARE considered a work
based on the Library. The goal is to ensure that the Library will compile and
run without getting undefined function errors.

It is permitted to add proprietary source code to the Library, but it must be
done in a way such that the Library will still run without that proprietary code
present. Section 5 of the LGPL distinguishes between the case of a library being
dynamically linked at runtime and one being statically linked at build
time. Section 5 of the LGPL states that the former results in an executable that
is a "work that uses the Library." Section 5 of the LGPL states that the latter
results in one that is a "derivative of the Library", which is therefore covered
by the LGPL. Since Lisp only offers one choice, which is to link the Library
into an executable at build time, we declare that, for the purpose applying the
LGPL to the Library, an executable that results from linking a "work that uses
the Library" with the Library is considered a "work that uses the Library" and
is therefore NOT covered by the LGPL.

Because of this declaration, section 6 of LGPL is not applicable to the
Library. However, in connection with each distribution of this executable, you
must also deliver, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the LGPL, the
source code of Library (or your derivative thereof) that is incorporated into
this executable.