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<title>Conditions to distribute Ghostscript in a commercial context</title>
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<!-- $Id: Commprod.htm,v 1.41 2005/10/20 19:46:23 ray Exp $ -->
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<!-- Originally: commprod.txt -->
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="gs.css" title="Ghostscript Style">
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<h1>Conditions on distributing Ghostscript in a commercial context</h1>
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<h2>Table of contents</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Free_version">The use of the public-access "free" version of Ghostscript</a>
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<li><a href="#GPL">The GNU General Public License (GPL)</a>
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</ul>
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<p>
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This document sets forth the conditions under which Ghostscript may be
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distributed in a commercial context: under a written license from <a
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href="#Artifex">Artifex Software</a> Inc., the copyright holder's exclusive
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commercial licensing partner, or under certain other very limited
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conditions.
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<p>For other information, see the <a href="Readme.htm">Ghostscript
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overview</a>.
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<hr>
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<!-- [2.0 begin contents] ================================================== -->
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<h2><a name="Free_version"></a>Use of the public-access "free"
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version of Ghostscript</h2>
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<p>
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Ghostscript is a copyrighted work whose copyright is owned by artofcode LLC.
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Some versions of Ghostscript are distributed freely under the name AFPL
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Ghostscript or (for older versions) Aladdin Ghostscript; these versions are
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always distributed with a license, called the <a href="Public.htm">Aladdin
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Free Public License</a> (also known as the AFPL), which permits redistribution
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under certain conditions. These
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conditions will almost always be met easily by individuals in their personal
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use of AFPL Ghostscript. AFPL Ghostscript may be <em>used</em> freely,
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including by commercial entities for evaluation or unsupported internal use.
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However, <em>distribution</em> for commercial purposes of Ghostscript, or
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anything containing or derived from Ghostscript in whole or in part,
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generally requires a written commercial license from <a
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href="#Artifex">Artifex Software Inc.</a>, the sole entity authorized by the
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copyright holder to grant such licenses. More specifically, the AFPL
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states:
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<blockquote>
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Distribution of the Program or any work based on the Program by a
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commercial organization to any third party is prohibited if any payment is
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made in connection with such distribution, whether directly (as in payment
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for a copy of the Program) or indirectly (as in payment for some service
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related to the Program, or payment for some product or service that
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includes a copy of the Program "without charge"; these are only examples,
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and not an exhaustive enumeration of prohibited activities). However, the
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following methods of distribution involving payment shall not in and of
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themselves be a violation of this restriction:
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<dl compact>
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<dt>(i)<dd>Posting the Program on a public access information storage and
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retrieval service for which a fee is received for retrieving information
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(such as an on-line service), provided that the fee is not
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content-dependent (i.e., the fee would be the same for retrieving the same
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volume of information consisting of random data).
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<dt>(ii)<dd>Distributing the Program on a CD-ROM, provided that the files
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containing the Program are reproduced entirely and verbatim on such CD-ROM,
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and provided further that all information on such CD-ROM be redistributable
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for non-commercial purposes without charge.
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</dl>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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The intent of the exception provided in clause (i) is to allow commercial
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organizations operating an FTP server or a bulletin board to distribute
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AFPL Ghostscript freely from it, provided that:
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<dl compact>
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<dt>(1)<dd>the organization complies with the other provisions of the
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AFPL, which include among other things a requirement to distribute the
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full source code of AFPL Ghostscript and of any derived work, and to
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distribute the AFPL itself along with AFPL Ghostscript;
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<dt>(2)<dd>the only charge for downloading AFPL Ghostscript is a charge
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based on the distribution service and not one based on the content of the
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information being retrieved (i.e., the charge would be the same for
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retrieving a random collection of bits of the same size);
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<dt>(3)<dd>the server or BBS is accessible to the general public, i.e.,
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the phone number or IP address is not kept secret, and anyone may obtain
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access to the information (possibly by paying a subscription or access fee
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that is not dependent on or related to purchasing anything else).
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</dl>
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<p>
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Similarly, the exception in clause (ii) is intended to allow inclusion of
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AFPL Ghostscript on "freeware" CD-ROMs that contain only material that
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is in the public domain, or is freely redistributable provided only that a
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copyright notice is retained (such as the Independent JPEG Group
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libraries), or is distributed under some other kind of license allowing
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free redistribution such as the GNU
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<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">General Public License</a>.
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<p>
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If you want to distribute software in a commercial context that
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incorporates Ghostscript and you do <em>not</em> want to meet these
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conditions, you should contact <a href="#Artifex">Artifex Software</a> to
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find out about commercial licensing. Commercial licenses involve a
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(negotiated) payment, and includes support and other benefits. These are
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the only ways you legally can distribute AFPL Ghostscript or anything containing
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AFPL Ghostscript: either by distributing Ghostscript under the
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requirements of the AFPL, or by getting a commercial license from Artifex
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Software.
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<p>
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<a name="Artifex"></a>For commercial licensing, please contact:
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<blockquote><address>
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Licensing Information<br>
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Artifex Software Inc.<br>
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454 Las Gallinas Ave., suite 108<br>
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San Rafael, CA 94903 U.S.A.<br>
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+1-415-492-9861 telephone<br>
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+1-415-492-9862 fax<br>
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<a href="mailto:info@artifex.com">info@artifex.com</a><br>
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<a href="http://www.artifex.com/">http://www.artifex.com/</a>
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</address></blockquote>
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<p>
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If you have questions about the information in this document, please
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contact:
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<blockquote><address>
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artofcode LLC<br>
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940 Tyler St. Studio 6<br>
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Benicia CA 94510 U.S.A.<br>
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+1-707-746-6398 fax<br>
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<a href="mailto:raph@artofcode.com">raph@artofcode.com</a><br>
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<a href="http://www.ghostscript.com/">http://www.ghostscript.com/</a>
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</address></blockquote>
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<h2><a name="GPL"></a>The GNU General Public License (GPL)</h2>
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<p>
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Older versions of Ghostscript (usually the previous major release of AFPL Ghostscript)
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are distributed with a license called the GNU
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<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">General Public License</a>
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(also known as the "GNU License", the "GPL", or "copyleft"), which is similar
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to the AFPL in requiring source disclosure, but also
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allows distribution with commercial products under certain conditions.
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These versions are identified as "GPL Ghostscript" or
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"GNU Ghostscript." The remainder of this section applies only to versions
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identified explicitly as GPL or GNU Ghostscript versions; the generic name
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Ghostscript, when applied to versions above 4.03, refers to AFPL
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Ghostscript, which is governed by the Aladdin Free Public License, not the
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GPL.
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<p>
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The full GPL is included under the name
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<b><tt>COPYING</tt></b> in the GPL Ghostscript fileset, and
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can also be obtained directly from the Free Software Foundation:
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<blockquote><address><a name="FSF_address"></a>
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Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF)<br>
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59 Temple Place, Suite 330<br>
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Boston, MA 02111-1307 U.S.A.<br>
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+1-617-542-5942 telephone<br>
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+1-617-542-2652 fax (including Japan):<br>
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<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">gnu@gnu.org</a><br>
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<a href="http://www.gnu.org/">http://www.gnu.org/</a>
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</address></blockquote>
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<p>
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The GPL gotten directly from the FSF or the contents of the
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<b><tt>COPYING</tt></b> file are authoritative, but for those
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unfamiliar with the GPL, we now summarize its provisions.
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<dl compact>
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<dt>1.<dd>Anyone may copy and distribute GPL Ghostscript (both source
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and object code), but they must distribute the source code as well as
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the object code (or, if they distribute only the object code, they must
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include an offer in writing to provide the source code at no more than
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reproduction cost), keep all copyright and other notices, and include the
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GPL with the copies. (Note that this allows anyone receiving such a copy
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to distribute it freely as well.)
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<dt>2.<dd>Anyone may modify GPL Ghostscript, but the provisions of (1)
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apply to modified or derived works as well.
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<dt>3.<dd>GPL Ghostscript may be "aggregated" with another program; in
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this case, (1) and (2) do not apply to the other program, but only to GNU
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Ghostscript.
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</dl>
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<p>
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Provision (2) effectively prevents the development of proprietary commercial
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products that incorporate GPL Ghostscript without a commercial license
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as a part, since these are "derived works" in the legal sense.
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<p>
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Questions have arisen at times in particular cases regarding provision (3)
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as to whether GPL Ghostscript is "aggregated" with other parts of a
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commercial product, or whether the product has become a "derived work."
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Normally, combining GPL Ghostscript with another piece of software
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creates
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a "derived work"; we consider GPL Ghostscript to be "aggregated" with
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another piece of software, which we will refer to as "the application",
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only if all of the following conditions are met:
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<ul>
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<li> The code and documentation for GPL Ghostscript are physically
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separated from the code and documentation for the application. For
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electronic form, it is both necessary and sufficient to put the GNU
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Ghostscript code and documentation in their own directory tree(s).
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<li> GPL Ghostscript, as delivered with the application, is usable
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independently of the application. More precisely, if a user deletes from
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the computer system all files delivered with the application except those
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in the GPL Ghostscript directories, the user will still be able to use
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GPL Ghostscript as described in GPL Ghostscript's documentation. Among
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other things, this requires that GPL Ghostscript not call any routines
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in the application, and not require any data or other files supplied as
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part of the application.
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<li> The application calls GPL Ghostscript in a way that allows an
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ordinary user to substitute another program for GPL Ghostscript.
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(Typically this requires use of a shell script or batch file, or a
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system call like "<b><tt>exec</tt></b>".) More precisely, if the user
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deletes from the computer system all the files in the GPL Ghostscript
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directories, and replaces the GPL Ghostscript executable with another
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program with the same name and conforming to the same documentation, the
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application will continue to work with it. One implication of this is
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that the GPL Ghostscript documentation must specify all properties of
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GPL Ghostscript on which the application relies; for example, if GPL
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Ghostscript has been modified by the addition of command line switches
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or language elements such as new operators, the documentation must
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describe any such additions that the application uses.
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<li> The conditions of the GNU GPL are met with respect to GPL Ghostscript,
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including the requirement for propagation of the GPL and the requirement
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for delivering (or an offer to deliver) source code.
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</ul>
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<p>
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Regarding this last point, the GPL clearly intends that if the distributor
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only offers to provide the GPL Ghostscript source code (as opposed to
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actually distributing the source code with every copy of the application),
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then they must deliver the source code in a timely way to anyone
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requesting it.
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<p>
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The GPL makes it clear that if someone receives GPL Ghostscript only in
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its GPL-licensed form, they only have a right to distribute it if they
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comply with the GPL. artofcode LLC, as the copyright holder, takes
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this requirement very seriously, and will, if necessary, take legal action
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to ensure that anyone distributing GPL Ghostscript with the GPL complies
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with the conditions set forth above.
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<!-- [2.0 end contents] ==================================================== -->
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<!-- [3.0 begin visible trailer] =========================================== -->
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<hr>
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<p>
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<small>Copyright © 1996-2004 artofcode LLC. All rights reserved.</small>
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<p>
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<small>This file is part of AFPL Ghostscript. See the <a
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href="Public.htm">Aladdin Free Public License</a> (the "License") for full
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details of the terms of using, copying, modifying, and redistributing AFPL
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Ghostscript.</small>
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<p>
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<small>Ghostscript version 8.53, 20 October 2005
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</body>
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</html>
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