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Licensing information

The Snowball® library is released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LPGL), version 2.1.


What the license means for you:

  • Snowball® is free software. The source code is included in the release. Moreover, it is freely available from the Snowball Networks Developer Center.
  • You are free to distribute the Snowball® library, at cost or for free, provided you supply the source code and a copy of the LGPL (version 2.1) in your release.
  • You are free to use the Snowball® library in any other software program, provided the library remains unaltered.
  • You are free to modify the code of the Snowball® library for your own use. However, if you distribute the modified library, you must release it under the GNU LGPL version 2.1, or any later version.
  • You are free to distribute the Snowball® library under any other compatible license, such as the GNU General Public License, version 2.

Official client software: two releases, two licenses:

  • The Consumer Edition, released under the Bit Torrent Open Source License, version 1.1. The Consumer Edition is the more user-friendly version of the two.
  • The Developer Edition, released under the LGPL. Unlike the Consumer Edition, the Developer Edition is compatible with the popular GNU General Public License, which makes it the better option for third-party developers.

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