Bug#685506: debian-policy: Please add field Files-Excluded to machine readable copyright files definition

[Sean Whitton <spwhitton@spwhitton.name>]

Hello Joe,

Thanks for the patch.  Here's a review:

On Sat 13 Nov 2021 at 11:21PM -05, Joe Nahmias wrote:

> +            <para>
> +              Pre-compiled executable binary or other non human-editable files;
> +            </para>

The reason we remove these is also DFSG.

> +          </listitem>
> +          <listitem>
> +            <para>
> +              Files intended for use with other platforms.
> +            </para>

We don't remove files for the sole reason that they're intended for use
on other platforms.  It's typically only done if the files are huge.  So
please remove this one from the list.

How about just saying: we always remove non-DFSG files if the package is
intended for main or contrib, and sometimes there are other files that
are removed for technical reasons or because they are both unneeded and
very large, and both these sorts of removal are documented using this
field?

> +      <para>
> +        These types of files, or any others that Debian does not want to
> +        include in our archive, must be stripped from the upstream tarball
> +        prior to uploading. The <varname>Files-Excluded</varname> field serves

How about "are stripped" not "must be stripped", as the normative stuff
is explained more precisely over in the Policy manual itself?

> +        to document the removal of these files from the original upstream
> +        source. This allows others to understand or audit how the source
> +        distribution in Debian is derived from the upstream source.
> +      </para>
> +      <para>
> +        Additionally, once documented in this manner, various tools such as
> +        <literal>uscan</literal> or <literal>mk-origtargz</literal> can use
> +        this information as instructions on how to automatically repack an
> +        upstream source distribution into one suitable for use within Debian.

Nice.

-- 
Sean Whitton