Re: Non-source Javascript files in upstream source

[Ben Finney <ben@benfinney.id.au>]

Paul Tagliamonte <paultag@debian.org> writes:

> On Fri, May 02, 2014 at 09:20:02PM +0200, Bas Wijnen wrote:
> > 2. What is source for a non-programmatic work such as a rendered
> > bitmap of a 3-D model, do we require source for non-programmatic
> > works, and if not, what defines a programmatic work?
>
> Preferred form of modification.

As far as I understand it, that phrase doesn't make sense.

My understanding of the FTP team's operating policy for what constitutes
source for a work is: the preferred form of the work for making
modifications to it.

Is that what you meant?

> Yes, there exist edge-cases (an image made from a photo taken of
> someone which had two pixels flipped after putting it through scanner
> after skydiving while drawing it), but I think good judgement here is
> fine.

Right. The “preferred form of the work for making modifications to it”
definition, while not perfect, is a good rule of thumb and in practice
resolves such edge cases fairly clearly.

In particular: if the form in question either doesn't exist as digital
information, or is not the form used in practice by those who actually
make the primary modifications of the work, then that form definitely
isn't the preferred form of the work for making modifications. These
seem to me to be clear implications of that definition.

> > Neither of these is clarified by their recent statement.
>
> I believe they are. We require source. This applies to source
> packages. If you don't have source, don't include the thing. If you
> have the source, rebuild it at build time.

Perhaps the definition “the preferred form of the work for making
modifications to it”, if that is in fact the operational definition for
“the source form of a work” in Debian, needs to be made more widely and
clearly known where maintainers will expect to find it.

-- 
 \     “I went camping and borrowed a circus tent by mistake. I didn't |
  `\      notice until I got it set up. People complained because they |
_o__)                           couldn't see the lake.” —Steven Wright |
Ben Finney