Re: Bug#336982: dh-make: Difficulties with the debian/copyright template

[Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>]

Scripsit Justin Pryzby <justinpryzby@users.sourceforge.net>

>   Copyright Holder: <put author(s) name and email here>
>
> This has to include a copyright year, also.  Please update the
> boilerplace to indicate that.  Also, the copyright holder is not
> necessarily the author.

Ideally, the copyright file should reproduce the exact copyright
notice(s) found in the upsteam work itself. If there is no year in the
original notice (the year of publication ought to be unnecessary in
all Berne convention jurisdictions), then the maintainer should not
artificially add one.

> Copyright Statements:
>
>   <template>
>   Include the names of all copyright holders here.  Also include the
>   range of years during which they made contributions to the package.

I think that dh_make templates are fundamentally the wrong place to
put such instructions. A packager's task is to dig out the copyright
notice in the source and reproduce that _verbatim_, with whatever
warts it has - unless it is actually false. He is _not_ supposed to
try to do his on sanitizing of the _form_ of the copyright notice.

-- 
Henning Makholm                              "En tapper tinsoldat. En dame i
                                         spagat. Du er en lykkelig mand ..."