---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Lionel Debroux <lionel_debroux@yahoo.fr>Date: Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: libticonv at mentors
To: Albert Huang <
alberth.debian@gmail.com>
Hi Albert,
> > About this in README, and the details missing in COPYING :
> >
> > | (A special exception applies when linking the library into
> > TilEm, see the | COPYING file for details.)
> >
> > I read this in debian/copyright :
> >
> > | From: Benjamin Moody <
benjamin.moody@gmail.com>
> > | Date: Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 3:50 PM
> > | All true, and if you want to drop that exception in future
> > versions you'll have no objections from me.
> > | .
> > | This exception only ever applied to libticables2; if it's
> > mentioned in the other libraries' README files I'm sure that was
> > a mistake.
> >
> > According to the AUTHORS file he is only author of the part "TI8x
> > charset images".
> >
> I believed that he had some part in the development, but I guess
> not enough. However, he is the current upstream for the TilEm
> program, and he may know a bit of the history behind it.
> Nevertheless, I'll leave the current libticonv upstream to decide.
The SCM log mentions Benjamin as the source of the patch for for e.g.
SVN r4418, which is before 1.16. That, in my opinion, makes him an author. It's a contribution to users. All that matters is that he added a (minor) feature.
Having 100% accurate copyright information is impossible in a
10+-year-old code base where said information was, AFAICT, not tracked properly
by the previous maintainers; I cannot pretend that I didn't let any
mention of authorship slip, though I tried to put such information in
the commit messages...
> And I don't find his name as an author or as a copyright holder.
Both Benjamin and I are, indeed.
> > The funny thing is that it was Lionel Debroux who added this
> > exception in README on 2009-11-24. That seems to contradict
> > with "before my time".
That seems to do, but it does not :)
At the time I added this bit to the README, it had already existed for a
long time at other places, but not this one.
The non-free TilEm 0.9x (made years before my time as the maintainer)
still made sense, and therefore, the exception still made sense; but
nowadays, in 2012, with the advent of the TilEm 2.x, which is fully free
software, the exception does no longer make sense.
The forwards-looking fix is, AFAICT from the previous round of
discussion by e-mail, which you correctly put in the debian/copyright
file, to drop the exception. Debian is never going to package those very
outdated, and what's more non-free, versions anyway.
> I believe though that the project ownership has been transferred
> to Lionel Debroux, so he may have more authority on copyright
> decision.
Project co-maintainership was transferred to me, indeed.
Bye,
Lionel.