Re: DEP5 public-domain Question

[Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>]

Yaroslav Halchenko <debian@onerussian.com> writes:

> quick one -- where to place "public domain" -- into Copyright or
> License?

> http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep5/
> kinda suggests to use short license name "public-domain" within License:
> field.  But also it suggests that Copyright is the correct place for
> such information (which I agree with, since being "public domain" is
> about ownership, not description of the use terms)

I think public domain in the Debian DEP-5 context is a license.  While
it's not legally a license, the public domain status serves the same
purpose: telling people what rights they have to use the work.  So I would
do something like:

License: public-domain
 <insert here the exact wording from upstream explaining why the work is
 in the public domain>

You do need some sort of statement about why the work is in the public
domain, since that's a rather unusual status and requires some
justification (such as that it's a US government work).

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org)               <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>