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Re: Use of License-Reference in debian/copyright allowed?



Hi Jonas!

On 1/16/22 20:06, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> Quoting Jonas Smedegaard (2022-01-16 19:53:48)
>> Quoting John Paul Adrian Glaubitz (2022-01-16 19:38:25)
>>> I have updated debian/copyright of both fs-uae-* packages to use the 
>>> "License-Reference" keyword, however lintian now complains about the 
>>> missing license texts so I'm wondering whether this approach - which 
>>> I like - is actually compliant with the Debian Policy?
> [...]
>> I firmly believe that it is Policy-compliant to reference files 
>> included with package base-files and installed below 
>> /usr/share/common-licenses.  All other license texts must be included 
>> verbatim in the debian/copyright file
> 
> Maybe more interesting than what I personally believe might be, that I 
> use that writing style generally for the about 600 packages that I am 
> involved in maintaining, and evidently ftpmasters agree with me.

That's a very positive sign that the FTP team will accept the writing style
as well.

> For anyone considering to adopt this pattern, it is quite some time ago 
> that I helped Vasudev package Roboto fonts, and I have simplified and 
> extended my writing style to use the shorter field "Reference" and also 
> use it to reference sources of copyright holders and license grants when 
> not contained in licensed file itself (with a little special twist of 
> self-referencing canonical statements in debian/copyright).

I agree it's a great idea as it saves a lot of time. Writing an acceptable
debian/copyright file can be quite frustrating so this is a very welcome
improvement.

> I use the package ghostscript as my sort-of reference package.  Look at 
> that for my newest inventions on copyright file writing and checking.
> 
> See also https://wiki.debian.org/CopyrightReviewTools

Thanks, I'll have a look!

Thanks a lot for the quick and detailed response!

Adrian

-- 
 .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
: :' :  Debian Developer - glaubitz@debian.org
`. `'   Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de
  `-    GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913


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