On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 07:34:37PM -0400, Sergio Durigan Junior wrote:
> [ Adding debian-legal to the Cc list. ]
> On Friday, April 27 2018, Fabian Wolff wrote:
> > Dear mentors,
> > I am looking for a sponsor for a QA upload of the link-grammar
> > package.
> [...]
> > The package is available on Mentors:
> > https://mentors.debian.net/package/link-grammar
> So, here's the other thing I noticed. d/copyright doesn't seem to be
> up-to-date. Also, I don't see any mention about the "debian/" directory
> on d/copyright, which might be a problem. I understand the package is
> already at this state, but I think it may be a good idea to fix it.
> First, I'd recommend re-checking d/copyright and making sure new
> copyrights are properly listed. I've found a few notices mentioning
> 2017/2018, so it's a good idea to list them. I understand this is a
> very boring task, but it's something we take seriously at Debian.
> As for the "debian/" directory, I *think* it should be enough to list
> everybody who has ever touched the debian/ directory. I used the
> following one-liner to get a formatted list:
> $ git log --date="format:%Y" --format="Copyright %ad %an <%ae>" debian/ | sort -u
> Copyright 2009 Ken Bloom <kbloom@gmail.com>
> Copyright 2010 Ken Bloom <kbloom@gmail.com>
> Copyright 2011 Ken Bloom <kbloom@gmail.com>
> Copyright 2015 Wookey <wookey@wookware.org>
> Copyright 2016 Gianfranco Costamagna <costamagnagianfranco@yahoo.it>
> Copyright 2016 Gianfranco Costamagna <locutusofborg@debian.org>
> Copyright 2016 Jeremy Bicha <jbicha@linux.com>
> Copyright 2016 Jeremy Bicha <jbicha@ubuntu.com>
> Copyright 2017 Adrian Bunk <bunk@debian.org>
> Copyright 2017 Jeremy Bicha <jbicha@ubuntu.com>
> Copyright 2017 Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@ubuntu.com>
> Copyright 2018 Fabian Wolff <fabi.wolff@arcor.de>
>
> After massaging a bit:
> Copyright 2009-2011 Ken Bloom <kbloom@gmail.com>
> Copyright 2015 Wookey <wookey@wookware.org>
> Copyright 2016 Gianfranco Costamagna <locutusofborg@debian.org>
> Copyright 2016-2017 Jeremy Bicha <jbicha@ubuntu.com>
> Copyright 2017 Adrian Bunk <bunk@debian.org>
> Copyright 2017 Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@ubuntu.com>
> Copyright 2018 Fabian Wolff <fabi.wolff@arcor.de>
> So I think it should be enough to put these lines there. As for the
> licence... Well, I'd choose the same licence as the package, although
> if we are to be pedantic here, the right thing would be to get in touch
> with everyone above and getting their confirmation. I don't know...
> Anyway, I am copying debian-legal here, hoping that someone more
> knowledgeable can shed some light.
I happened to notice my name in this list, which exposes a flaw in this
methodology. My sole mention in the changelog of this package is:
* Apply patch from Steve Langasek adding the missing test
dependency on default-jdk. (Closes: #865902)
First, the full diff is
'https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?att=1;bug=865902;filename=link-grammar_5.3.16-1ubuntu1.debdiff;msg=5'.
This is "obviously" not copyrighted by me under US copyright law; it is a
single line change, which was copy-pasted from debian/control and is purely
functional with no creativity (the only possible "creativity" is the
ordering of the test dependencies and this is uninteresting).
Second, in the case that a change *is* copyrightable, it is not reasonable
to assume that the person submitting a given patch is the copyright holder.
In the general case, patches that I submit to the Debian BTS from my
@canonical.com address would be copyright my employer, not me personally.
I don't think you should be taking it upon yourself to add copyright
statements regarding debian/ contents where authors have not asserted their
copyright up front. There is precious little in debian/, outside of
debian/patches/, which should generally be considered copyrightable in a
well-done package.
--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/
slangasek@ubuntu.com vorlon@debian.org
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: PGP signature