Bug#317277: copyright-lists-upstream-authors-with-dh_make-boilerplate is overly nitpicky - please remove

[Goswin von Brederlow <brederlo@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de>]

Thijs Kinkhorst <kink@squirrelmail.org> writes:

> Package: lintian
> Version: 1.23.9
> Severity: wishlist
>
> The lintian test
> 'copyright-lists-upstream-authors-with-dh_make-boilerplate' is extremely
> nitpicky. It addresses the following "problem":
>
>> There is "Upstream Author(s)" in your copyright file. This was most
>> likely a remnant from the dh_make template.
>>
>> There's either one upstream author, in which case you should remove
>> the "(s)", or there are several upstream authors, in which case you
>> should remove the "(" and ")".
>
> Come on, please. I hope you all agree that this test whines about
> something that's not important, the text is grammatically correct but
> only has two parentheses which might have been left out to save 2 bytes.
> I find it hard to believe that this test would enhance package quality
> judging by any significant standard.
>
> Useless tests, besides wasting people's time, have the danger of
> annoying people too much: when presented with too many complaints about
> irrelevant problems, you risk people not paying attention to Lintian's
> output anymore.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Thijs

It points out a minor shortcomming in the phrasing of the text. Like
people reporting typos or spelling mistakes. This is certainly no RC
bug but something that is easily fixable and should be fixed non the
less.

I got that warning a few times myself and found it most usefull. It is
easy to overlook. On my account please leave it in.

MfG
        Goswin