Bug#709365: lintian: check for standard license short names

[Niels Thykier <niels@thykier.net>]

Control: tags -1 moreinfo

On 2013-05-22 21:19, Clint Adams wrote:
> Package: lintian
> Version: 2.4.3+squeeze1
> Tags: patch
> 
> http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/ defines
> a list of short names, but nothing warns people when they are not used.
> 
> The attached patch could help with this problem.
> 

Hi,

Thanks for the idea and the effort in making a patch of it.  However, I
believe that specification allows anyone to "invent" a new "ad-hoc"
license short name for any license without a standardised name:

"""
First line: an abbreviated name for the license, or expression giving
alternatives (see the Short name section for a list of standard
abbreviations). If there are licenses present in the package without a
standard short name, an *arbitrary short name may be assigned* for these
licenses. These arbitrary names are only guaranteed to be unique within
a single copyright file.
"""

(Emphasis mine)


~Niels