Bug#906284: Too many false positives?

[Julien Puydt <julien.puydt@laposte.net>]

Hi,

in my previous mail, I asked if that test was worth anything.

It's possible to know what packages trigger the test:
https://lintian.debian.org/tags/incomplete-creative-commons-license.html

I had a look from the start of the list (took the 20 first), and found 
only 4 where I would say it's a real positive:

https://sources.debian.org/src/3depict/0.0.19-1/debian/copyright/ (lines 
9-20)

https://sources.debian.org/src/astromenace-data/1.3.2+repack-3/debian/copyright/ 
(lines 34-43)

https://sources.debian.org/src/audacity/2.2.2-1/debian/copyright/
(lines 2146-2149).

https://sources.debian.org/src/bibletime/2.11.1-1/debian/copyright/ 
(lines 45-59)

I have a bad opinion on a test with so many false positives : that means 
people will learn to ignore it and even the few problems it catches will 
get overlooked!

Perhaps just looking at the size of the license text (say < 20 lines) 
would work better? I don't know perl at all, so I can't help write it, 
but I would be quite surprised if that wasn't easy to do for someone 
with a minimal knowledge of the language and the codebase.

I hope it helps,

jpuydt on irc.debian.org