Re: policy for file headers
David Bremner <bremner@unb.ca> writes:
> Can someone point me to policy about file headers? I am currently
> looking at a package with a GPL copyright file in the top directory, and
> a terse statment "copyright X, released under the GPL" in most, but not
> all files. I think the files without copyright are non-essential, and
> could in principle be removed. There seems to be nothing reasonable to
> do as a packager about the lack of the usual gpl boilerplate.
>
> I understand that the best practice is to have a copyright statement
> and a clear statement of license in every file of the source code.
>
> What I don't know is if
> 1) This is a MUST dictated by policy as well as a SHOULD from best-practice?
It's neither a must nor a should from a Debian Policy perspective. Most
upstream packages do not put a copyright statement into every file. If
you're upstream, it's probably a good idea, but if you're just packaging
someone else's release, don't worry about it. Watch out for files with
different copyright or license statements, but if there's a general
copyright and license for the whole package in the package documentation,
you can safely assume any unmarked files are also released under that
copyright and license.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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