On Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:14:52 +1000, Ingy dot Net wrote:
> > I suspect you did not write the code below the inc/ subdir, right?
> Funny you should ask. Much of it, yes. I am the original creator of
> Module::Install. But that doesn't matter in principle. It might only matter
> in that I can help change the policy such that using Module::Install does
> not impose any copyright complications on its users. How do I make that so
> for Debian?
AFAICS, you can't; TTBOMK M::I is copyrighted
2002-2011, Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>
2002-2011, Audrey Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org>
2002-2011, Brian Ingerson <ingy@cpan.org>
so we have to include these three lines in debian/copyright for each
package which includes (parts of) M::I in inc/.
What might help (not M::I related) -- as already mentioned by
Dominique -- is to extend the META spec to include more detailed
copyright/license information about all files in a distribution, that
can be used when creating a draft of debian/copyright.
> My primary aim here is to make it natural for CPAN authors to see their work
> all the way through to Debian or any other distribution system. I think it
> is stuffed that things are so complicated that a code author can't easily
> get his code into Debian and any other distribution. Then again, I live in
> the future.
Hm.
Whatever fancy tools we have (on the CPAN or on the Debian side)
won't change the fact that it needs a human DD to actually
check/build and upload the package to the Debian archive.
Some thoughts from my downstream point of view:
- The actual packaging usually doesn't take long with dh-make-perl
and a sharp eye. Of course dh-make-perl could be improved to save
us from some small manual steps.
- When it takes more time then because there's something "unusual":
+ missing/unclear copyright/license
+ tests needing network access or writing to $HOME or assuming the
existence of .svn or something
+ tests or build system not cleaning up after themselves
+ interactive tests or build systems
+ typos in the POD
+ ...
- Most third-party debs (be they created automatically or by some
well-meaning upstream people) I've seen so far where not really
ready for upload to the Debian archive; the problem is that Debian
policy changes and there are quite some subtle details that need
care.
Which leads me to the same conclusion I've already mentioned: If CPAN
authors want to get their code into Debian (yeah! I really appreciate
when they care about Debian) the way to go is IMO not them creating
.debs but making sure that their distributions are easily
packageable.
Cheers,
gregor
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