Bug#250202: "debian/README.source" file for packages with non-trivial source
Frank Küster <frank@kuesterei.ch> writes:
> Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> wrote:
>> I believe the devref instructions are wrong. The proper location for
>> this information is debian/copyright, which is already required to
>> contain information about the provenance of the upstream source.
I take this back -- devref has apparently already been changed. I should
have checked first. devref now says:
1. must contain detailed information how the repackaged source was
obtained, and how this can be reproduced in the debian/copyright. It
is also a good idea to provide a get-orig-source target in your
debian/rules file that repeats the process, as described in the
Policy Manual, Main building script: debian/rules.
and I don't see a reference to README.Debian-source.
> I would argue that if the changes to the orig.tar.gz have been made for
> other reasons than DFSG-freeness, debian/copyright is the wrong
> place.
Putting this information in debian/copyright is unrelated to DFSG-freeness
or the license of the software. debian/copyright has several purposes
specified in Policy, not just the license information, and one of them is
to state the provenance of the source:
In addition, the copyright file must say where the upstream sources
(if any) were obtained.
Explaining where and how the .orig.tar.gz file was generated to me falls
into the category of saying where the upstream source was obtained.
> So, as for this bug, I still think that the info in devref is correct,
> and should be included in the example in policy, if policy gives an
> example at all.
I feel rather strongly (to be honest, more strongly than I should, since
it's really bikeshed-painting at some level, but I have a hard time
getting myself to realize that) about putting the source information in
debian/copyright and hence am not willing to make this change in the
absence of a clearer consensus that I'm wrong.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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