Bug#678607: debian-policy: "original authors" in 12.5 is unclear

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org>]

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012, Jonathan Nieder wrote:
> Russ Allbery wrote:
> > Would one list bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org?  That's the most useful contact
> > point (and we have a copyright-format field for that), but it's not in any
> > real sense the "author."
> 
> Sure it is --- it's the contact point for the people who create the
> code that goes into the upstream tarball.

I supposed it is best to call it "upstream", instead of "original
authors"...

IMHO we might want to mandate installing the AUTHORS file when it contains
relevant information.  It is sort of a tribute to those who started the ball
rolling, and part of the "giving back" expected from downstream and users.

> I suspect the original intent of this piece of policy was to uniquely
> identify where the packaged source came from: I used such-and-such
> tarball, by such-and-such author.  I agree that the wording is a
> little crazy (because ambiguous).

We should clarify it, then...

-- 
  "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
  them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
  where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
  Henrique Holschuh