Re: DEP5: Making "Files: *" non-optional
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@ieee.org> writes:
> On Mon, Sep 13 2010, Lars Wirzenius wrote:
>> On ma, 2010-09-13 at 09:06 -0700, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
>>> Currently, one only needs to list the copyrights in the package,
>>> without specifying which file each copyright applies to. How is that
>>> specified in DEP5 format? Implying that all copyright notices apply to
>>> all files would be an untruth. (Or are we expanding the requirements
>>> for copyright files to map copyright notices to files in the source
>>> package?)
>> There is a consensus, as far as I can see, to allow the first (header)
>> paragraph to have Copyright and License fields that will apply to the
>> package as a whole, rather than to each file. This is an upcoming
>> change that is in the pipeline (but I don't want to make all changes at
>> once).
> As far as I know, I don't have a single package for which a
> copyright field applies 6to all files in the source package (I might
> have missed one, but I think not). I don't think I have a copyright
> notice that applies to a package as a whole, but I am not a lawyer. If
> a source package is an aggregated work, with bits of the package coming
> from different sources and authors, not all copyright notices apply to
> the whole package.
> In such a case, how can I not have, umm, the first paragraph? :-)
This is similar to the issue that prompted the discussion that Lars is
referring to. I believe that once that change is made, you can achieve
your goal by having a debian/copyright file with only one paragraph, with
License and Copyright fields in that paragraph. That will present license
and copyright information about the entire package without making any
statements about specific files.
If you want to add subsequent paragraphs about specific files, you can
also do that. As long as you have no Files: * paragraph, this should have
the semantics you desire.
I agree with requiring the Files field in each paragraph for per-file
license information, with a note in DEP-5 saying that if you want to
declare copyright and license for the entire package, without making
claims about specific files, you should put the fields in the first
(header) paragraph of debian/copyright.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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