Re: DEP-5: clarify batching of copyrights, licenses in a single stanza

[Lars Wirzenius <liw@liw.fi>]

This is continuing the discussion from 2.5 months ago.

On la, 2010-08-14 at 10:04 -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> writes:
> > On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 04:13:57PM +1000, Craig Small wrote:
> 
> >> We should say explicitly that the copyright field is a rollup of all
> >> relevant copyright declarations for that group of files, yes.
> 
> > Russ, can you suggest some language around this?  "rollup" just conjures
> > images of children's fruit snacks for me. :)
> 
> How about this (written without looking at the detailed wording of the
> document, so may need some massaging to fit into the flow):

I think it fits fine with the flow, and would like to propose the
attached patch. The patch also adds a Copyright field in the header
paragraph, which would give the copyright status for the work as a
whole. Assuming I understand what I'm writing, please fact-check.


=== modified file 'dep5.mdwn'
--- dep5.mdwn	2010-09-23 12:40:46 +0000
+++ dep5.mdwn	2010-10-28 10:14:33 +0000
@@ -167,6 +167,15 @@
      from a version known to be DFSG-free, even though the current
      upstream version is not.
 
+  * **`Copyright`**
+    * Optional.
+    * Syntax: formatted text, no synopsis
+    * In the header paragraph (no `Files` specification), this field
+      gives the copyright information for the package as a whole, which
+      may be different or simplified from a combination of all the
+      per-file copyright information. See also `Copyright` below in
+      the `Files paragraph` section.
+
 Example:
 
     Format: http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/dep/web/deps/dep5.mdwn?op=file&rev=135
@@ -194,6 +203,24 @@
      If a work has no copyright holder (i.e., it is in the public
      domain), that information should be recorded here.
 
+     The Copyright field collects all relevant copyright notices for the
+     files of this stanza.  Not all copyright notices may apply to every
+     individual file, and years of publication for one copyright holder may
+     be gathered together.  For example, if file A has:
+
+         Copyright 2008 John Smith
+         Copyright 2009 Angela Watts
+
+     and file B has:
+
+         Copyright 2010 Angela Watts
+
+     the Copyright field for a stanza covering both file A and file B need
+     contain only:
+
+         Copyright 2008 John Smith
+         Copyright 2009, 2010 Angela Watts
+
  * **`License`**
    * Licensing terms for the files listed in **`Files`** field for this paragraph
    * Required