Re: DEP-5 (copyright file format) ... gap with practice

[Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>]

Le Mon, Sep 08, 2014 at 08:12:01PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard a écrit :
> 
> Quoting Osamu Aoki (2014-09-08 17:38:41)
> > DEP-5 as defined in http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep5/ does not have any 
> > clause allowing us to skip license entries for certain class of files.
> 
> I believe the "problem" is not DEP-5 but Debian Policy.

Hi Osamu and Jonas,

the final authority to decide what debian/copyright must contain is the FTP
team.  There is a long-standing tolerance for not documenting the files
autogenerated by the autotools system, but it has not been formally codified,
so the Policy can not reflect this flexibility.

Note that for the M4 macros, some do not come from the autotools system, and
while one may find packages in the Debian archive where the license and
copyright of these files has been omitted, my gut feeling is that it is not
compliant with the FTP team's views on the debian/copyright file.

But the best is that you ask for a first-hand recommendation from the FTP
team.  If you get an answer, you are welcome to forward it to #462996 or
open a new bug so that we can reflect it in the Policy.

Have a nice day,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan