Bug#1076153: ITP: dh-rust -- debhelper buildsystem for Rust code

[Jeremy Bícha <jeremy.bicha@canonical.com>]

On Thu, Jul 11, 2024 at 12:09 PM Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> wrote:
> Package: wnpp
> Severity: wishlist
> Owner: Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk>
> X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-devel@lists.debian.org, build-common team <team+build-common@tracker.debian.org>
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA512
>
> * Package name    : dh-rust
>   Version         : 0.0.1
>   Upstream Contact: build-common team <team+build-common@tracker.debian.org>
> * URL             : https://salsa.debian.org/build-common-team/dh-rust
> * License         : GPL-3+
>   Programming Lang: Perl
>   Description     : debhelper buildsystem for Rust code
>
>  dh-rust provides a debhelper buildsystem to build Rust code.
>  .
>  This builds and tests binaries and libraries from rust crates,
>  the latter installed as source code below /usr/share/cargo/registry.
>  .
>  Feature highlights, compared to dh-cargo:
>   * supports workspace (i.e. multi-crate project)
>   * allows overriding CARGO_HOME
>   * installs crate contents using "cargo package"
>   * can use debian/Cargo.lock or Cargo.lock during build
>   * uses crates below debian/vendorlibs when available
>   * builds in make target dh_auto_build (not dh_auto_test)

This project takes existing MIT code from dh-cargo and relicenses it
as GPL-3+ without consent from the copyright owners. I guess that is
allowed but the MIT license requires that a copy of the MIT license be
included and this version does not do that.

Beyond that, this looks like a hostile fork of dh-cargo using a very
generic name without any related coordination with the Debian Rust
Maintainers team.

Using a different license (GPL-3+) that is not backwards compatible
with the original code makes this look even more hostile.

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha