Hi,

I have noticed some packages using the newer machine-readable copyright
format, but not specifying any copyright for debian/*

To give an example based on the docs[1]

Files: *
Copyright: 1975-2010 Ulla Upstream
License: GPL-2+

Files: docs/*.1
Copyright: 2010 Manuela Manpager
License: GPL-2+

Let us assume that Ulla Upstream has nothing to do with the contents of debian/* (and that e.g. the git history lets us be sure of that).

What does that mean about the copyright status of debian/* ? If I want
to re-use a file therein in another package, can I do so?

Thanks,

Matthew

[1] https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/

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Copy: matthew@debian.org (Matthew Vernon)

On Saturday, January 2, 2021 10:30:56 AM EST Matthew Vernon wrote:

I have noticed some packages using the newer machine-readable copyright format, but not specifying any copyright for debian/*

That's not good practice. You should ask the package maintainer to include
such information in debian/copyright. They would know the history best. Be
sure to check for a wildcard though, like
Files: *
as that could apply to debian/.

What does that mean about the copyright status of debian/* ? If I want
to re-use a file therein in another package, can I do so?

If the copyright file doesn't specify the license, and there are no comments in the files specifying the license, then the maintainer of that package really should fix that. That leaves the license ambiguous and you may not make any assumptions about your use of the file.

I am not a lawyer, or a DD/DM, so more knowledgeable individuals may chime in. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Hi,

Le 02/01/2021 à 11:30, Matthew Vernon a écrit :

I have noticed some packages using the newer machine-readable copyright format, but not specifying any copyright for debian/*

FWIW, I do that in most of the (simple) packages I’m maintaining: I’m
fine using the same license as upstream, hence the “Files: *” catch the correct license also for debian/*.

The debian/ directory in those packages may have very little
copyrightable content anyway (not sure a trivial override in d/rules or
data in d/u/metadata would eligible for example). The only creativity is
often limited to the package description, that is directly copied (or
adapted) from upstream, or a patch cherry-picked (or forwarded)
upstream, where I’m not even the copyright owner (upstream is, so again, “Files: *” catches the correct information).

Regards

David

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Hi,

David Prévot <taffit@debian.org> writes:

Le 02/01/2021 à 11:30, Matthew Vernon a écrit :

I have noticed some packages using the newer machine-readable
copyright format, but not specifying any copyright for debian/*

FWIW, I do that in most of the (simple) packages I’m maintaining: I’m fine using the same license as upstream, hence the “Files: *” catch
the correct license also for debian/*.

The debian/ directory in those packages may have very little
copyrightable content anyway (not sure a trivial override in d/rules
or data in d/u/metadata would eligible for example). The only
creativity is often limited to the package description, that is
directly copied (or adapted) from upstream, or a patch cherry-picked
(or forwarded) upstream, where I’m not even the copyright owner
(upstream is, so again, “Files: *” catches the correct information).

Mmm. My presenting case is a system V init script, which isn't entirely
trivial (though it is significantly boiler-plate); it seems a bit
strange to record it as copyright upstream (who clearly didn't write
it)...

Regards,

Matthew

--
"At least you know where you are with Microsoft."
"True. I just wish I'd brought a paddle."
http://www.debian.org

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John Scott wrote...

On Saturday, January 2, 2021 10:30:56 AM EST Matthew Vernon wrote:

I have noticed some packages using the newer machine-readable copyright format, but not specifying any copyright for debian/*

That's not good practice. You should ask the package maintainer to include such information in debian/copyright. They would know the history best. Be sure to check for a wildcard though, like
Files: *
as that could apply to debian/.

That was in the upgrading checklist for policy 3.9.3 (2012):

| 12.5
| ``debian/copyright`` is no longer required to list the Debian
| maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although note
| that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).

Which made me believe it was not mandatory to have an extra stanza for
debian/* and the things the maintainer(s) did there. But possibly that's
just a misunderstanding.

What does that mean about the copyright status of debian/* ? If I want
to re-use a file therein in another package, can I do so?

If the copyright file doesn't specify the license, and there are no comments in
the files specifying the license, then the maintainer of that package really should fix that. That leaves the license ambiguous and you may not make any assumptions about your use of the file.

About the license, the matching entry applies, so it's upstream's.
Actually I prefer to use the same license as upstream, this just avoids
trouble if someone considers a particular combination a problem.

About copyright - in the very general I doubt there's much copyrightable
stuff in debian/*. And if you really want to go pedantic, you could ask
about patches (half-upstream, half-contributor [not necessarily
maintainer]). Hopefully nobody will try to do the full discussion here.

Christoph

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