Bug#1014511: sysvinit: debian/copyright reports incorrect licenses

[Axel Beckert]

Hi,

binh1.tranhai at toshiba.co.jp wrote:
> > debian/copyright _IS_ the canonical place for copyright statements about debian/*
> > So this is wrong and MUST NOT be changed as it would mean we would LOOSE the copyright statements for the remaining files in debian/*.
>
> Thank you for your sharing.
> 
> In the original debian/copyright file, debian/* paragraph is missing
> copyright of some files as below:

Ok, that's very possible.

> I'd like to send you the new copyright without removing debian/* at
> the attachment.

Thanks.

> Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/       

Hmmm, this should be HTTPS nowadays. (Likely not your fault. :-)

> Files: debian/*
> Copyright: 2015 Adam Conrad <adconrad at debian.org>
>            2018 Dmitry Bogatov <KAction at gnu.org>
>            2018 Vincenzo (KatolaZ) Nicosia <katolaz at freaknet.org>
>            2006 Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh at debian.org>
>            2017 Ian Jackson <ijackson at chiark.greenend.org.uk>
>            2014 Robert Millan <rmh at debian.org>
>            2014 Thomas Goirand <zigo at debian.org>
>            2006 Thomas Hood <jdthood at yahoo.co.uk>
>            2015-2016 Andreas Henriksson <andreas at fatal.se>
>            2011,2016 Ben Hutchings <ben at decadent.org.uk>
>            2010-2012 Christian Perrier <bubulle at debian.org>
>            2015-2016 Martin Pitt <mpitt at debian.org>
>            2014-2018 Michael Biebl <biebl at debian.org>
>            1996-2004 Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels at cistron.nl>
>            2005-2010, 2014 Petter Reinholdtsen <pere at debian.org>
>            2011-2013 Roger Leigh <rleigh at debian.org>
>            2006-2007 Steinar H. Gunderson <sesse at debian.org>
>            2012-2013 Steve Langasek <vorlon at debian.org>
>            2009 Adriano Rafael Gomes <adrianorg at debian.org>, 2009-2020.
>            2019 sysvinit & Joe Hansen.
>            2009 Software in the Public Interest
>            2012 Martin Bagge <brother at bsnet.se>
>            2012 Debian French l10n Team
>            2009 Hideki Yamane <henrich at debian.or.jp>
> License: GPL-2.0+

Generally looks fine that way.

I'd though leave the decision if the additions should be listed
separately for these files or in summary as above to the actual
package maintainers. (I'm just generally interested in the shape of
this package as I'm a heavy user of it. And I did a lot of
debian/copyright conversions to the machine-readable format in the
past.)

Additionally I would recommend to the package maintainers to sort this
list in some way. Usually they're sorted by the first contribution,
e.g. sorted alphabetically like this:

  Copyright: 1996-2004 Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels at cistron.nl>
             2005-2010, 2014 Petter Reinholdtsen <pere at debian.org>
             2006 Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh at debian.org>
             2006 Thomas Hood <jdthood at yahoo.co.uk>
             2006-2007 Steinar H. Gunderson <sesse at debian.org>
             2009 Adriano Rafael Gomes <adrianorg at debian.org>, 2009-2020.
             2009 Hideki Yamane <henrich at debian.or.jp>
             2009 Software in the Public Interest
             2010-2012 Christian Perrier <bubulle at debian.org>
             2011,2016 Ben Hutchings <ben at decadent.org.uk>
             2011-2013 Roger Leigh <rleigh at debian.org>
             2012 Debian French l10n Team
             2012 Martin Bagge <brother at bsnet.se>
             2012-2013 Steve Langasek <vorlon at debian.org>
             2014 Robert Millan <rmh at debian.org>
             2014 Thomas Goirand <zigo at debian.org>
             2014-2018 Michael Biebl <biebl at debian.org>
             2015 Adam Conrad <adconrad at debian.org>
             2015-2016 Andreas Henriksson <andreas at fatal.se>
             2015-2016 Martin Pitt <mpitt at debian.org>
             2017 Ian Jackson <ijackson at chiark.greenend.org.uk>
             2018 Dmitry Bogatov <KAction at gnu.org>
             2018 Vincenzo (KatolaZ) Nicosia <katolaz at freaknet.org>
             2019 sysvinit & Joe Hansen.

> Files: debian/po/vi.po
> Copyright: 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Clytie Siddall <clytie at riverland.net.au>, 2009.

The 2009 at the beginning and end looks odd. This probably should
better be:

  Copyright: 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  	     2009 Clytie Siddall <clytie at riverland.net.au>

> License:
           ^^^^^^^

Here's the license name missing. Just an empty "License:" field
without value is not valid syntax (nor valid semantic).

But I do see that the file has a copyright statement without a license
statement.

Actually having an explicit copyright statement in that file without
having a license declared actually makes the file's license situation
a bit being in limbo.

Then again, seeing no license in combination with a copyright
statement of the FSF is very odd. It is very likely that the license
statement got lost at some point in time. Unfortunately this must have
happened before the import into Debian in 2009 as the file got
committed to git with that statement as it is today:
https://bugs.debian.org/550220 — I guess the only way to find out is
to contact Clytie Siddall and ask for clarification.

		Regards, Axel
-- 
 ,''`.  |  Axel Beckert <abe at debian.org>, https://people.debian.org/~abe/
: :' :  |  Debian Developer, ftp.ch.debian.org Admin
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