Hong Xu <h...@topbug.net> writes: > The metadata of packages include information package descriptions, > dependencies, etc. that were created by Debian developers.
Thanks for clarifying. Okay, that seems to describe the Debian packaging files, a work that sometimes is part of the upstream work but often is a separate work combined with the upstream work. > It seems to me that the copyright file of package does not describe > the license of this information since the copyright holder seems to be > always the upstream copyright holders. You're right to question this. The files that constitute Debian packaging often have copyright held by parties different from the upstream work. In those (many) cases, the distinct copyright information for the Debian packaging should be described explicitly in the source package's ‘debian/copyright’ (and therefore be installed as part of the binary packages created from that source). > For example, /usr/share/doc/bash/copyright reads "Copyright (C) > 1987-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc." Although the author of the > packaging "Matthias Klose <d...@debian.org>" is mentioned, there is no > license claimed for his packaging work. I consider that to be a bug worthy of reporting. (The absence of explicit grant of license for the packaging work is a violation of Debian Policy §4.5.) It will be a bug that many packages in Debian have, so you might want to co-ordinate a response. After discussion you might find the response is “this isn't urgent because it has been this way for decades”. Or you might find a different consensus. Be aware of the Debian Developer's Reference guidance on reporting a bug to many packages at once (in brief: don't until you discuss it with the package maintainers and achieve consensus) <URL:https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/ch07.en.html#submit-many-bugs>. > As far as I know, there are a lot of cases where default configuration > files in Debian are handcrafted, either from scratch or modified from > those in the upstream package. The copyright document for a package must (Debian Policy §4.5) contain comprehensive copyright information for all the package, whether originating from upstream or from Debian maintainers or anywhere else. So I think that every part of Debian is required to have its copyright information declared explicitly in the ‘copyright’ document of one or more installed packages on the system. If you know of an exception, let's discuss that; otherwise I think the response is to talk about specific packages that fail to meet that requirement. -- \ “From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I | `\ was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.” | _o__) —Groucho Marx | Ben Finney
