Hi Soren, Soren Stoutner <so...@debian.org> writes:
> On Sunday, December 15, 2024 3:55:44 AM MST Sean Whitton wrote: >> I saw that you reformatted copyright claims to drop the (C) and to add >> commas. Generally licenses require us to reproduce copyright notices >> verbatim. IANAL, but reformatting is probably not justified. > > Generally, both licenses and copyright information must be reproduced > verbatim. However, the *definition* of verbatim is different than how some > people understand the word. Specifically, verbatim in licensing and > copyright > means the the *information* must not be changed, but the *formatting* may be > changed. > > For example: > > 1. “years of publication for one copyright holder may be gathered together” > > https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/#copyright-field > > 2. Indented periods replace empty lines in licenses in debian/copyright. > > Other examples involve switching the formatting of the file, like switching > between HTML and ASCII, or switching the encoding, like switching between > UTF-16 and UTF-8 (debian/copyright must be UTF-8). > > None of these are verbatim in the sense of a diff comparison, but they are > all > verbatim in the sense of all the original information being preserved. > > Similarly, using (C) or commas is a formatting decision, not an aspect of the > verbatim meaning of the original text. > Thanks for the insightful explanation. I hope I have the confidence to understand "verbatim" as you explained it, and it would save reviewers' time on this matter of course. Still, I would have to admit that as a non-native speaker I would be a bit hesitant :P > -- > Soren Stoutner > so...@debian.org -- Regards, Xiyue Deng
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