Package: debian-policy Severity: wishlist Control: tags -1 + patch As discussed in the ‘debian-devel’ thread in 2015-05 <URL:https://lists.debian.org/msgid-search/85lhgjzqy3....@benfinney.id.au>, there is value in recording the explicit text from the copyright holder that *grants* a license to the recipient.
The attached patch updates the ‘copyright-format’ specification to describe a “License-Grant” field, and clarifies the other fields in relation to this. -- \ “I bought a self learning record to learn Spanish. I turned it | `\ on and went to sleep; the record got stuck. The next day I | _o__) could only stutter in Spanish.” —Steven Wright | Ben Finney <b...@benfinney.id.au>
Changes in upstream/master
Modified copyright-format/copyright-format-1.0.xml
diff --git a/copyright-format/copyright-format-1.0.xml b/copyright-format/copyright-format-1.0.xml
index 217e8dd..1cbe0d7 100644
--- a/copyright-format/copyright-format-1.0.xml
+++ b/copyright-format/copyright-format-1.0.xml
@@ -240,4 +240,10 @@
<listitem>
<para>
+ <link linkend="license-grant-field">License-Grant</link>:
+ optional.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
<link linkend="copyright-field">Copyright</link>: optional.
</para>
@@ -245,16 +251,25 @@
</itemizedlist>
<para>
- The <varname>Copyright</varname> and <varname>License</varname>
- fields in the <emphasis>header paragraph</emphasis> may complement
- but do not replace the <emphasis>Files paragraphs</emphasis>. If
- present, they summarise the copyright notices or redistribution
- terms for the package as a whole. For example, when a work
- combines a permissive and a copyleft license,
- <varname>License</varname> can be used to clarify the license
- terms for the combination. <varname>Copyright</varname> and
- <varname>License</varname> together can also be used to document a
- <emphasis>compilation copyright</emphasis> and license. It is
- possible to use only <varname>License</varname> in the header
- paragraph, but <varname>Copyright</varname> alone makes no sense.
+ The <varname>Copyright</varname>, <varname>License-Grant</varname>,
+ and <varname>License</varname> fields in the <emphasis>header
+ paragraph</emphasis> may complement but do not replace the fields
+ in the <emphasis>Files paragraphs</emphasis>.
+ If present, they summarise the copyright notices, grant of license,
+ and/or redistribution terms for the package as a whole.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ For example, when a work has a grant of license under both a
+ permissive and a copyleft license, <varname>License-Grant</varname>
+ and <varname>License</varname> can be used to clarify the license
+ terms for the combination. <varname>Copyright</varname> and
+ <varname>License</varname> together can also be used to
+ document a <emphasis>compilation copyright</emphasis> and
+ license.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is valid to use <varname>License-Grant</varname> and/or
+ <varname>License</varname> in the header paragraph without an
+ accompanying <varname>Copyright</varname> field, but
+ <varname>Copyright</varname> alone is not sufficient.
</para>
@@ -295,4 +310,10 @@ Source: http://www.example.com/software/project</programlisting>
<listitem>
<para>
+ <link linkend="license-grant-field">License-Grant</link>:
+ optional.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
<link linkend="license-field">License</link>: required.
</para>
@@ -309,31 +330,54 @@ Source: http://www.example.com/software/project</programlisting>
<programlisting>Files: *
Copyright: 1975-2010 Ulla Upstream
+License-Grant:
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ (at your option) any later version.
License: GPL-2+
Files: debian/*
Copyright: 2010 Daniela Debianizer
+License-Grant:
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ (at your option) any later version.
License: GPL-2+
Files: debian/patches/fancy-feature
Copyright: 2010 Daniela Debianizer
+ This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ (at your option) any later version.
License: GPL-3+
Files: */*.1
Copyright: 2010 Manuela Manpager
-License: GPL-2+</programlisting>
+License-Grant:
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ (at your option) any later version.
+License: GPL-2+
+</programlisting>
<para>
- In this example, all files are copyright by the upstream and licensed
- under the GPL, version 2 or later, with three exceptions. All the
- Debian packaging files are copyright by the packager, and further one
- specific file providing a new feature is licensed differently.
- Finally, there are some manual pages added to the package, written by
- a third person.
+ In this example, all files are copyright by the upstream and
+ that copyright holder grants license under the GPL, version
+ 2 or later. There are three exceptions. All the Debian
+ packaging files have copyright held by the packager, and
+ further one specific file providing a new feature has a
+ different grant of license. Finally, there are some manual
+ pages added to the package, with copyright held by a third
+ person.
</para>
<para>
- Since the license of the manual pages is the same as the other
- files in the package, the last paragraph above could instead be
- combined with the first paragraph, listing both copyright
- statements in one <varname>Copyright</varname> field. Whether
- to combine paragraphs with the same license is left to the
+ Since the <varname>License-Grant</varname> of the manual
+ pages is the same as most other files in the package, the
+ final paragraph above could instead be combined with the
+ first paragraph, listing both copyright statements in one
+ <varname>Copyright</varname> field. Whether to combine
+ paragraphs with the same grant of license is left to the
discretion of the author of the
<filename>debian/copyright</filename> file.
@@ -345,10 +389,16 @@ License: GPL-2+</programlisting>
<title>Stand-alone License Paragraph (optional, repeatable)</title>
<para>
- Stand-alone <varname>License</varname> paragraphs can be used to
- provide the full license text for a given license once, instead of
- repeating it in each <varname>Files</varname> paragraph that refers to
- it. The first line of the <varname>License</varname> field must be a
- single license short name or a short name followed by a license
- exception.
+ Stand-alone <varname>License</varname> paragraphs can be used
+ to provide the full license text for a given license once,
+ instead of repeating it in each <varname>Files</varname>
+ paragraph that refers to it. The
+ <varname>License-Grant</varname> field can be used to clarify
+ exactly what text from the copyright holder grants the
+ particular set of license conditions.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The synopsis (first line) of the <varname>License</varname>
+ field must be a single license short name or a short name
+ followed by a license exception.
</para>
<para>
@@ -374,4 +424,9 @@ License: GPL-2+</programlisting>
Copyright: 1993, John Doe
1993, Joe Average
+License-Grant:
+ This is free software: you may modify and/or redistribute under your
+ choice of the Mozilla Public License 1.1, the GNU General Public
+ License version 2, or the GNU Lesser General Public License version
+ 2.1.
License: MPL-1.1 or GPL-2 or LGPL-2.1
@@ -391,8 +446,15 @@ License: LGPL-2.1
Copyright: 1993, John Doe
1993, Joe Average
+License-Grant:
+ Permission to redistribute is granted under Mozilla Public License
+ version 1.1.
License: MPL-1.1
Files: src/js/fdlibm/*
Copyright: 1993, J-Random Corporation
+License-Grant:
+ J-Random Corporation hereby grants all recipients permission to
+ change, run, or redistribute this work under the terms of the Mozilla
+ Public License version 1.1.
License: MPL-1.1
@@ -471,38 +533,71 @@ License: MPL-1.1
</section>
+ <section id="license-grant-field">
+ <title><varname>License-Grant</varname></title>
+ <para>
+ Formatted text, no synopsis. This field contains the verbatim
+ text from the copyright holder that grants license explicitly
+ to the recipient of the work under specific conditions. This
+ explicit grant, associated with a specific work, clarifies the
+ copyright holder's explicit intent to grant license in this
+ work to the recipient under specific terms.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The full license terms and conditions themselves – the license
+ text – belongs in a
+ <link linkend="license-field">License</link> field.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In the <link linkend="header-paragraph">header
+ paragraph</link>, this field gives the grant of license from
+ the copyright holder of the work as a whole. In a <link
+ linkend="files-paragraph">Files paragraph</link>, this field
+ gives the grant of license for the files listed in the
+ <varname>Files</varname> field for this paragraph.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+
<section id="license-field">
<title><varname>License</varname></title>
<para>
- Formatted text, with synopsis. In the header paragraph, this field
- gives the license information for the package as a whole, which may
- be different or simplified from a combination of all the per-file
- license information. In a Files paragraph, this field gives the
- licensing terms for the files listed in the <varname>Files</varname>
- field for this paragraph. In a stand-alone License paragraph, it
- gives the licensing terms for those paragraphs which reference it.
+ Formatted text, with synopsis.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In the <link linkend="header-paragraph">header
+ paragraph</link>, this field gives the license information for
+ the package as a whole, which may be different or simplified
+ from a combination of all the per-file license information. In
+ a <link linkend="files-paragraph">Files paragraph</link>, this
+ field gives the licensing terms for the files listed in the
+ <varname>Files</varname> field for this paragraph. In a <link
+ linkend="stand-alone-license-paragraph">stand-alone License
+ paragraph</link>, it gives the licensing terms for those
+ paragraphs which reference it.
</para>
<para>
- First line: an abbreviated name for the license, or expression
- giving alternatives (see the <link linkend="license-short-name">Short
- name</link> section for a list of standard abbreviations). If
- there are licenses present in the package without a standard short
- name, an arbitrary short name may be assigned for these licenses.
- These arbitrary names are only guaranteed to be unique within a
- single copyright file.
+ First line (synopsis): an abbreviated name for the license, or
+ expression giving alternatives (see the <link
+ linkend="license-short-name">Short name</link> section for a
+ list of standard abbreviations). If there are licenses present
+ in the package without a standard short name, an arbitrary
+ short name may be assigned for these licenses. These arbitrary
+ names are only guaranteed to be unique within a single
+ copyright file.
</para>
<para>
If there are no remaining lines, then all of the short names
- or short names followed by license exceptions making up the
- first line must be described in <link
+ or short names followed by license exceptions in the synopsis
+ must be described in <link
linkend="stand-alone-license-paragraph">stand-alone License
- paragraphs</link>. Otherwise, this field should either
- include the full text of the license(s) or include a pointer to the
- license file under <filename>/usr/share/common-licenses</filename>.
- This field should include all text needed in order to fulfill both
- Debian Policy's requirement for including a copy of the software's
+ paragraphs</link>. Otherwise, this field should either include
+ the full text of the license(s) or include a pointer to the
+ license file under
+ <filename>/usr/share/common-licenses</filename>. This field
+ should include all text needed in order to fulfill both Debian
+ Policy's requirement for including a copy of the software's
distribution license (<ulink
url="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s-copyrightfile";>12.5</ulink>),
- and any license requirements to include warranty disclaimers or
- other notices with the binary package.
+ and any license requirements to include warranty disclaimers
+ or other notices with the binary package.
</para>
</section>
@@ -644,5 +739,5 @@ Copyright 2009, 2010 Angela Watts</programlisting>
able to correlate the licenses of multiple pieces of software. To that
end, this spec defines standard short names for a number of commonly
- used licenses, which can be used in the first line of a
+ used licenses, which can be used in the synopsis (first line) of a
<varname>License</varname> field.
</para>
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