2011/6/13 Jonas Smedegaard <d...@jones.dk>: > On 11-06-13 at 01:22pm, Dan S wrote: >> 2011/6/13 Jonas Smedegaard <d...@jones.dk>: >> > On 11-06-13 at 03:14am, Felipe Sateler wrote: >> >> On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 22:40, Jonas Smedegaard <d...@jones.dk> >> >> wrote: >> >> >> Actually, for "*" the listing of "Copyright: 2002-2003, James >> >> >> McCartney" is out of date. I would change it to "Copyright: >> >> >> 2002-2011, James McCartney and others" - that OK? There are many >> >> >> dozens of code contributors so I hope "others" is not too weird. >> >> > >> >> > "others" is not a legal entity. >> >> > >> >> > What needs to be listed in Files sections is the actual copyright >> >> > holders, not all contributors. >> >> >> >> There is not full consensus around this idea. If one can be >> >> reasonably sure that the work is under the listed license, my >> >> personal take on the subject is that one lists all the copyright >> >> holders on a best effort basis. It can perfectly be possible, >> >> especially with large and relatively old packages, that names are >> >> forgotten/lost. That doesn't mean the package is not fit for debian >> >> because the copyright file cannot list all copyright holders. >> >> >> >> In other words, I believe it is acceptable to put "others" in the >> >> Files sections, when filling the complete list is too hard. >> > >> > I did not write that all others need to be documented. >> > >> > On the contrary, when those others are contributors without holding >> > copyright, I believe they need not be listed. >> >> OK. This can be implemented simply by using the names given in the >> copyright statements, as has been done in the package at present. >> However, there are quite a few contributors who have made >> contributions of sufficient complexity (etc) to claim copyright, but >> who didn't bother to change the copyright notices. Should I ignore >> them, or what? I could say "it's their fault for not claiming their >> copyright" but at least in my country (UK) you don't need to claim >> copyright in order to have it, so in a sense I should attribute them >> even if they forgot to attribute themselves. >> >> To be honest, I guess it's probably OK as-is (without "others"), >> though it does feel a little unrepresentative. > > That is new info to me, and changes the game! > > As Debian maintainer, when you are well aware that additional copyright > holders exist then they should be properly listed in debian/copyright. > > Best way to do that is to convince upstream (i.e. yourself with another > hat on) to explicitly list all copyright holders as such in headers of > corresponding code files. > > There are (sub-optimal!) alternatives. One is to only list them in > debian/copyright (i.e. not bother as upstream - affecting other > distributors). Another is as upstream to summarize in README or > CONTRIBUTORS or AUTHORS or similar, and as Debian maintainer copy that > chunk into debian/copyright. > > I do not consider it acceptable for Debian distribution to just list > some copyright holders as "...and others". Feel free to disagree with > me - I am not the law here, just very interested in perfecting these > texts, to most properly honour those contributing to the FLOSS world. > You can consult debian-legal@ or you can take your chances and hope > ftpmasters do not spot the issues and block based on it.
That's fine - grateful for your opinion. SuperCollider does have an AUTHORS file (44 entries), which I think represents certainly the majority of copyright-holders very well. Shall I use that for the "*" rule, do you think? It feels appropriate to me. Dan > Regards, > > - Jonas > > -- > * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt > * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ > > [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private > > _______________________________________________ > pkg-multimedia-maintainers mailing list > pkg-multimedia-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org > http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pkg-multimedia-maintainers > _______________________________________________ pkg-multimedia-maintainers mailing list pkg-multimedia-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pkg-multimedia-maintainers
