Peter Eisentraut <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Package: lintian > Version: 1.23.45 > Severity: normal > > Lintian says: > > """ > N: A > N: copyright notice must consist of Copyright, Copr., or the Unicode > N: symbol of C in a circle followed by the years and the copyright > N: holder. > """ > > I don't believe this is true. It is just as valid to say, > > """ > This software was written by Joe Hacker and you can use it according to the > following conditions. > """
It's valid to say that, but it isn't a copyright notice. > According to the relevant international conventions on copyright > matters, copyright exists independent of it being mentioned explicitly, > as you appear to believe. No, that's not what I believe, nor is that what the lintian tag description says. You are not required to supply a copyright notice for a work to be copyrighted. The only purpose of a copyright notice for the copyright holder is, in some jurisdictions, to eliminate a defense of ignorance and to increase the possibility of statutory damages. However, *if* you want to provide a copyright notice, *then* you have to provide a notice in that format, and notices in other formats do not constitute a legally valid copyright notice. > Please supply the reasons for your claim. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/03/msg00023.html as referenced by http://ftp-master.debian.org/REJECT-FAQ.html In that message, from Joerg in his capacity as ftp-master: | Your debian/copyright file must contain the following information: | | - The author(s) name | - The year(s) of the copyright | - The used license(s) | - The URL to the upstream source Going from that to saying that debian/copyright should include a correct copyright notice is a bit of a leap, but not much of one, as a valid copyright notice is the best way of satisfying the first two requirements. I'll clarify the long description to make it more obvious that this is a Debian-specific requirement, not something required for a work to be considered copyrighted. -- Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
