The Files field needs to specify patterns on filenames. We need to
specify how to do that.
The spec draft currently has this text (plus some examples):
### Files
#### Format
The **`Files`** field contains a list of comma-separated patterns
Files: foo.c, bar.*, baz.[ch]
File names containing spaces or commas should be put within double
quotes. The backslash character is an escaping character, be it inside
or outside double quotes:
Files: "Program Files/*", manual[english].txt
#### Syntax
Patterns are handled as by the `find` utility's `-name` option.
Patterns
containing a path separator ("/") are handled as by the `find` utility's
`-path` option.
[examples removed]
It is quite common for a work to have files with copyright held by
different parties and received under different licenses. To accommodate
this, **multiple paragraphs are allowed with different `Files`
declarations**.
However it makes for easier reading if the copyright file lists the
"main" license first: the one matching the "top level" of the work, with
others listed as exceptions. To allow this, the following precedence
rule applies for matching files: **If multiple `Files` declarations
match the same file, then only the last match counts.**
As a result, it is recommended for clarity that the paragraphs appear in
order from most general (e.g. `Files: *`) first, through to most
specific. In the following example, the file `getopt.c` matches both
`Files: *` and `Files: getopt.*`; only the last match counts, so
the file `getopt.c` has the license declaration `License: BSD`.
[example removed]
Russ suggested using the same patterns as git does in the .gitignore
file, since those are familiar to many people.
http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitignore.html
Some issues I would like to raise:
* Is comma-separation appropriate? I'd prefer space-separation myself.
What do those who write parsers think?
* Are find -name/-path globs a better idea than .gitignore?
* .gitignore has one pattern per line, which I think is inappropriate
for for DEP-5 debian/copyright files: we should allow "Files: *.c *.h",
I think.
* Are shell-style globs the right idea? Should we use Perl regular
expressions on the entire pathname instead?
* Is using multiple paragraphs for exceptions the right idea? Russ
suggests not, and I think I agree. .gitignore uses an exclamation mark
(!) as a prefix for logical not.
Any other issues related to filename patterns in the Files field?
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