Hi dear fellow Debian developers, When I package a project for inclusion into Debian, I commonly license my packaging work using a copyleft license¹.
I appreciate that upstream authors may have reasons to choose different licensing, and am open to relicense non-packaging parts (e.g. patches). Sometimes I proactively license patches potential for upstream adoption same as upstream, but generally I don't - patches are often arguably too small to be copyright-protected, or might contain contributions from multiple authors - in short, it is simpler for me to ensure that the packaging parts are all DFSG-free than that they are all compliant with upstream choice of licensing, and I see no need for the packaging part to be compliant with upstream choice of licensing. My question here is: Am I doing a disservice to Debian? Do Debian already have a Policy about this? If not, should we add one? Personally I think not. I think that Debian is about DFSG, not about lowering politically to the lowest common denominator. What triggers me in asking this is that, as part of a recent NEW queue processing, this pattern of mine was noticed and questioned. I don't think that question is a relevant part of NEW queue processing, but instead of letting that being a discussion between me and that one helpful developer screening the package, or between me and the team, I consider it more appropriately a discussion in Debian in general. To clarify, I am not asking if copylef is more virtuous or a virus. Also, I am not asking if it is simpler to go with the flow. I am asking if it is bad for Debian to have licensing opinions, within the scope of DFSG. Kind regards, - Jonas ¹ Nowadays I mostly use GPL-3+ but that varies slightly. I don't mind elaborating on when I choose which license specifically, but consider such detalis unimportant for the topic of this email. -- * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ * Sponsorship: https://ko-fi.com/drjones [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private
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