recommendation for packaging license
Hi, I try to use the machine readable copyright format. Maybe you'd like to see whether I got it right (attached). Could you enhance the documentation of the copyright format or the policy with a recommendation for the copyright in the debian/* files section? I couldn't care less about the copyright and tend to use the Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License. However I really want to make life as easy as possible for all humans. It'd also be nice if it could be a license where I don't need to copy the license text in the copyright file to keep it as short as possible. So an ideal answer would be just a template section I could copy and paste in my debian/copyright! Thank you, Thomas Koch, http://www.koch.ro Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/copyright-format/1.0 Upstream-Name: sbinary Source: https://github.com/harrah/sbinary Upstream-Contact: Mark Harrah dmhar...@gmail.com, David R. MacIver david.maci...@gmail.com, Files: * Copyright: 2008 David R. MacIver, 2011 Mark Harrah, License: Expat Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the Software), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: . The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. . THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. Files: debian/* Copyright: 2011 Thomas Koch tho...@koch.ro License:
Re: recommendation for packaging license
On Fri, 02 Sep 2011 at 14:10:38 +0200, Thomas Koch wrote: Could you enhance the documentation of the copyright format or the policy with a recommendation for the copyright in the debian/* files section? I couldn't care less about the copyright and tend to use the Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License. However I really want to make life as easy as possible for all humans. It'd also be nice if it could be a license where I don't need to copy the license text in the copyright file to keep it as short as possible. By Policy, the only licenses you don't need to quote in the copyright file are the ones in /usr/share/common-licenses, and the license grant to put something under one of those licenses properly is of comparable length to a short license like Expat. For minimal length for a comprehensive Free license, I still like the GNU all-permissive license: https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/License-Notices-for-Other-Files.html Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is, without any warranty. and the ad-hoc license of IkiWiki's basewiki: http://ikiwiki.info/freesoftware/ Redistribution and use in source and compiled forms, with or without modification, are permitted under any circumstances. No warranty. although Joey warns that the warranty disclaimer in the latter may not be safe to apply to general software: http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2010/04/msg00097.html Its warantee disclaimer is indeed weak. I don't know that I would want to use this on any software that could cause trouble if it broke. The files it was attached to are mostly templates that users go in and edit, and some documentation. The no-warranty disclaimer is somewhat orthogonal to having a Free Software license, but may be important to protect you from being sued by your users over bugs in your software; the wording in the GPL is carefully chosen to mention specific phrases (as is, fitness for a particular purpose) that are significant in USA law. S -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110902143921.gb6...@reptile.pseudorandom.co.uk
Re: recommendation for packaging license
On Fri, 2 Sep 2011 14:10:38 +0200 Thomas Koch tho...@koch.ro wrote: Could you enhance the documentation of the copyright format or the policy with a recommendation for the copyright in the debian/* files section? File a wishlist against debian-policy. I couldn't care less about the copyright and tend to use the Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License. However I really want to make life as easy as possible for all humans. It'd also be nice if it could be a license where I don't need to copy the license text in the copyright file to keep it as short as possible. Use the same as upstream and you don't have to copy anything. Read DEP-5 again on how to use a separate License stanza. So an ideal answer would be just a template section I could copy and paste in my debian/copyright! Templates get outdated with time and propagate errors when that happen, not a good idea. regards, -- Ricardo Mones http://people.debian.org/~mones «Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. -- Mark Twain» signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: recommendation for packaging license
Thomas Koch tho...@koch.ro writes: Could you enhance the documentation of the copyright format or the policy with a recommendation for the copyright in the debian/* files section? Choosing the license terms for a work is a complex decision. It's not the place of the documentation to make that recommendation. It's certainly not the place of Debian policy to do so. I couldn't care less about the copyright That's regrettable; it is an important topic and I'd hope Debian package maintainers would care. and tend to use the Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License. However I really want to make life as easy as possible for all humans. In that particular case, I would recommend you specify the exact same license terms as the rest of the work. But that's only because of your particular requirements; this is certainly not a general recommendation. It'd also be nice if it could be a license where I don't need to copy the license text in the copyright file to keep it as short as possible. Among other advantages, the above recommendation means you don't have to copy the license text; just refer to it by the same name in the ‘License’ field. -- \ “I was gratified to be able to answer promptly and I did. I | `\ said I didn't know.” —Mark Twain, _Life on the Mississippi_ | _o__) | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/87wrdqr29w@benfinney.id.au
