Re: Bug#1111126: Policy change and technical adjustments

Soren Stoutner <[email protected]> Tue, 19 May 2026 13:31:05 -0700

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.policy
Organization	Debian
Message-ID	<3613561.QJadu78ljV@soren-desktop>

On Sunday, May 17, 2026 11:06:55 AM Mountain Standard Time [email protected] 
wrote:
> Hello Russ,
> 
> Am 17.05.2026 19:05 schrieb Russ Allbery:
> > [email protected] writes:
> >> It is not that easy. A stanza in the d/copyright file is build from a
> >> license plus copyright information. If two files share the same
> >> license
> >> but have different copyright (author) information "spdx2debian" would
> >> create two different stanzas for them.
> > 
> > I would not do that either, again because it undermines readability.
> > Just
> > collect all the copyright notices for the same license into a single
> > stanza as is explicitly allowed by section 6.8 of the copyright-format
> > standard.
> 
> That is fine. In this case "spdx2debian" is not the appropriate tool for
> your
> workflow or packages. It does not try to solve or serve everything, only
> SPDX/REUSE compliant projects. And when it comes to SPDX it is immanent
> in that standard to distinguish authors/copyright the way I described.
> 
>  From a perspective as an author I wouldn't like to get my name on a file
> which I have not authored.
> 
> Again I wonder if section 6.8 was approved by a lawyer anyday?

It is important to understand what the DEP-5 debian/copyright file is 
intending to communicate.

It is *NOT* trying to communicate that all of the *	COPYRIGHT* information in 
each stanza applies to all of the files in that stanza.  Rather, it is 
communicating that the *LICENSE* listed in the stanza applies to all of the 
files in that stanza.

In other words, it communicates the following:

“All of the files in this stanza are released under the listed license(s).  If 
you would like to use these files, you must comply with the terms of these 
license(s).  Each item in the list of copyright information applies to *one or 
more* of the files in this stanza.  If you would like to relicense all of the 
files in this stanza under a non-compatible license, you will need to receive 
permission from all of enumerated copyright holders.  If you would like to 
relicense only some of the files in this stanza under a non-compatile license, 
please investigate the headers and associated copyright information for just 
those files to determine who holds the copyright for them and can grant you 
permission to relicense.”

-- 
Soren Stoutner
[email protected]

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