[Pkg-zsh-devel] Converting zsh's debian/copyright to machine-readable DEP5 format: What's the license of debian/* files?

[Axel Beckert]

Hi,

(Short summary: I'd like to have Clint to state a license for the
packaging, preferably the same license as Zsh itself, and the
remaining copyright holders, i.e. the currently active Debian Zsh Team
to agree on this license.)

While trying to convert zsh's debian/copyright file to the
machine-readable DEP5 format (http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep5/), I
noticed that there's so far no statement under what license the
packaging itself is.

The copyright clearly differs from upstream (different persons, with
overlaps), but there was never a statement about its license.
According to
https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs.html#s-copyrightfile
the files should have a license. (See also the policy's
upgrade-checklist, changes for 3.9.3: "`debian/copyright' is no longer
required to list the Debian maintainers involved in the creation of
the package (although note that the requirement to list copyright
information is unchanged).")

From what I gathered from
http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-archive/20090802T004153Z/debian/dists/buzz/main/source/shells/zsh-2.6-beta13-2.diff.gz
(the oldest know source code of Debian's zsh package), there's not
much left from the initial package except most of debian/copyright
itself.

So I guess it's mostly up to Clint who started the packaging in its
current form to state its license.

If there's no big opinion on this by Clint, I suggest to declare the
packaging under the same license as Zsh itself. In that case I'd
exchange the current debian/copyright file with the following file for
a start:

---8<---
Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
Upstream-Name: Zsh (Z Shell)
Upstream-Contact: zsh-workers at zsh.org
Source: http://www.zsh.org/pub/
        ftp://ftp.zsh.org/pub/
        http://sourceforge.net/projects/zsh/files/

Files: *
Copyright: 1992-2014 The Zsh Development Group (Paul Falstad, Richard
           Coleman, Zoltán Hidvégi, Andrew Main, Peter Stephenson,
           Sven Wischnowsky, and others).  All rights reserved.
           Individual authors, whether or not specifically named,
           retain copyright in all changes.
License: Zsh

Files: debian/*
Copyright: 1996 Robert Leslie <rob at mars.org>
           1997-2011 Clint Adams <clint at debian.org>
           2011-2012 Michael Prokop <mika at debian.org>
           2011-2014 Frank Terbeck <ft at bewatermyfriend.org>
           2011-2014 Axel Beckert <abe at debian.org>
           2012-2013 Richard Hartmann <richih at debian.org>
License: Zsh

License: Zsh
 The Z shell is distributed under the following licence; any
 provisions made in individual files take precedence.
 .
 Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and without
 licence or royalty fees, to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
 software and to distribute modified versions of this software for any
 purpose, provided that the above copyright notice and the following
 two paragraphs appear in all copies of this software.
 .
 In no event shall the copy right owners liable to any party for
 direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages
 arising out of the use of this software and its documentation, even
 if and the copyright owners have been advised of the possibility of
 such damage.
 .
 The copyright owners specifically disclaim any warranties, including,
 but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and
 fitness for a particular purpose.  The software provided hereunder is
 on an "as is" basis, and the Zsh Development Group have no obligation
 to provide maintenance, support, updates, enhancements, or
 modifications.
--->8---

There are likely a few more Files stanzas necessary as single
completion files state a different license and copyright, e.g.
Completion/Linux/Command/_docker, Completion/Unix/Command/_hg (both
BSD-ish), Completion/Unix/Command/_darcs (GPLv2+),
Completion/openSUSE/Command/_zypper, Completion/openSUSE/Command/_osc
(both GPLv2 only), Misc/make-zsh-urls (Perl or Zsh license = Artistic
or GPL or Zsh), etc.

Etc/FAQ.yo also has a slightly different license, despite being
written by PWS. Main difference is s/software/documentation/ and the
phrase "and the following two paragraphs" plus these two paragraphs
being missing.

I'll work that out, too.

		Regards, Axel
-- 
 ,''`.  |  Axel Beckert <abe at debian.org>, http://people.debian.org/~abe/
: :' :  |  Debian Developer, ftp.ch.debian.org Admin
`. `'   |  1024D: F067 EA27 26B9 C3FC 1486  202E C09E 1D89 9593 0EDE
  `-    |  4096R: 2517 B724 C5F6 CA99 5329  6E61 2FF9 CD59 6126 16B5
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