I just learned that in some circumstances automake will insert a COPYING file if it's missing (albeit with a warning), e.g., at make dist? (I didn't look into the precise details.)
I expect there's probably been plenty of discussion about it that I'm unaware of, but to my naive eyes, this is simply a mistake. It seems to me that the license file of whatever sort should always be included in the sources: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhyMustIInclude. Having automake insert it tempts people to treat it as an auto-generated file. If there are significant arguments for auto-inclusion of COPYING, we should probably ask rms about it explicitly. Unless he's already given his blessing, in which case forget this whole thing. Thanks, Karl
