David Bremner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Can someone point me to policy about file headers? I am currently > looking at a package with a GPL copyright file in the top directory, and > a terse statment "copyright X, released under the GPL" in most, but not > all files. I think the files without copyright are non-essential, and > could in principle be removed. There seems to be nothing reasonable to > do as a packager about the lack of the usual gpl boilerplate. > > I understand that the best practice is to have a copyright statement > and a clear statement of license in every file of the source code. > > What I don't know is if > 1) This is a MUST dictated by policy as well as a SHOULD from best-practice?
It's neither a must nor a should from a Debian Policy perspective. Most upstream packages do not put a copyright statement into every file. If you're upstream, it's probably a good idea, but if you're just packaging someone else's release, don't worry about it. Watch out for files with different copyright or license statements, but if there's a general copyright and license for the whole package in the package documentation, you can safely assume any unmarked files are also released under that copyright and license. -- Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
