Debian Emacs breaks GPL?
James Troup [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Subject: Re: Bug#27823: proftpd: non-maintainer upload (alpha) diffs X-Mailing-List: debian-devel@lists.debian.org archive/latest/16743 [Want to know how Debian violates the GPL all the time? Check how many GPLed packages in Debian have modifications yet don't obey 2(a).] I think there should be a /usr/doc/emacs20/README.Debian what says that /usr/share/emacs/20.3/lisp/startup.el was modified to load debian-startup.el at startup. --- When I first switched to using a Debian-packaged emacs-20 in hamm (having always used my own build), I tried to figure out how the /etc/emacs/site-start.d/ stuff worked, and couldn't figure out what was loading debian-startup.el. It wasn't a site default.el, and there was nothing in /usr/doc/emacs20 specifically about it. The file /usr/doc/emacsen-common/debian-emacs-policy.gz describes how it all works, but not how emacs20 source code is modified to do it... So unless I missed something in the existing docs, I think there should be a /usr/doc/emacs20/README.Debian what says that /usr/share/emacs/20.3/lisp/startup.el was modified to load debian-startup.el at startup. Should I file a bug report against emacs20? This presumably applies to all favours of Emacs. -- Peter Galbraith, research scientist [EMAIL PROTECTED] Maurice Lamontagne Institute, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada P.O. Box 1000, Mont-Joli Qc, G5H 3Z4 Canada. 418-775-0852 FAX: 775-0546 6623'rd GNU/Linux user at the Counter - http://counter.li.org/
Re: Debian Emacs breaks GPL?
On Fri, Oct 16, 1998 at 09:20:02AM -0400, Peter S Galbraith wrote: James Troup [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Subject: Re: Bug#27823: proftpd: non-maintainer upload (alpha) diffs X-Mailing-List: debian-devel@lists.debian.org archive/latest/16743 [Want to know how Debian violates the GPL all the time? Check how many GPLed packages in Debian have modifications yet don't obey 2(a).] I think there should be a /usr/doc/emacs20/README.Debian what says that /usr/share/emacs/20.3/lisp/startup.el was modified to load debian-startup.el at startup. I agree that such notifications are useful. The question is, if we must enfore them and if yes, if they not better belong in the copyright file. let me point out that we distribute _pristine_ source packages in most cases, and a diff file makes very clear (byte by byte) which files have been changed. So, I think, if the maintainer uploads the original source unmodified, the changes don´t need to be listed in the Debian files, as the diff file is enough documentation. If the Debian maintainer repacks changed source code, the changes must be written down in the copyright file. Should I file a bug report against emacs20? This presumably applies to all favours of Emacs. please do not file bug reports before we have at least discussed it a bit. Maybe policy should be changed to the effect I proposed above. Marcus -- Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.Debian GNU/Linuxfinger brinkmd@ Marcus Brinkmann http://www.debian.orgmaster.debian.org [EMAIL PROTECTED]for public PGP Key http://homepage.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/Marcus.Brinkmann/ PGP Key ID 36E7CD09
Re: Debian Emacs breaks GPL?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [Want to know how Debian violates the GPL all the time? Check how many GPLed packages in Debian have modifications yet don't obey 2(a).] I think there should be a /usr/doc/emacs20/README.Debian what says that /usr/share/emacs/20.3/lisp/startup.el was modified to load debian-startup.el at startup. I agree that such notifications are useful. The question is, if we must enfore them and if yes, if they not better belong in the copyright file. let me point out that we distribute _pristine_ source packages in most cases, and a diff file makes very clear (byte by byte) which files have been changed. So, I think, if the maintainer uploads the original source unmodified, the changes don´t need to be listed in the Debian files, as the diff file is enough documentation. If the Debian maintainer repacks changed source code, the changes must be written down in the copyright file. Very good point about diff files. I hadn't thought of that. However, including said changes in either copyright or README.Debian would be a good service to users who typically don't look at diff's (most new users don't know the workings of Debian's packaging system anyway) and would better comply with GPL Section 2a. I think that Debian policy hints that such modifications should be listed in the `copyright' file, but I've always thought it more natural that they go in README.Debian (which is why I looked there when I was a new user, and din't know Debian policy). Peter
Re: Debian Emacs breaks GPL?
Hi, Peter == Peter S Galbraith [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Peter I think there should be a /usr/doc/emacs20/README.Debian what says that Peter /usr/share/emacs/20.3/lisp/startup.el was modified to load Peter debian-startup.el at startup. a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change. So startup.el should contain prominent notices. Peter Should I file a bug report against emacs20? This presumably Peter applies to all favours of Emacs. If startup.el does not contain such a notice, yes, indeed. Requiring it in the README files to also have this notice should wait for a policy amendment, because as such, that is not a bug. manoj -- I have a theory that it's impossible to prove anything, but I can't prove it. Manoj Srivastava [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/ Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
