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Re: Is Packaging Copyrightable (was: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian?)

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Hi Soren,

Quoting Soren Stoutner (2026-02-02 20:04:57)
> On Monday, February 2, 2026 11:43:34 AM Mountain Standard Time Jonas 
> Smedegaard wrote:
> > Related to that, I now (since yesterday) add the following section to
> > the debian/copyright file of packages that I maintain:
> > 
> > Files: debian/patches/*
> > Copyright: None
> > License: None
> > Comment:
> >  Patches are generally assumed not copyright-protected by default.
> >  Please list any patch with copyright claims separately.
> 
> As I just wrote in a separate email, I disagree strongly with the
> idea that Debian packaging is not copyrightable.  I do not think that
> any packages with the above debian/copyright entry should be allowed
> in Debian.

I read your previous email and I fully agree with you on that, but I
disagree with your conclusion (second sentence of your above).

For the record: I disagree strongly with the idea that Debian packaging
is *in general* is not copyrightable.

The reason I disagree with your conclusion has to do with a work
consisting of multiple parts, where some parts may be both easily
identifiable and also not in itself be copyrightable. Debian packaging
consist of such a subset, which has a third feature of being
potentially upstreamable: patches to upstream source.

(please see my response to Russ for more details on that reasoning)

Initially I talked about Debian packaging, but then I shifted to talk
more narrowly about the subset of "debian/patches*", and that is what
you quoted. Your position I fully agree with, but I am unsure if you
really mean that it holds true also for debian/patches as a subset on
its own - and I suspect that I would disagree with such a position.

Do you insist so very strongly that *patches* are not copyrightable?

 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
 * Sponsorship: https://ko-fi.com/drjones

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Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Gerardo Ballabio <gerardo.ballabio@gmail.com> - 2026-02-02 13:50 +0100
  Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> - 2026-02-02 14:40 +0100
    Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Andrey Rakhmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2026-02-02 16:20 +0100
      Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Ansgar 🙀 <ansgar@debian.org> - 2026-02-02 17:10 +0100
        Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> - 2026-02-02 20:10 +0100
          Is Packaging Copyrightable (was: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian?) Soren Stoutner <soren@debian.org> - 2026-02-02 20:20 +0100
            Re: Is Packaging Copyrightable (was: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian?) Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> - 2026-02-03 15:10 +0100
              Re: Is Packaging Copyrightable (was: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian?) Soren Stoutner <soren@debian.org> - 2026-02-03 18:00 +0100
          Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2026-02-02 21:50 +0100
            Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> - 2026-02-03 15:10 +0100
              Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2026-02-03 23:30 +0100
                Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Soren Stoutner <soren@debian.org> - 2026-02-04 00:00 +0100
                Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Jeremy Stanley <fungi@yuggoth.org> - 2026-02-04 00:20 +0100
                Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> - 2026-02-04 02:40 +0100
                Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? Jeremy Stanley <fungi@yuggoth.org> - 2026-02-04 19:00 +0100
    Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian? thomas@goirand.fr - 2026-02-02 20:20 +0100

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