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Re: is copyleft packaging bad for Debian?

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Hi Andrey and Ansgar,

Quoting Ansgar 🙀 (2026-02-02 16:55:28)
> On Mon, 2026-02-02 at 19:27 +0500, Andrey Rakhmatullin wrote:
> > It wasn't clear that you explicitly exclude debian/patches/ from the 
> > discussion and your questions. You even mentioned that "Sometimes I 
> > proactively license patches potential for upstream adoption
> > same as upstream, but generally I don't".

The very next phrases sthat you mitted from above quote should clarify,
that I do not generally copyleft-license patches, but instead consider
patches generally uncertain to classify.

But you are right, it was unclear (and as demonstrated it was easy to
read out of context).

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.

The intent is to make explicit that patches are neither implied to be
licensed same as debian/* nor same as *.

> Note that, for example, the GPL-2 contains this:
> 
> "For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code
> for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition
> files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of
> the executable."
> 
> The Debian packaging is (IMHO) "scripts used to control compilation and
> installation of the executable". Thus the GPL-2 requires these to be
> included under GPL-2-compatible terms.

In what you quote, I can see how "an executable work" can affect the
licensing of directly related "scripts used to control [it]", but not
the other way around.

I.e. I can only read the quote as saying, that a strongly licensed work
cannot be weakened by weaker licensed helper tools. I am unable to read
it as saying that stronger licensed helper tools affect the licensing
of what they help getting built.


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
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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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