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13 <article class="specification" status="draft" lang="en" id="copyright-format">
16 Machine-readable <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file.
18 <subtitle>Version 1.0</subtitle>
21 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are
22 permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice
23 and this notice are preserved.
28 This specification was drafted as <ulink
29 url="http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep5/">DEP-5</ulink>, to establish a
30 standard, machine-readable format for
31 <filename>debian/copyright</filename> files within packages and
32 facilitate automated checking and reporting of licenses for packages and
38 <section id="introduction">
39 <title>Introduction</title>
41 This is a proposal to make <filename>debian/copyright</filename>
42 machine-interpretable. This file is one of the most important files in
43 Debian packaging, yet there is currently no standard format defined for it
44 and its contents vary tremendously across packages, making it difficult to
45 automatically extract licensing information.
48 This is not a proposal to change the policy in the short term. In
49 particular, nothing in this proposal supersedes or modifies any of the
50 requirements specified in Debian Policy regarding the appropriate detail
51 or granularity to use when documenting copyright and license status in
52 <filename>debian/copyright</filename>.
56 <section id="rationale">
57 <title>Rationale</title>
59 The diversity of free software licenses means that Debian needs to care
60 not only about the freeness of a given work, but also its license's
61 compatibility with the other parts of Debian it uses.
64 The arrival of the GPL version 3, its incompatibility with version 2, and
65 our inability to spot the software where the incompatibility might be
66 problematic is one prominent occurrence of this limitation.
69 There are earlier precedents, also. One is the GPL/OpenSSL
70 incompatibility. Apart from grepping
71 <filename>debian/copyright</filename>, which is prone to numerous false
72 positives (packaging under the GPL but software under another license) or
73 negatives (GPL software but with an <quote>OpenSSL special
74 exception</quote> dual licensing form), there is no reliable way to know
75 which software in Debian might be problematic.
78 And there is more to come. There are issues with shipping GPLv2-only
79 software with a CDDL operating system such as Nexenta. The GPL version 3
80 solves this issue, but not all GPL software can switch to it and we have
81 no way to know how much of Debian should be stripped from such a system.
84 A user might want to have a way to avoid software with certain licenses
85 they have a problem with, even if the licenses are DFSG-free. For example,
90 <section id="acknowledgements">
91 <title>Acknowledgements</title>
93 Many people have worked on this specification over the years. The
94 following alphabetical list is incomplete, please suggest missing people:
106 <section id="file-syntax">
107 <title>File syntax</title>
109 The <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file must be
110 machine-interpretable, yet human-readable, while communicating all
111 mandated upstream information, copyright notices and licensing details.
114 The syntax of the file is the same as for other Debian control files, as
115 specified in the Debian Policy Manual. See its <ulink
116 url="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields#s-controlsyntax">section
117 5.1</ulink> for details. Extra fields can be added to any paragraph. No
118 prefixing is necessary or desired, but please avoid names similar to
119 standard ones so that mistakes are easier to catch. Future versions of
120 the <filename>debian/copyright</filename> specification will attempt to
121 avoid conflicting specifications for widely used extra fields.
124 There are four kinds values for fields. Each field specifies which kind
128 <section id="single-line">
129 <title>Single-line values</title>
131 A single-line value means that the whole value of a field must fit on a
132 single line. For example, the <varname>Format</varname> field has a
133 single line value specifying the version of the machine-readable format
138 <section id="white-space-lists">
139 <title>White space separated lists</title>
141 A white space separated list means that the field value may be on one
142 line or many, but values in the list are separated by one or more white
143 space characters (including space, TAB, and newline). For example, the
144 <varname>Files</varname> field has a list of filename patterns.
148 <section id="line-based-lists">
149 <title>Line based lists</title>
151 Another kind of list value has one value per line. For example,
152 <varname>Copyright</varname> can list many copyright statements, one per
157 <section id="formatted-text">
158 <title>Text formatted like package long descriptions</title>
160 Formatted text fields use the same rules as the long description in a
161 package's <varname>Description</varname> field, possibly also using the
162 first line as a synopsis, like <varname>Description</varname> uses it
163 for the short description. See Debian Policy's section 5.6.13, <ulink
164 url="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields#s-f-Description"><quote>Description</quote></ulink>,
165 for details. For example, <varname>Disclaimer</varname> has no special
166 first line, whereas <varname>License</varname> does.
171 <section id="paragraphs">
172 <title>Paragraphs</title>
174 There are three kinds of paragraphs: the first one is called the
175 <link linkend="header-paragraph">header paragraph</link>. Every other
176 paragraph is either a <link linkend="files-paragraph">Files</link>
177 paragraph or a <link linkend="stand-alone-license-paragraph">stand-alone
178 license</link> paragraph. This is similar to source and binary package
179 paragraphs in <filename>debian/control</filename> files.
182 <section id="header-paragraph">
183 <title>Header paragraph (Once)</title>
184 <section id="format-header-field">
185 <title><varname>Format</varname></title>
187 Required single line: URI of the format specification, such as:
188 <literal>http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/</literal>
192 <section id="upstream-name-header-field">
193 <title><varname>Upstream-Name</varname></title>
195 Optional single line: the name upstream uses for the software
199 <section id="upstream-contact-header-field">
200 <title><varname>Upstream-Contact</varname></title>
202 Optional line based list: the preferred address(es) to reach the
203 upstream project. May be free-form text, but by convention will
204 usually be written as a list of RFC5322 addresses or URIs.
208 <section id="source-header-field">
209 <title><varname>Source</varname></title>
211 Optional formatted text, no synopsis: an explanation from where the
212 upstream source came from. Typically this would be a URL, but it might
213 be a free-form explanation. The Debian Policy section <ulink
214 url="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s-copyrightfile">12.5</ulink>
215 requires this information unless there are no upstream sources, which
216 is mainly the case for native Debian packages. If the upstream source
217 has been modified to remove non-free parts, that should be explained
222 <section id="disclaimer-header-field">
223 <title><varname>Disclaimer</varname></title>
225 Optional formatted text, no synopsis: this field can be used in the
226 case of non-free and contrib packages (see <ulink
227 url="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s-copyrightfile">12.5</ulink>)
231 <section id="comment-header-field">
232 <title><varname>Comment</varname></title>
234 Optional formatted text, no synopsis: this field can provide
235 additional information. For example, it might quote an e-mail from
236 upstream justifying why the license is acceptable to the main archive,
237 or an explanation of how this version of the package has been forked
238 from a version known to be DFSG-free, even though the current upstream
243 <section id="license-header-field">
244 <title><varname>License</varname></title>
246 Optional formatted text, with synopsis: in the header paragraph
247 (no <varname>Files</varname> specification), this field gives the
248 license information for the package as a whole, which may be different
249 or simplified from a combination of all the per-file license
250 information. <varname>License</varname> below in the <link
251 linkend="files-paragraph">Files paragraph</link> section.
255 <section id="copyright-header-field">
256 <title><varname>Copyright</varname></title>
258 Optional line based list: in the header paragraph (no
259 <varname>Files</varname> specification), this field gives the
260 copyright information for the package as a whole, which may be
261 different or simplified from a combination of all the per-file
262 copyright information. See also <varname>Copyright</varname> below
263 in the <link linkend="files-paragraph">Files paragraph</link>
267 The <varname>Copyright</varname> and <varname>License</varname> fields
268 in the <emphasis>header paragraph</emphasis> may complement but do not
269 replace the <emphasis>files paragraphs</emphasis>. They can be used
270 to summarise the contributions and redistribution terms for the whole
271 package, for instance when a work combines a permissive and a copyleft
272 license, or to document a <emphasis>compilation copyright</emphasis>
273 and license. It is possible to use only <varname>License</varname> in
274 the header paragraph, but <varname>Copyright</varname> alone makes no
279 <section id="example-header-paragraph">
280 <title>Example header paragraph</title>
281 <programlisting>Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
282 Upstream-Name: SOFTware
283 Upstream-Contact: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
284 Source: http://www.example.com/software/project</programlisting>
288 <section id="files-paragraph">
289 <title>Files paragraph (Repeatable)</title>
291 The declaration of copyright and license for files is done in one or
292 more paragraphs. In the simplest case, a single paragraph can be used
293 which applies to all files and lists all applicable copyrights and
297 <section id="files-files-field">
298 <title><varname>Files</varname></title>
300 Required white space separated list: list of patterns indicating files
301 covered by the license and copyright specified in this paragraph.
304 Filename patterns in the <varname>Files</varname> field are specified
305 using a simplified shell glob syntax. Patterns are separated by white
310 Only the wildcards <literal>*</literal> and <literal>?</literal>
311 apply; the former matches any number of characters (including
312 none), the latter a single character. Both match a slash
313 (<literal>/</literal>) and a leading dot.
318 Patterns match pathnames that start at the root of the source
319 tree. Thus, <quote><filename>Makefile.in</filename></quote>
320 matches only the file at the root of the tree, but
321 <quote><filename>*/Makefile.in</filename></quote> matches at any
327 The backslash (<literal>\</literal>) is used to remove the magic
328 from the next character; see table below.
336 <entry>Escape sequence</entry>
337 <entry>Matches</entry>
342 <entry><literal>\*</literal></entry>
343 <entry>star (asterisk)</entry>
346 <entry><literal>\?</literal></entry>
347 <entry>question mark</entry>
350 <entry><literal>\\</literal></entry>
351 <entry>backslash</entry>
356 Any other character following a backslash is an error.
359 Multiple <varname>Files</varname> paragraphs are allowed. The last
360 paragraph that matches a particular file applies to it.
363 Exclusions are done by having multiple <varname>Files</varname>
368 <section id="copyright-files-field">
369 <title><varname>Copyright</varname></title>
371 Required line based list: one or more free-form copyright
372 statement(s), one per line, that apply to the files matched by the
373 above pattern. If a work has no copyright holder (i.e., it is in
374 the public domain), that information should be recorded here.
377 The <varname>Copyright</varname> field collects all relevant copyright
378 notices for the files of this paragraph. Not all copyright notices
379 may apply to every individual file, and years of publication for one
380 copyright holder may be gathered together. For example, if file A
382 <programlisting>Copyright 2008 John Smith
383 Copyright 2009 Angela Watts</programlisting>
385 <programlisting>Copyright 2010 Angela Watts</programlisting>
386 the <varname>Copyright</varname> field for a stanza
387 covering both file A and file B need contain only:
388 <programlisting>Copyright 2008 John Smith
389 Copyright 2009, 2010 Angela Watts</programlisting>
392 The <varname>Copyright</varname> field may contain the original
393 copyright statement copied exactly (including the word
394 <quote>Copyright</quote>), or it can shorten the text, as long
395 as it does not sacrifice information. Examples in this specification
400 <section id="license-files-field">
401 <title><varname>License</varname></title>
403 Required formatted text, with synopsis: licensing terms for the files
404 listed in <varname>Files</varname> field for this paragraph.
407 First line: an abbreviated name for the license, or expression
408 giving alternatives (see <link linkend="license-short-name">Short
409 names</link> section for a list of standard abbreviations). If there
410 are licenses present in the package without a standard short name, an
411 arbitrary short name may be assigned for these licenses. These
412 arbitrary names are only guaranteed to be unique within a single
416 Remaining lines: if left blank here, the file
417 <emphasis>must</emphasis> include a stand-alone
418 <varname>License</varname> paragraph matching each license short
419 name listed on the first line (see the <link
420 linkend="stand-alone-license-paragraph">Standalone License
421 Paragraph</link> section). Otherwise, this field should either
422 include the full text of the license(s) or include a pointer to the
423 license file under <filename>/usr/share/common-licenses</filename>.
424 This field should include all text needed in order to fulfill both
425 Debian Policy's requirement for including a copy of the software's
426 distribution license (<ulink
427 url="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s-copyrightfile">12.5</ulink>),
428 and any license requirements to include warranty disclaimers or other
429 notices with the binary package.
433 <section id="comment-files-field">
434 <title><varname>Comment</varname></title>
436 Same as the <link linkend="comment-header-field">
437 <varname>Comment</varname></link> field in the header paragraph.
441 <section id="example-files-paragraph">
442 <title>Example files paragraphs</title>
443 <programlisting>Files: *
444 Copyright: 1975-2010 Ulla Upstream
448 Copyright: 2010 Daniela Debianizer
451 Files: debian/patches/fancy-feature
452 Copyright: 2010 Daniela Debianizer
456 Copyright: 2010 Manuela Manpager
457 License: GPL-2+</programlisting>
459 In this example, all files are copyright by the upstream and licensed
460 under the GPL, version 2 or later, with three exceptions. All the
461 Debian packaging files are copyright by the packager, and further one
462 specific file providing a new feature is licensed differently.
463 Finally, there are some manual pages added to the package, written by
469 <section id="stand-alone-license-paragraph">
470 <title>Standalone License Paragraph (Optional, Repeatable)</title>
472 Where a set of files are dual (tri, etc) licensed, or when the same
473 license occurs multiple times, you can use a single line
474 <varname>License</varname> field and standalone
475 <varname>License</varname> paragraphs to expand the license short names.
478 <title>tri-licensed files</title>
479 <programlisting>Files: src/js/editline/*
480 Copyright: 1993, John Doe
482 License: MPL-1.1 or GPL-2 or LGPL-2.1
491 [LICENSE TEXT]</programlisting>
495 <title>recurrent license</title>
496 <programlisting>Files: src/js/editline/*
497 Copyright: 1993, John Doe
501 Files: src/js/fdlibm/*
502 Copyright: 1993, J-Random Corporation
506 [LICENSE TEXT]</programlisting>
511 <section id="license-specification">
512 <title>License specification</title>
514 <section id="license-short-name">
515 <title>Short name</title>
517 Much of the value of a machine-parseable copyright file lies in being
518 able to correlate the licenses of multiple pieces of software. To that
519 end, this spec defines standard short names for a number of commonly
520 used licenses, which can be used in the first line of a
521 <varname>License</varname> field.
524 These short names have the specified meanings across all uses of this
525 file format, and <emphasis>must not</emphasis> be used to refer to any
526 other licenses. Parsers may thus rely on these short names referring to
527 the same licenses wherever they occur, without needing to parse or
528 compare the full license text.
531 From time to time, licenses may be added to or removed from the list of
532 standard short names. Such changes in the list of short names will
533 always be accompanied by changes to the recommended
534 <varname>Format</varname> value. Implementers who are parsing copyright
535 files should take care not to assume anything about the meaning of
536 license short names for unknown <varname>Format</varname> versions.
539 Use of a standard short name does not override the Debian Policy
540 requirement to include the full license text in
541 <filename>debian/copyright</filename>, nor any requirements in the
542 license of the work regarding reproduction of legal notices. This
543 information must still be included in the <varname>License</varname>
544 field, either in a stand-alone license paragraph or in the relevant
548 For licenses which have multiple versions in use, the version number is
549 added, using a dash as a separator. If omitted, the lowest version
550 number is implied. When the license grant permits using the terms of any
551 later version of that license, the short name is finished with a plus
552 sign. For <link linkend="spdx">SPDX</link> compatibility, trailing
553 <emphasis>dot-zeroes</emphasis> are considered to be equal to plainer
554 version (e.g., <quote>2.0.0</quote> is considered equal to
555 <quote>2.0</quote> and <quote>2</quote>).
558 Currently, the full text of the licenses is only available in the <ulink
559 url="http://spdx.org/licenses">SPDX Open Source License Registry</ulink>.
565 <entry>Keyword</entry>
566 <entry>Meaning</entry>
571 <entry>public-domain</entry>
573 No license required for any purpose; the work is not subject to
574 copyright in any jurisdiction.
583 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/ASL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
584 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/ASL-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
593 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/Artistic-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
594 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/Artistic-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
602 Berkeley software distribution license,
603 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause">2-clause
612 Berkeley software distribution license,
613 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause">3-clause
622 Berkeley software distribution license,
623 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause">4-clause
632 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/ISC">Internet Software
633 Consortium</ulink>, sometimes also known as the OpenBSD License.
641 Creative Commons Attribution license
642 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
643 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
644 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
645 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
653 Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license
654 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
655 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
656 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
657 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
665 Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives license
666 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
667 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
668 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
669 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
677 Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license
678 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
679 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
680 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
681 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
689 Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license
690 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
691 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
692 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
693 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
701 Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license
702 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
703 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
704 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
705 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
713 Creative Commons <ulink
714 url="http://creativecommons.org/license/zero/">Universal
723 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CDDL">Common Development
724 and Distribution License</ulink>.
732 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/CPL-1.0">IBM Common Public
741 The Eiffel Forum License
742 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/EFL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
743 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/EFL-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
751 The <ulink url="http://www.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt">Expat</ulink>
760 GNU General Public License
761 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
762 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
763 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
771 GNU Lesser General Public License
772 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1">2.1</ulink>,
773 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-3.0">3.0</ulink>, or
774 GNU Library General Public License
775 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
776 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
784 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/FDL-1.0">GNU Free
785 Documentation License</ulink>.
793 GNU Free Documentation License, with no invariant sections.
801 <ulink url="http://www.latex-project.org/lppl/">LaTeX Project
802 Public License</ulink>
803 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
804 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.1">1.1</ulink>,
805 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.2">1.2</ulink>,
806 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.3c">1.3c</ulink>.
814 Mozilla Public License
815 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/MPL-1.1">1.1</ulink>.
823 <ulink url="http://dev.perl.org/licenses/">Perl</ulink> license
824 (use <quote><literal>GPL-1+ or Artistic-1</literal></quote>
833 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/Python-CNRI">Python
842 Q Public License <ulink
843 url="http://spdx.org/licenses/QPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>.
851 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/W3C">W3C Software
852 License</ulink> For more information, consult the
854 url="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/IPR-FAQ-20000620">W3C
855 Intellectual Rights FAQ</ulink>.
863 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/Zlib">
864 zlib/libpng license</ulink>.
873 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/ZPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
874 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/ZPL-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
875 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/licenses/ZPL-2.1">2.1</ulink>.
883 url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License#Various_versions">many
884 versions of the MIT license</ulink>. Please use Expat instead, when it
888 An exception or clarification to a license is signaled in plain text, by appending
889 <literal>with <varname><replaceable>keywords</replaceable></varname>
890 exception</literal> to the short name. This document provides a list of
891 keywords that must be used when referring to the most frequent
892 exceptions. When exceptions other than these are in effect that modify
893 a common license by granting additional permissions, you may use an
894 arbitrary keyword not taken from the below list of keywords. When a
895 license differs from a common license because of added restrictions
896 rather than because of added permissions, a distinct short name should
897 be used instead of <literal>with
898 <varname><replaceable>keywords</replaceable></varname>exception</literal>.
901 Only one exception may be specified for each license within a given
902 license specification. If more than one exception applies to a single
903 license, an arbitrary short name must be used instead.
906 The GPL <literal>Font</literal> exception refers to the text added to the
907 license notice of each file as specified at <ulink
908 url="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq#FontException">How does the GPL
909 apply to fonts</ulink>. The precise text corresponding to this
911 <programlisting>As a special exception, if you create a document which uses this font,
912 and embed this font or unaltered portions of this font into the
913 document, this font does not by itself cause the resulting document to
914 be covered by the GNU General Public License. This exception does not
915 however invalidate any other reasons why the document might be covered
916 by the GNU General Public License. If you modify this font, you may
917 extend this exception to your version of the font, but you are not
918 obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception
919 statement from your version.</programlisting>
922 The GPL <literal>OpenSSL</literal> exception gives permission to link GPL-licensed
923 code with the OpenSSL library, which contains GPL-incompatible clauses.
924 For more information, see <ulink
925 url="http://www.gnome.org/~markmc/openssl-and-the-gpl">The -OpenSSL License and
926 The GPL</ulink> by Mark
927 McLoughlin and the message <ulink
928 url="http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00595.html">middleman
929 software license conflicts with OpenSSL</ulink>
930 by Mark McLoughlin on the <emphasis>debian-legal</emphasis> mailing list. The text corresponding
931 to this exception is:
932 <programlisting>In addition, as a special exception, the copyright holders give
933 permission to link the code of portions of this program with the
934 OpenSSL library under certain conditions as described in each
935 individual source file, and distribute linked combinations including
938 You must obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for all
939 of the code used other than OpenSSL. If you modify file(s) with this
940 exception, you may extend this exception to your version of the
941 file(s), but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do
942 so, delete this exception statement from your version. If you delete
943 this exception statement from all source files in the program, then
944 also delete it here.</programlisting>
947 <section id="public-domain">
948 <title>Public domain</title>
950 The <varname>License</varname> short name
951 <literal>public-domain</literal> does not refer to a set of license
952 terms. There are some works which are not subject to copyright in
953 any jurisdiction and therefore no license is required for any
954 purpose covered by copyright law. This short name is an explicit
955 declaration that the associated files are <quote>in the public
959 Widespread misunderstanding about copyright in general, and the
960 public domain in particular, results in the common assertion that a
961 work is in the public domain when this is partly or wholly untrue
962 for that work. The <ulink
963 url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain">Wikipedia article
964 on public domain</ulink> is a useful reference for this subject.
967 When the <varname>License</varname> field in a paragraph has the
968 short name <literal>public-domain</literal>, the remaining lines of
969 the field <emphasis>must</emphasis> explain exactly what exemption
970 the corresponding files for that paragraph have from default
971 copyright restrictions.
976 <section id="license-syntax">
977 <title>Syntax</title>
979 License names are case-insensitive, and may not contain spaces.
982 In case of multi-licensing, the license short names are separated by
983 <literal>or</literal> when the user can chose between different licenses,
984 and by <literal>and</literal> when use of the work must simultaneously
985 comply with the terms of multiple licenses.
988 For instance, this is a simple, <quote>GPL version 2 or later</quote>
990 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+</programlisting>
991 This is a dual-licensed GPL/Artistic work such as Perl:
992 <programlisting>License: GPL-1+ or Artistic</programlisting>
993 This is for a file that has both GPL and classic BSD code in it:
994 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+ and BSD</programlisting>
995 For the most complex cases, the comma is used to disambiguate the
996 priority of <literal>or</literal>s and <literal>and</literal>s
997 <literal>and</literal> has the priority over <literal>or</literal>,
998 unless preceded by a comma. For instance:
1001 <literal>A or B and C</literal> means <literal>A or (B and C)</literal>.
1004 <literal>A or B, and C</literal> means <literal>(A or B), and
1008 This is for a file that has Perl code and classic BSD code in it:
1009 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+ or Artistic-2.0, and BSD</programlisting>
1010 A <literal>GPL-2+</literal> work with the <literal>OpenSSL</literal>
1011 exception is in effect a dual-licensed work that can be redistributed
1012 either under the <literal>GPL-2+</literal>, or under the
1013 <literal>GPL-2+</literal> with the <literal>OpenSSL</literal> exception.
1014 It is thus expressed as <literal>GPL-2+ with OpenSSL
1015 exception</literal>:
1016 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+ with OpenSSL exception
1017 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1018 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
1019 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
1020 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
1023 In addition, as a special exception, the author of this
1024 program gives permission to link the code of its
1025 release with the OpenSSL project's "OpenSSL" library (or
1026 with modified versions of it that use the same license as
1027 the "OpenSSL" library), and distribute the linked
1028 executables. You must obey the GNU General Public
1029 License in all respects for all of the code used other
1030 than "OpenSSL". If you modify this file, you may extend
1031 this exception to your version of the file, but you are
1032 not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so,
1033 delete this exception statement from your version.
1035 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
1036 useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
1037 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
1038 PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
1041 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
1042 License along with this package; if not, write to the Free
1043 Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor,
1044 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
1046 On Debian systems, the full text of the GNU General Public
1047 License version 2 can be found in the file
1048 `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2'.</programlisting>
1055 <ulink url="http://spdx.org/">SPDX</ulink> is an attempt to standardize
1056 a format for communicating the components, licenses and copyrights
1057 associated with a software package. It and the machine-readable
1058 <filename>debian/copyright</filename> format attempt to be somewhat
1059 compatible. However, the two formats have different aims, and so the
1060 formats are different. The <ulink
1061 url="http://wiki.debian.org/Proposals/CopyrightFormat">DEP5 wiki
1062 page</ulink> will be used to track the differences.
1067 <section id="examples">
1068 <title>Examples</title>
1070 <title>Simple</title>
1072 A possible <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file for the program
1073 <quote>X Solitaire</quote> distributed in the Debian source package
1074 <literal>xsol</literal>:
1075 <programlisting><![CDATA[Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
1076 Upstream-Name: X Solitaire
1077 Source: ftp://ftp.example.com/pub/games
1080 Copyright: Copyright 1998 John Doe <jdoe@example.com>
1082 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1083 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
1084 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
1085 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
1088 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
1089 useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
1090 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
1091 PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
1094 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
1095 License along with this package; if not, write to the Free
1096 Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor,
1097 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
1099 On Debian systems, the full text of the GNU General Public
1100 License version 2 can be found in the file
1101 `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2'.
1104 Copyright: Copyright 1998 Jane Smith <jsmith@example.net>
1106 [LICENSE TEXT]]]></programlisting>
1111 <title>Complex</title>
1113 A possible <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file for the program
1114 <quote>Planet Venus</quote>, distributed in the Debian source
1115 package <literal>planet-venus</literal>:
1116 <programlisting><![CDATA[Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
1117 Upstream-Name: Planet Venus
1118 Upstream-Contact: John Doe <jdoe@example.com>
1119 Source: http://www.example.com/code/venus
1122 Copyright: 2008, John Doe <jdoe@example.com>
1123 2007, Jane Smith <jsmith@example.org>
1124 2007, Joe Average <joe@example.org>
1125 2007, J. Random User <jr@users.example.com>
1130 Copyright: 2008, Dan Developer <dan@debian.example.com>
1132 Copying and distribution of this package, with or without
1133 modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty
1134 provided the copyright notice and this notice are
1137 Files: debian/patches/theme-diveintomark.patch
1138 Copyright: 2008, Joe Hacker <hack@example.org>
1142 Files: planet/vendor/compat_logging/*
1143 Copyright: 2002, Mark Smith <msmith@example.org>
1147 Files: planet/vendor/httplib2/*
1148 Copyright: 2006, John Brown <brown@example.org>
1150 Unspecified MIT style license.
1152 Files: planet/vendor/feedparser.py
1153 Copyright: 2007, Mike Smith <mike@example.org>
1157 Files: planet/vendor/htmltmpl.py
1158 Copyright: 2004, Thomas Brown <coder@example.org>
1160 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1161 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
1162 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
1163 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
1166 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
1167 useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
1168 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
1169 PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
1172 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
1173 License along with this package; if not, write to the Free
1174 Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor,
1175 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
1177 On Debian systems, the full text of the GNU General Public
1178 License version 2 can be found in the file
1179 `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2'.]]></programlisting>