r43258 - /website/copyright.pod

[jawnsy-guest at users.alioth.debian.org]

Author: jawnsy-guest
Date: Sat Aug 29 21:27:50 2009
New Revision: 43258

URL: http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/?sc=1&rev=43258
Log:
Add a sample letter to send in case of missing copyright info

Modified:
    website/copyright.pod

Modified: website/copyright.pod
URL: http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/website/copyright.pod?rev=43258&op=diff
==============================================================================
--- website/copyright.pod (original)
+++ website/copyright.pod Sat Aug 29 21:27:50 2009
@@ -265,6 +265,45 @@
 
 =end html
 
+=head1 MISSING INFORMATION
+
+Sometimes an upstream author will be missing some or all of the information
+required. It is important to have all of the copyright information; for new
+packages, the ftp-master team will reject packages that do not have proper
+copyright and licensing information. It's important to do this in order to
+ensure we comply with Debian Free Software Guidelines. Here is a sample
+message you can send via the CPAN Request Tracker (http://rt.cpan.org) or
+email:
+
+    Hi:
+
+    While packaging your module for Debian, I noticed that your module
+    doesn't seem to mention [copyright information, or license information,
+    or both].
+
+    In Debian we need copyright/license information for all packages we
+    upload. Could you give us (replying to this bug report is fine): years
+    of copyright, copyright holders' names, copyright holders' e-mail
+    addresses. Unfortunately without this information we cannot upload it.
+
+    This is more than just a Debian issue. I'm not a lawyer, but it's my
+    understanding that both copyright and licensing information is vital
+    for the continued success of open source software. Copyright is what
+    allows you to assert a license, and a license is what ensures open
+    source remains open source, and that users can make use of your software.
+    A great article discussing some of this is "What is Copyleft?" by
+    Richard Stallman: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
+
+    Thanks for releasing your work to the CPAN. I apologize in advance for
+    the noise, as I understand that the last thing most authors want to
+    deal with is legal administrivia like this. I do hope, however, that
+    you could (in your continued generosity) help us with this request.
+
+    Cheers,
+
+    Your Name
+    [Optional: add "On behalf of the pkg-perl team"]
+
 =head1 LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT
 
 Copyright (c) 2009 Debian Perl Group. All rights reserved.