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10 <article class="specification" lang="en" id="copyright-format-1.0">
11 <articleinfo>
12 <title>
13 Machine-readable <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file
14 </title>
15 <subtitle>Version 1.0</subtitle>
16 <releaseinfo>Debian Policy &version;, &date;</releaseinfo>
17 <legalnotice>
18 <para>
19 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
20 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is
21 preserved.
22 </para>
23 </legalnotice>
24 <abstract>
25 <para>
26 Establishes a standard, machine-readable format for
27 <filename>debian/copyright</filename> files within Debian packages
28 to facilitate automated checking and reporting of licenses for
29 packages and sets of packages. This specification was originally
30 drafted as
31 <ulink url="http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep5/">DEP-5</ulink>.
32 </para>
33 </abstract>
34 </articleinfo>
36 <section id="introduction">
37 <title>Introduction</title>
38 <para>
39 This document describes a standard, machine-interpretable format for
40 the <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file. This file is one of
41 the most important files in Debian packaging, but, prior to this
42 specification, no standard format was defined for it and its
43 contents varied tremendously across packages. This made it
44 difficult to automatically extract licensing information.
45 </para>
46 <para>
47 Use of this specification is optional.
48 </para>
49 <para>
50 Nothing in this proposal supersedes or modifies any of the requirements
51 specified in Debian Policy regarding the appropriate detail or
52 granularity to use when documenting copyright and license status in
53 <filename>debian/copyright</filename>.
54 </para>
55 </section>
57 <section id="rationale">
58 <title>Rationale</title>
59 <para>
60 The diversity of free software licenses means that Debian needs to care
61 not only about the freeness of a given work, but also its license's
62 compatibility with the other parts of Debian it uses.
63 </para>
64 <para>
65 The arrival of the GPL version 3, its incompatibility with version 2, and
66 our inability to spot the software where the incompatibility might be
67 problematic is one prominent occurrence of this limitation.
68 </para>
69 <para>
70 There are earlier precedents, also. One is the GPL/OpenSSL
71 incompatibility. Apart from grepping
72 <filename>debian/copyright</filename>, which is prone to numerous false
73 positives (packaging under the GPL but software under another license) or
74 negatives (GPL software but with an <quote>OpenSSL special
75 exception</quote> dual licensing form), there is no reliable way to know
76 which software in Debian might be problematic.
77 </para>
78 <para>
79 And there is more to come. There are issues with shipping GPLv2-only
80 software with a CDDL operating system such as Nexenta. The GPL version 3
81 solves this issue, but not all GPL software can switch to it and we have
82 no way to know how much of Debian should be stripped from such a system.
83 </para>
84 <para>
85 Even where licenses are DFSG-free and mutually compatible, users may
86 wish for a way to identify software under certain licenses (if, for
87 example, they have special reasons to avoid certain licenses).
88 </para>
89 </section>
91 <section id="acknowledgements">
92 <title>Acknowledgements</title>
93 <para>
94 Many people have worked on this specification over the years. The
95 following alphabetical list is incomplete; please suggest missing people:
96 Russ Allbery,
97 Ben Finney,
98 Sam Hocevar,
99 Steve Langasek,
100 Charles Plessy,
101 Noah Slater,
102 Jonas Smedegaard,
103 Lars Wirzenius.
104 </para>
105 </section>
107 <section id="file-syntax">
108 <title>File syntax</title>
109 <para>
110 The <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file must be
111 machine-interpretable, yet human-readable, while communicating all
112 mandated upstream information, copyright notices and licensing details.
113 </para>
114 <para>
115 The syntax of the file is the same as for other Debian control files, as
116 specified in the Debian Policy Manual. See its <ulink
117 url="https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields#s-controlsyntax">section
118 5.1</ulink> for details. Extra fields can be added to any paragraph. No
119 prefixing is necessary or desired, but please avoid names similar to
120 standard ones so that mistakes are easier to catch. Future versions of
121 the <filename>debian/copyright</filename> specification will attempt to
122 avoid conflicting specifications for widely used extra fields.
123 </para>
124 <para>
125 The file consists of two or more paragraphs. At minimum, the file
126 must include one <link linkend="header-paragraph">header
127 paragraph</link> and one <link linkend="files-paragraph">Files
128 paragraph</link>.
129 </para>
130 <para>
131 There are four types of fields. The definition for each field in this
132 document indicates which type of value it takes.
133 </para>
135 <section id="single-line">
136 <title>Single-line values</title>
137 <para>
138 The entire value of a single-line field must be on a single line.
139 For example, the <varname>Format</varname> field has a single-line
140 value specifying the version of the machine-readable format that
141 is used.
142 </para>
143 </section>
145 <section id="white-space-lists">
146 <title>Whitespace-separated lists</title>
147 <para>
148 Field values defined as whitespace-separated lists may be on one
149 line or many. Values in the list are separated by one or more
150 whitespace characters (space, tab, or newline). For example, the
151 <varname>Files</varname> field contains a whitespace-separated
152 list of filename patterns.
153 </para>
154 </section>
156 <section id="line-based-lists">
157 <title>Line-based lists</title>
158 <para>
159 Line-based lists have one value per line. For example, the
160 <varname>Upstream-Contact</varname> field contains a line-based
161 list of contact addresses.
162 </para>
163 </section>
165 <section id="formatted-text">
166 <title>Formatted text</title>
167 <para>
168 Formatted text fields use the same rules as the long description
169 in a package's <varname>Description</varname> field in Debian
170 control files. In some but not all cases, the first line may have
171 special meaning as a synopsis, similar to how the
172 <varname>Description</varname> field uses the first line for the
173 short description. See Debian Policy's section 5.6.13, <ulink
174 url="https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields#s-f-Description"><quote>Description</quote></ulink>,
175 for details. For example, <varname>Disclaimer</varname> is a
176 formatted text field that has no special first line, and
177 <varname>License</varname> is a formatted text field where the
178 first line indicates the short name or names of the licenses.
179 </para>
180 </section>
181 </section>
183 <section id="paragraphs">
184 <title>Paragraphs</title>
185 <para>
186 There are three kinds of paragraphs. The first paragraph in the file
187 is called the <link linkend="header-paragraph">header paragraph</link>.
188 Every other paragraph is either a <link
189 linkend="files-paragraph">Files paragraph</link> or a <link
190 linkend="stand-alone-license-paragraph">stand-alone License
191 paragraph</link>. This is similar to source and binary package
192 paragraphs in <filename>debian/control</filename> files.
193 </para>
195 <section id="header-paragraph">
196 <title>Header paragraph (once)</title>
197 <para>
198 The following fields may be present in a header paragraph.
199 </para>
200 <itemizedlist>
201 <listitem>
202 <para>
203 <link linkend="format-field">Format</link>: required.
204 </para>
205 </listitem>
206 <listitem>
207 <para>
208 <link linkend="upstream-name-field">Upstream-Name</link>:
209 optional.
210 </para>
211 </listitem>
212 <listitem>
213 <para>
214 <link
215 linkend="upstream-contact-field">Upstream-Contact</link>:
216 optional.
217 </para>
218 </listitem>
219 <listitem>
220 <para>
221 <link linkend="source-field">Source</link>: optional.
222 </para>
223 </listitem>
224 <listitem>
225 <para>
226 <link linkend="disclaimer-field">Disclaimer</link>:
227 optional.
228 </para>
229 </listitem>
230 <listitem>
231 <para>
232 <link linkend="comment-field">Comment</link>: optional.
233 </para>
234 </listitem>
235 <listitem>
236 <para>
237 <link linkend="license-field">License</link>: optional.
238 </para>
239 </listitem>
240 <listitem>
241 <para>
242 <link linkend="copyright-field">Copyright</link>: optional.
243 </para>
244 </listitem>
245 </itemizedlist>
246 <para>
247 The <varname>Copyright</varname> and <varname>License</varname>
248 fields in the <emphasis>header paragraph</emphasis> may complement
249 but do not replace the <emphasis>Files paragraphs</emphasis>. If
250 present, they summarise the copyright notices or redistribution
251 terms for the package as a whole. For example, when a work
252 combines a permissive and a copyleft license,
253 <varname>License</varname> can be used to clarify the license
254 terms for the combination. <varname>Copyright</varname> and
255 <varname>License</varname> together can also be used to document a
256 <emphasis>compilation copyright</emphasis> and license. It is
257 possible to use only <varname>License</varname> in the header
258 paragraph, but <varname>Copyright</varname> alone makes no sense.
259 </para>
261 <section id="example-header-paragraph">
262 <title>Example header paragraph</title>
263 <programlisting>Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
264 Upstream-Name: SOFTware
265 Upstream-Contact: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
266 Source: https://www.example.com/software/project</programlisting>
267 </section>
268 </section>
270 <section id="files-paragraph">
271 <title>Files paragraph (repeatable)</title>
272 <para>
273 The declaration of copyright and license for files may consist of
274 one or more paragraphs. In the simplest case, a single paragraph
275 with <literal>Files: *</literal> can be used to state the license
276 and copyright for the whole package. Only the license and
277 copyright information required by the Debian archive is required
278 to be listed here.
279 </para>
280 <para>
281 The following fields may be present in a Files paragraph.
282 </para>
284 <itemizedlist>
285 <listitem>
286 <para>
287 <link linkend="files-field">Files</link>: required.
288 </para>
289 </listitem>
290 <listitem>
291 <para>
292 <link linkend="copyright-field">Copyright</link>: required.
293 </para>
294 </listitem>
295 <listitem>
296 <para>
297 <link linkend="license-field">License</link>: required.
298 </para>
299 </listitem>
300 <listitem>
301 <para>
302 <link linkend="comment-field">Comment</link>: optional.
303 </para>
304 </listitem>
305 </itemizedlist>
307 <section id="example-files-paragraph">
308 <title>Example files paragraphs</title>
309 <programlisting>Files: *
310 Copyright: 1975-2010 Ulla Upstream
311 License: GPL-2+
313 Files: debian/*
314 Copyright: 2010 Daniela Debianizer
315 License: GPL-2+
317 Files: debian/patches/fancy-feature
318 Copyright: 2010 Daniela Debianizer
319 License: GPL-3+
321 Files: */*.1
322 Copyright: 2010 Manuela Manpager
323 License: GPL-2+</programlisting>
324 <para>
325 In this example, all files are copyright by the upstream and licensed
326 under the GPL, version 2 or later, with three exceptions. All the
327 Debian packaging files are copyright by the packager, and further one
328 specific file providing a new feature is licensed differently.
329 Finally, there are some manual pages added to the package, written by
330 a third person.
331 </para>
332 <para>
333 Since the license of the manual pages is the same as the other
334 files in the package, the last paragraph above could instead be
335 combined with the first paragraph, listing both copyright
336 statements in one <varname>Copyright</varname> field. Whether
337 to combine paragraphs with the same license is left to the
338 discretion of the author of the
339 <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file.
340 </para>
341 </section>
342 </section>
344 <section id="stand-alone-license-paragraph">
345 <title>Stand-alone License Paragraph (optional, repeatable)</title>
346 <para>
347 Stand-alone <varname>License</varname> paragraphs can be used to
348 provide the full license text for a given license once, instead of
349 repeating it in each <varname>Files</varname> paragraph that refers to
350 it. The first line of the <varname>License</varname> field must be a
351 single license short name or a short name followed by a license
352 exception.
353 </para>
354 <para>
355 The following fields may be present in a stand-alone License
356 paragraph.
357 </para>
359 <itemizedlist>
360 <listitem>
361 <para>
362 <link linkend="license-field">License</link>: required.
363 </para>
364 </listitem>
365 <listitem>
366 <para>
367 <link linkend="comment-field">Comment</link>: optional.
368 </para>
369 </listitem>
370 </itemizedlist>
371 <example>
372 <title>tri-licensed files</title>
373 <programlisting>Files: src/js/editline/*
374 Copyright: 1993, John Doe
375 1993, Joe Average
376 License: MPL-1.1 or GPL-2 or LGPL-2.1
378 License: MPL-1.1
379 [LICENSE TEXT]
381 License: GPL-2
382 [LICENSE TEXT]
384 License: LGPL-2.1
385 [LICENSE TEXT]</programlisting>
386 </example>
388 <example>
389 <title>recurrent license</title>
390 <programlisting>Files: src/js/editline/*
391 Copyright: 1993, John Doe
392 1993, Joe Average
393 License: MPL-1.1
395 Files: src/js/fdlibm/*
396 Copyright: 1993, J-Random Corporation
397 License: MPL-1.1
399 License: MPL-1.1
400 [LICENSE TEXT]</programlisting>
401 </example>
402 </section>
403 </section>
405 <section id="fields">
406 <title>Fields</title>
407 <para>
408 The following fields are defined for use in
409 <filename>debian/copyright</filename>.
410 </para>
412 <section id="format-field">
413 <title><varname>Format</varname></title>
414 <para>
415 Single-line: URI of the format specification. The field that
416 should be used for the current version of this document is:
417 <programlisting>Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/</programlisting>
418 </para>
419 <para>
420 The original version of this specification used the non-https
421 version of this URL as its URI, namely:
422 <programlisting>Format: http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/</programlisting>
423 Both versions are valid and refer to the same specification, and
424 parsers should interpret both as referencing the same format. The
425 https URI is preferred.
426 </para>
427 </section>
429 <section id="upstream-name-field">
430 <title><varname>Upstream-Name</varname></title>
431 <para>
432 Single-line: the name upstream uses for the software
433 </para>
434 </section>
436 <section id="upstream-contact-field">
437 <title><varname>Upstream-Contact</varname></title>
438 <para>
439 Line-based list: the preferred address(es) to reach the upstream
440 project. May be free-form text, but by convention will usually be
441 written as a list of RFC5322 addresses or URIs.
442 </para>
443 </section>
445 <section id="source-field">
446 <title><varname>Source</varname></title>
447 <para>
448 Formatted text, no synopsis: an explanation of where the upstream
449 source came from. Typically this would be a URL, but it might be a
450 free-form explanation. The Debian Policy section <ulink
451 url="https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s-copyrightfile">12.5</ulink>
452 requires this information unless there are no upstream sources,
453 which is mainly the case for native Debian packages. If the
454 upstream source has been modified to remove non-free parts, that
455 should be explained in this field.
456 </para>
457 </section>
459 <section id="disclaimer-field">
460 <title><varname>Disclaimer</varname></title>
461 <para>
462 Formatted text, no synopsis: this field is used for non-free or
463 contrib packages to state that they are not part of Debian and to
464 explain why (see Debian Policy section <ulink
465 url="https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s-copyrightfile">12.5</ulink>).
466 </para>
467 </section>
469 <section id="comment-field">
470 <title><varname>Comment</varname></title>
471 <para>
472 Formatted text, no synopsis: this field can provide additional
473 information. For example, it might quote an e-mail from upstream
474 justifying why the license is acceptable to the main archive, or an
475 explanation of how this version of the package has been forked from
476 a version known to be DFSG-free, even though the current upstream
477 version is not.
478 </para>
479 </section>
481 <section id="license-field">
482 <title><varname>License</varname></title>
483 <para>
484 Formatted text, with synopsis. In the header paragraph, this field
485 gives the license information for the package as a whole, which may
486 be different or simplified from a combination of all the per-file
487 license information. In a Files paragraph, this field gives the
488 licensing terms for the files listed in the <varname>Files</varname>
489 field for this paragraph. In a stand-alone License paragraph, it
490 gives the licensing terms for those paragraphs which reference it.
491 </para>
492 <para>
493 First line: an abbreviated name for the license, or expression
494 giving alternatives (see the <link linkend="license-short-name">Short
495 name</link> section for a list of standard abbreviations). If
496 there are licenses present in the package without a standard short
497 name, an arbitrary short name may be assigned for these licenses.
498 These arbitrary names are only guaranteed to be unique within a
499 single copyright file.
500 </para>
501 <para>
502 If there are no remaining lines, then all of the short names
503 or short names followed by license exceptions making up the
504 first line must be described in <link
505 linkend="stand-alone-license-paragraph">stand-alone License
506 paragraphs</link>. Otherwise, this field should either
507 include the full text of the license(s) or include a pointer to the
508 license file under <filename>/usr/share/common-licenses</filename>.
509 This field should include all text needed in order to fulfill both
510 Debian Policy's requirement for including a copy of the software's
511 distribution license (<ulink
512 url="https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-docs#s-copyrightfile">12.5</ulink>),
513 and any license requirements to include warranty disclaimers or
514 other notices with the binary package.
515 </para>
516 </section>
518 <section id="copyright-field">
519 <title><varname>Copyright</varname></title>
520 <para>
521 Formatted text, no synopsis: one or more free-form copyright
522 statements. Any formatting is permitted; see the examples below
523 for some ideas for how to structure the field to make it easier to
524 read. In the header paragraph, this field gives the copyright
525 information for the package as a whole, which may be different or
526 simplified from a combination of all the per-file copyright
527 information. In the Files paragraphs, it gives the copyright
528 information that applies to the files matched by the
529 <varname>Files</varname> pattern. If a work has no copyright holder
530 (i.e., it is in the public domain), that information should be
531 recorded here.
532 </para>
533 <para>
534 The <varname>Copyright</varname> field collects all relevant
535 copyright notices for the files of this paragraph. Not all
536 copyright notices may apply to every individual file, and years of
537 publication for one copyright holder may be gathered together. For
538 example, if file A has:
539 <programlisting>Copyright 2008 John Smith
540 Copyright 2009 Angela Watts</programlisting>
541 and file B has:
542 <programlisting>Copyright 2010 Angela Watts</programlisting>
543 a single paragraph may still be used for both files. The
544 <varname>Copyright</varname> field for that paragraph would
545 contain:
546 <programlisting>Copyright 2008 John Smith
547 Copyright 2009, 2010 Angela Watts</programlisting>
548 </para>
549 <para>
550 The <varname>Copyright</varname> field may contain the original
551 copyright statement copied exactly (including the word
552 <quote>Copyright</quote>), or it may shorten the text or merge it
553 with other copyright statements as described above, as long as it
554 does not sacrifice information. Examples in this specification use
555 both forms.
556 </para>
557 </section>
559 <section id="files-field">
560 <title><varname>Files</varname></title>
561 <para>
562 Whitespace-separated list: list of patterns indicating files covered
563 by the license and copyright specified in this paragraph.
564 </para>
565 <para>
566 Filename patterns in the <varname>Files</varname> field are
567 specified using a simplified shell glob syntax. Patterns are
568 separated by whitespace.
569 <itemizedlist>
570 <listitem>
571 <para>
572 Only the wildcards <literal>*</literal> and <literal>?</literal>
573 apply; the former matches any number of characters (including
574 none), the latter a single character. Both match slashs
575 (<literal>/</literal>) and leading dots, unlike shell globs.
576 The pattern <literal>*.in</literal> therefore matches any
577 file whose name ends in <literal>.in</literal> anywhere in
578 the source tree, not just at the top level.
579 </para>
580 </listitem>
581 <listitem>
582 <para>
583 Patterns match pathnames that start at the root of the source
584 tree. Thus, <quote><filename>Makefile.in</filename></quote>
585 matches only the file at the root of the tree, but
586 <quote><filename>*/Makefile.in</filename></quote> matches at
587 any depth.
588 </para>
589 </listitem>
590 <listitem>
591 <para>
592 The backslash (<literal>\</literal>) is used to remove the
593 magic from the next character; see table below.
594 </para>
595 </listitem>
596 </itemizedlist>
597 <informaltable>
598 <tgroup cols="2">
599 <thead>
600 <row>
601 <entry>Escape sequence</entry>
602 <entry>Matches</entry>
603 </row>
604 </thead>
605 <tbody>
606 <row>
607 <entry><literal>\*</literal></entry>
608 <entry>star (asterisk)</entry>
609 </row>
610 <row>
611 <entry><literal>\?</literal></entry>
612 <entry>question mark</entry>
613 </row>
614 <row>
615 <entry><literal>\\</literal></entry>
616 <entry>backslash</entry>
617 </row>
618 </tbody>
619 </tgroup>
620 </informaltable>
621 Any other character following a backslash is an error.
622 </para>
623 <para>
624 This is the same pattern syntax as
625 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>fnmatch</refentrytitle>
626 <manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry> without the
627 <constant>FNM_PATHNAME</constant> flag, or the argument to the
628 <literal>-path</literal> test of the GNU <command>find</command>
629 command, except that <literal>[]</literal> wildcards are not
630 recognized.
631 </para>
632 <para>
633 Multiple <varname>Files</varname> paragraphs are allowed. The last
634 paragraph that matches a particular file applies to it. More
635 general paragraphs should therefore be given first, followed by
636 more specific overrides.
637 </para>
638 <para>
639 Exclusions are only supported by adding <varname>Files</varname>
640 paragraphs to override the previous match.
641 </para>
642 </section>
644 </section>
645 <section id="license-specification">
646 <title>License specification</title>
648 <section id="license-short-name">
649 <title>Short name</title>
650 <para>
651 Much of the value of a machine-parseable copyright file lies in being
652 able to correlate the licenses of multiple pieces of software. To that
653 end, this spec defines standard short names for a number of commonly
654 used licenses, which can be used in the first line of a
655 <varname>License</varname> field.
656 </para>
657 <para>
658 These short names have the specified meanings across all uses of this
659 file format, and <emphasis>must not</emphasis> be used to refer to any
660 other licenses. Parsers may thus rely on these short names referring
661 to the same licenses wherever they occur, without needing to parse or
662 compare the full license text.
663 </para>
664 <para>
665 From time to time, licenses may be added to or removed from the list of
666 standard short names. Such changes in the list of short names will
667 always be accompanied by changes to the version of this standard
668 and to the recommended
669 <varname>Format</varname> value. Implementers who are parsing copyright
670 files should take care not to assume anything about the meaning of
671 license short names for unknown <varname>Format</varname> versions.
672 </para>
673 <para>
674 Use of a standard short name does not override the Debian Policy
675 requirement to include the full license text in
676 <filename>debian/copyright</filename>, nor any requirements in the
677 license of the work regarding reproduction of legal notices. This
678 information must still be included in the <varname>License</varname>
679 field, either in a stand-alone License paragraph or in the relevant
680 files paragraph.
681 </para>
682 <para>
683 For licenses that have multiple versions in use, the short name is
684 formed from the general short name of the license family, followed
685 by a dash and the version number. If the version number is
686 omitted, the lowest version number is implied. When the license
687 grant permits using the terms of any later version of that
688 license, add a plus sign to the end of the short name. For
689 example, the short name <literal>GPL</literal> refers to the GPL
690 version 1 and is equivalent to <literal>GPL-1</literal>, although
691 the latter is clearer and therefore preferred. If the package may
692 be distributed under the GPL version 1 or any later version, use a
693 short name of <literal>GPL-1+</literal>.
694 </para>
695 <para>
696 For <link linkend="spdx">SPDX</link> compatibility, versions with
697 trailing <emphasis>dot-zeroes</emphasis> are considered to be
698 equivalent to versions without (e.g., <quote>2.0.0</quote> is
699 considered equal to <quote>2.0</quote> and <quote>2</quote>).
700 </para>
701 <para>
702 Currently, the full text of the licenses is only available in the
703 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses">SPDX Open Source License
704 Registry</ulink>.
705 </para>
706 <informaltable>
707 <tgroup cols="2">
708 <thead>
709 <row>
710 <entry>Keyword</entry>
711 <entry>Meaning</entry>
712 </row>
713 </thead>
714 <tbody>
715 <row>
716 <entry>public-domain</entry>
717 <entry>
718 No license required for any purpose; the work is not subject to
719 copyright in any jurisdiction.
720 </entry>
721 </row>
722 <row>
723 <entry>
724 Apache
725 </entry>
726 <entry>
727 Apache license
728 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/Apache-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
729 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/Apache-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
730 </entry>
731 </row>
732 <row>
733 <entry>
734 Artistic
735 </entry>
736 <entry>
737 Artistic license
738 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/Artistic-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
739 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/Artistic-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
740 </entry>
741 </row>
742 <row>
743 <entry>
744 BSD-2-clause
745 </entry>
746 <entry>
747 Berkeley software distribution license,
748 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause">2-clause
749 version</ulink>.
750 </entry>
751 </row>
752 <row>
753 <entry>
754 BSD-3-clause
755 </entry>
756 <entry>
757 Berkeley software distribution license,
758 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause">3-clause
759 version</ulink>.
760 </entry>
761 </row>
762 <row>
763 <entry>
764 BSD-4-clause
765 </entry>
766 <entry>
767 Berkeley software distribution license,
768 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause">4-clause
769 version</ulink>.
770 </entry>
771 </row>
772 <row>
773 <entry>
774 ISC
775 </entry>
776 <entry>
777 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/ISC">Internet Software
778 Consortium</ulink>, sometimes also known as the OpenBSD License.
779 </entry>
780 </row>
781 <row>
782 <entry>
783 CC-BY
784 </entry>
785 <entry>
786 Creative Commons Attribution license
787 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
788 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
789 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
790 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
791 </entry>
792 </row>
793 <row>
794 <entry>
795 CC-BY-SA
796 </entry>
797 <entry>
798 Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license
799 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
800 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
801 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
802 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-SA-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
803 </entry>
804 </row>
805 <row>
806 <entry>
807 CC-BY-ND
808 </entry>
809 <entry>
810 Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives license
811 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
812 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
813 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
814 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-ND-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
815 </entry>
816 </row>
817 <row>
818 <entry>
819 CC-BY-NC
820 </entry>
821 <entry>
822 Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license
823 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
824 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
825 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
826 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
827 </entry>
828 </row>
829 <row>
830 <entry>
831 CC-BY-NC-SA
832 </entry>
833 <entry>
834 Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license
835 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
836 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
837 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
838 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
839 </entry>
840 </row>
841 <row>
842 <entry>
843 CC-BY-NC-ND
844 </entry>
845 <entry>
846 Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives
847 license
848 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
849 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
850 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-2.5">2.5</ulink>,
851 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-NC-ND-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
852 </entry>
853 </row>
854 <row>
855 <entry>
856 CC0
857 </entry>
858 <entry>
859 Creative Commons Zero
860 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0">1.0 Universal</ulink>.
861 Omit <quote>Universal</quote> from the license version when
862 forming the short name.
863 </entry>
864 </row>
865 <row>
866 <entry>
867 CDDL
868 </entry>
869 <entry>
870 Common Development and Distribution License
871 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CDDL-1.0">1.0</ulink>.
872 </entry>
873 </row>
874 <row>
875 <entry>
876 CPL
877 </entry>
878 <entry>
879 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/CPL-1.0">Common Public
880 License</ulink>.
881 </entry>
882 </row>
883 <row>
884 <entry>
885 EFL
886 </entry>
887 <entry>
888 The Eiffel Forum License
889 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/EFL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
890 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/EFL-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
891 </entry>
892 </row>
893 <row>
894 <entry>
895 Expat
896 </entry>
897 <entry>
898 The <ulink url="http://www.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt">Expat</ulink>
899 license.
900 </entry>
901 </row>
902 <row>
903 <entry>
904 GPL
905 </entry>
906 <entry>
907 GNU General Public License
908 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
909 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
910 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-3.0">3.0</ulink>.
911 </entry>
912 </row>
913 <row>
914 <entry>
915 LGPL
916 </entry>
917 <entry>
918 GNU Lesser General Public License
919 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1">2.1</ulink>,
920 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-3.0">3.0</ulink>, or
921 GNU Library General Public License
922 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
923 </entry>
924 </row>
925 <row>
926 <entry>
927 GFDL
928 </entry>
929 <entry>
930 GNU Free Documentation License 1.0,
931 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/GFDL-1.1">1.1</ulink>,
932 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/GFDL-1.2">1.2</ulink>, or
933 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/GFDL-1.3">1.3</ulink>.
934 Use GFDL-NIV instead if there are no Front-Cover or
935 Back-Cover Texts or Invariant Sections.
936 </entry>
937 </row>
938 <row>
939 <entry>
940 GFDL-NIV
941 </entry>
942 <entry>
943 GNU Free Documentation License, with no Front-Cover or
944 Back-Cover Texts or Invariant Sections. Use the same
945 version numbers as GFDL.
946 </entry>
947 </row>
948 <row>
949 <entry>
950 LPPL
951 </entry>
952 <entry>
953 <ulink url="https://www.latex-project.org/lppl/">LaTeX Project
954 Public License</ulink>
955 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>,
956 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.1">1.1</ulink>,
957 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.2">1.2</ulink>,
958 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/LPPL-1.3c">1.3c</ulink>.
959 </entry>
960 </row>
961 <row>
962 <entry>
963 MPL
964 </entry>
965 <entry>
966 Mozilla Public License
967 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/MPL-1.1">1.1</ulink>.
968 </entry>
969 </row>
970 <row>
971 <entry>
972 Perl
973 </entry>
974 <entry>
975 <ulink url="https://dev.perl.org/licenses/">Perl</ulink> license
976 (use <quote><literal>GPL-1+ or Artistic-1</literal></quote>
977 instead).
978 </entry>
979 </row>
980 <row>
981 <entry>
982 Python
983 </entry>
984 <entry>
985 Python license
986 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/Python-2.0">2.0</ulink>.
987 </entry>
988 <!-- See https://fossbazaar.org/pipermail/spdx-legal/2011-February/000010.html -->
989 </row>
990 <row>
991 <entry>
992 QPL
993 </entry>
994 <entry>
995 Q Public License <ulink
996 url="https://spdx.org/licenses/QPL-1.0">1.0</ulink>.
997 </entry>
998 </row>
999 <row>
1000 <entry>
1001 W3C
1002 </entry>
1003 <entry>
1004 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/W3C">W3C Software
1005 License</ulink> For more information, consult the
1006 <ulink
1007 url="https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/IPR-FAQ-20000620">W3C
1008 Intellectual Rights FAQ</ulink>.
1009 </entry>
1010 </row>
1011 <row>
1012 <entry>
1013 Zlib
1014 </entry>
1015 <entry>
1016 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/Zlib">
1017 zlib/libpng license</ulink>.
1018 </entry>
1019 </row>
1020 <row>
1021 <entry>
1022 Zope
1023 </entry>
1024 <entry>
1025 Zope Public License 1.0,
1026 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/ZPL-1.1">1.1</ulink>,
1027 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/ZPL-2.0">2.0</ulink>,
1028 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/licenses/ZPL-2.1">2.1</ulink>.
1029 </entry>
1030 </row>
1031 </tbody>
1032 </tgroup>
1033 </informaltable>
1034 <para>
1035 There are <ulink
1036 url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License#Various_versions">many
1037 versions of the MIT license</ulink>. Please use Expat instead, when it
1038 matches.
1039 </para>
1040 <para>
1041 An exception or clarification to a license is signalled in plain text,
1042 by appending <literal>with
1043 <varname><replaceable>keywords</replaceable></varname>
1044 exception</literal> to the short name. This document provides a list
1045 of keywords that must be used when referring to the most frequent
1046 exceptions. When exceptions other than these are in effect that
1047 modify a common license by granting additional permissions, you may
1048 use an arbitrary keyword not taken from the below list of keywords.
1049 When a license differs from a common license because of added
1050 restrictions rather than because of added permissions, a distinct
1051 short name should be used instead of <literal>with
1052 <varname><replaceable>keywords</replaceable></varname>
1053 exception</literal>.
1054 </para>
1055 <para>
1056 Only one exception may be specified for each license within a given
1057 license specification. If more than one exception applies to a single
1058 license, an arbitrary short name indicating that combination of
1059 multiple exceptions must be used instead.
1060 </para>
1061 <para>
1062 The GPL <literal>Font</literal> exception refers to the text added to
1063 the license notice of each file as specified at <ulink
1064 url="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq#FontException">How does the
1065 GPL apply to fonts</ulink>. The precise text corresponding to this
1066 exception is:
1067 <programlisting>As a special exception, if you create a document which uses this font,
1068 and embed this font or unaltered portions of this font into the
1069 document, this font does not by itself cause the resulting document to
1070 be covered by the GNU General Public License. This exception does not
1071 however invalidate any other reasons why the document might be covered
1072 by the GNU General Public License. If you modify this font, you may
1073 extend this exception to your version of the font, but you are not
1074 obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception
1075 statement from your version.</programlisting>
1076 </para>
1077 <para>
1078 The GPL <literal>OpenSSL</literal> exception gives permission to
1079 link GPL-licensed code with the OpenSSL library, which contains
1080 GPL-incompatible clauses. For more information, see <ulink
1081 url="https://www.gnome.org/~markmc/openssl-and-the-gpl">The OpenSSL
1082 License and The GPL</ulink> by Mark McLoughlin and the message
1083 <ulink
1084 url="https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/05/msg00595.html">middleman
1085 software license conflicts with OpenSSL</ulink> by Mark McLoughlin
1086 on the <emphasis>debian-legal</emphasis> mailing list. The text
1087 corresponding to this exception is:
1088 <programlisting>In addition, as a special exception, the copyright holders give
1089 permission to link the code of portions of this program with the
1090 OpenSSL library under certain conditions as described in each
1091 individual source file, and distribute linked combinations including
1092 the two.
1094 You must obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for all
1095 of the code used other than OpenSSL. If you modify file(s) with this
1096 exception, you may extend this exception to your version of the
1097 file(s), but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do
1098 so, delete this exception statement from your version. If you delete
1099 this exception statement from all source files in the program, then
1100 also delete it here.</programlisting>
1101 </para>
1103 <section id="public-domain">
1104 <title>Public domain</title>
1105 <para>
1106 The <varname>License</varname> short name
1107 <literal>public-domain</literal> does not refer to a set of license
1108 terms. There are some works which are not subject to copyright in
1109 any jurisdiction and therefore no license is required for any
1110 purpose covered by copyright law. This short name is an explicit
1111 declaration that the associated files are <quote>in the public
1112 domain</quote>.
1113 </para>
1114 <para>
1115 Widespread misunderstanding about copyright in general, and the
1116 public domain in particular, results in the common assertion that a
1117 work is in the public domain when this is partly or wholly untrue
1118 for that work. The <ulink
1119 url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain">Wikipedia article
1120 on public domain</ulink> is a useful reference for this subject.
1121 </para>
1122 <para>
1123 When the <varname>License</varname> field in a paragraph has the
1124 short name <literal>public-domain</literal>, the remaining lines of
1125 the field <emphasis>must</emphasis> explain exactly what exemption
1126 the corresponding files for that paragraph have from default
1127 copyright restrictions.
1128 </para>
1129 </section>
1130 </section>
1132 <section id="license-syntax">
1133 <title>Syntax</title>
1134 <para>
1135 License names are case-insensitive, and may not contain spaces.
1136 </para>
1137 <para>
1138 In case of multi-licensing, the license short names are separated by
1139 <literal>or</literal> when the user can chose between different
1140 licenses, and by <literal>and</literal> when use of the work must
1141 simultaneously comply with the terms of multiple licenses.
1142 </para>
1143 <para>
1144 For instance, this is a simple, <quote>GPL version 2 or later</quote>
1145 field:
1146 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+</programlisting>
1147 This is a dual-licensed GPL/Artistic work such as Perl:
1148 <programlisting>License: GPL-1+ or Artistic</programlisting>
1149 This is for a file that has both GPL and classic BSD code in it:
1150 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+ and BSD-3-clause</programlisting>
1151 For the most complex cases, a comma is used to disambiguate the
1152 priority of <literal>or</literal>s and <literal>and</literal>s.
1153 The conjunction <quote><literal>and</literal></quote> has priority over
1154 <quote><literal>or</literal></quote> unless preceded by a comma. For
1155 instance:
1156 </para>
1157 <simpara>
1158 <literal>A or B and C</literal> means <literal>A or (B and C)</literal>.
1159 </simpara>
1160 <simpara>
1161 <literal>A or B, and C</literal> means <literal>(A or B) and
1162 C</literal>.
1163 </simpara>
1164 <para>
1165 This is for a file that has Perl code and classic BSD code in it:
1166 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+ or Artistic-2.0, and BSD-3-clause</programlisting>
1167 A <literal>GPL-2+</literal> work with the <literal>OpenSSL</literal>
1168 exception is in effect a dual-licensed work that can be redistributed
1169 either under the <literal>GPL-2+</literal>, or under the
1170 <literal>GPL-2+</literal> with the <literal>OpenSSL</literal>
1171 exception. It is thus expressed as <literal>GPL-2+ with OpenSSL
1172 exception</literal>. A possible <varname>License</varname> field for
1173 such a license is:
1174 <programlisting>License: GPL-2+ with OpenSSL exception
1175 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1176 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
1177 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
1178 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
1179 version.
1180 .
1181 In addition, as a special exception, the author of this
1182 program gives permission to link the code of its
1183 release with the OpenSSL project's "OpenSSL" library (or
1184 with modified versions of it that use the same license as
1185 the "OpenSSL" library), and distribute the linked
1186 executables. You must obey the GNU General Public
1187 License in all respects for all of the code used other
1188 than "OpenSSL". If you modify this file, you may extend
1189 this exception to your version of the file, but you are
1190 not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so,
1191 delete this exception statement from your version.
1192 .
1193 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
1194 useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
1195 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
1196 PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
1197 details.
1198 .
1199 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
1200 License along with this package; if not, write to the Free
1201 Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor,
1202 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
1203 .
1204 On Debian systems, the full text of the GNU General Public
1205 License version 2 can be found in the file
1206 `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2'.</programlisting>
1207 </para>
1208 </section>
1210 <section id="spdx">
1211 <title>SPDX</title>
1212 <para>
1213 <ulink url="https://spdx.org/">SPDX</ulink> is an attempt to standardize
1214 a format for communicating the components, licenses and copyrights
1215 associated with a software package. It and the machine-readable
1216 <filename>debian/copyright</filename> format attempt to be somewhat
1217 compatible. However, the two formats have different aims, and so the
1218 formats are different. The <ulink
1219 url="https://wiki.debian.org/Proposals/CopyrightFormat">DEP5 wiki
1220 page</ulink> will be used to track the differences.
1221 </para>
1222 </section>
1223 </section>
1225 <section id="examples">
1226 <title>Examples</title>
1227 <example>
1228 <title>Simple</title>
1229 <para>
1230 A possible <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file for an
1231 program <quote>X Solitaire</quote> distributed in the Debian
1232 source package <literal>xsol</literal> (this is not a complete or
1233 correct copyright file for the actual <literal>xsol</literal>
1234 package):
1235 <programlisting><![CDATA[
1236 Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
1237 Upstream-Name: X Solitaire
1238 Source: ftp://ftp.example.com/pub/games
1240 Files: *
1241 Copyright: 1998 John Doe <jdoe@example.com>
1242 1998 Jane Smith <jsmith@example.net>
1243 License: GPL-2+
1244 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1245 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
1246 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
1247 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
1248 version.
1249 .
1250 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
1251 useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
1252 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
1253 PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
1254 details.
1255 .
1256 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
1257 License along with this package; if not, write to the Free
1258 Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor,
1259 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
1260 .
1261 On Debian systems, the full text of the GNU General Public
1262 License version 2 can be found in the file
1263 `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2'.
1264 ]]></programlisting>
1265 </para>
1266 </example>
1268 <example>
1269 <title>Complex</title>
1270 <para>
1271 A possible <filename>debian/copyright</filename> file for the program
1272 <quote>Planet Venus</quote>, distributed in the Debian source
1273 package <literal>planet-venus</literal> (this is not a complete or
1274 correct copyright file for the actual
1275 <literal>planet-venus</literal> package):
1276 <programlisting><![CDATA[
1277 Format: https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/copyright-format/1.0/
1278 Upstream-Name: Planet Venus
1279 Upstream-Contact: John Doe <jdoe@example.com>
1280 Source: https://www.example.com/code/venus
1282 Files: *
1283 Copyright: 2008, John Doe <jdoe@example.com>
1284 2007, Jane Smith <jsmith@example.org>
1285 2007, Joe Average <joe@example.org>
1286 2007, J. Random User <jr@users.example.com>
1287 License: PSF-2
1289 Files: debian/*
1290 Copyright: 2008, Dan Developer <dan@debian.example.com>
1291 License: permissive
1292 Copying and distribution of this package, with or without
1293 modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty
1294 provided the copyright notice and this notice are
1295 preserved.
1297 Files: debian/patches/theme-diveintomark.patch
1298 Copyright: 2008, Joe Hacker <hack@example.org>
1299 License: GPL-2+
1301 Files: planet/vendor/compat_logging/*
1302 Copyright: 2002, Mark Smith <msmith@example.org>
1303 License: MIT
1304 [LICENSE TEXT]
1306 Files: planet/vendor/httplib2/*
1307 Copyright: 2006, John Brown <brown@example.org>
1308 License: MIT2
1309 Unspecified MIT style license.
1311 Files: planet/vendor/feedparser.py
1312 Copyright: 2007, Mike Smith <mike@example.org>
1313 License: PSF-2
1315 Files: planet/vendor/htmltmpl.py
1316 Copyright: 2004, Thomas Brown <coder@example.org>
1317 License: GPL-2+
1319 License: PSF-2
1320 [LICENSE TEXT]
1322 License: GPL-2+
1323 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1324 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
1325 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
1326 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
1327 version.
1328 .
1329 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
1330 useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
1331 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
1332 PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
1333 details.
1334 .
1335 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
1336 License along with this package; if not, write to the Free
1337 Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor,
1338 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
1339 .
1340 On Debian systems, the full text of the GNU General Public
1341 License version 2 can be found in the file
1342 `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2'.]]></programlisting>
1343 </para>
1344 </example>
1345 </section>
1346 </article>