Why do so many GNU PL V3 licenses include template text, when one would expect that they be customised for the project?

Ask Fedora
1

Problem

A discussion I had at gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/-/issues/2819#note_2432694444 brought to my attention the sheer amount of unpersonalised (template) license files in an installation of f41 kde respins. Undermentioned is a small section of all I’ve located: [1]

  1. #!/usr/bin/env sh
grep -riI 'name of author' /usr/share

  2. /usr/share/licenses/gstreamer1-plugins-good/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gstreamer1/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gtk-update-icon-cache/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gtk2/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gtk3/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gtk4/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gtkmm3.0/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gupnp-igd/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gupnp/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gutenprint/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gutenprint/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year  name of author
/usr/share/licenses/gwenview/COPYING:    Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gwenview/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
/usr/share/licenses/gzip/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/gzip/COPYING:    <program>  Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/hfsutils/COPYING:    Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/hfsutils/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
/usr/share/licenses/hicolor-icon-theme/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/hicolor-icon-theme/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year  name of author
/usr/share/licenses/highcontrast-icon-theme/LICENSE:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/hostname/gpl-2.0.txt:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/hostname/gpl-2.0.txt:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/hwdata/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/hwdata/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/i2c-tools/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/i2c-tools/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/ibus-chewing/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/ibus-chewing/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/ibus-m17n/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/ibus-m17n/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/iio-sensor-proxy/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/iio-sensor-proxy/COPYING:    <program>  Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/im-chooser-common/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/im-chooser-common/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year  name of author
/usr/share/licenses/ima-evm-utils-libs/COPYING.LGPL:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/imsettings-gsettings/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/imsettings-libs/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/imsettings-plasma/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/imsettings/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/incidenceeditor/GPL-2.0-only.txt:Copyright (C)< yyyy> <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/incidenceeditor/GPL-2.0-only.txt:Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author Gnomovision comes
/usr/share/licenses/incidenceeditor/GPL-2.0-or-later.txt:Copyright (C) <yyyy> <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/incidenceeditor/GPL-2.0-or-later.txt:Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author Gnomovision comes
/usr/share/licenses/incidenceeditor/GPL-3.0-only.txt:Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/incidenceeditor/GPL-3.0-only.txt:<program> Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/incidenceeditor/LGPL-2.0-or-later.txt:Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/initial-setup/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/initial-setup/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/ipcalc/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/ipcalc/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/iproute/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/iproute/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/ipset-libs/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/ipset-libs/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year  name of author
/usr/share/licenses/ipset/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/ipset/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year  name of author
/usr/share/licenses/iptables-libs/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/iptables-libs/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/iputils/gpl-2.0.txt:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/iputils/gpl-2.0.txt:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
/usr/share/licenses/iso-codes/COPYING:    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/isomd5sum/COPYING:    Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/isomd5sum/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
/usr/share/licenses/jbigkit-libs/COPYING:    Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/jbigkit-libs/COPYING:    Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
/usr/share/licenses/kaccounts-integration-qt6/GPL-2.0-only.txt:Copyright (C)< yyyy> <name of author>
/usr/share/licenses/kaccounts-integration-qt6/GPL-2.0-only.txt:Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author Gnomovision comes

Proposed Solution

Would enforcing that new package submissions and updates at least have filled licenses be infeasible? I ask because locating and submitting an actionable bug to each project’s tracker, where they exist and are accessible, certainly is.

  1. gitlab.com/-/snippets/4831394 ↩︎

2

Those are not templates. You’re matching on the example on how to apply the license to a project inside the GNU license text. We cannot touch that since the license text must be reproduced verbatim.

1 Like
3

@ngompa, as in, modified license files shall always be accompanied by an unmodified duplicate? That’d make a lot more sense that so many developers being negligent.

4

No, there are no modified license files because it is not needed.

5

@ngompa, I re-read your answer. I understand now. Thanks. I didn’t expect that to be included inside the license itself.