Hello mentors,

I am currently working on updating a package for Debian that is a few
versions out of date, but I've noticed that the debian/copyright file is
also a little out of date. Looking through the diff between the last
release and this one, there's no apparent change in license or copyright
beyond a bump in the year. I didn't see any other new files either that
would need to be called out. Here's the main copyright stanza as it is
now:

Files: *
Copyright: 2019–2021 itchyny <itchyny@hatena.ne.jp>
License: Expat

Files: debian/*
Copyright: 2021 Anthony Fok <foka@debian.org>
License: Expat
Comment: Debian packaging is licensed under the same terms as upstream

First question is, is it standard practice to bump the copyright file
on the first release of a package in a new year? I believe I've seen
that elsewhere, but it doesn't always seem to be followed.

Second, I was going to bump the first stanza to be "2019-2024 itchyny"
to match the copyright in the upstream source and last release date of
the package as opposed to just making it go to 2025 right now. The
bigger question is what should I do with the second stanza. Is there a
Debian best practice for this?

Should I just bump it to 2025 for the original maintainer? Should I add
a copyright for the team instead? Should I instead add myself if I plan
to take over maintainership? Or just leave it as is and not worry about
it like the first stanza?

I should add, I am asking this more in general with helping with
packaging when I run into an out-of-date copyright file. I am not
currently planning on taking over maintainership of his package unless
he decides he wants to move on to bigger and better things. :-)

--
Loren M. Lang
lorenl@north-winds.org
http://www.north-winds.org/
IRC: penguin359


Public Key: http://www.north-winds.org/lorenl_pubkey.asc
Fingerprint: 7896 E099 9FC7 9F6C E0ED E103 222D F356 A57A 98FA

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Yes the copyright file should be kept up to date.

You can bump the year if the authors are the same.

For debian if you are now owning copyright you add a line with yourself and
the years of your contributions.

--
Salvo Tomaselli

"Io non mi sento obbligato a credere che lo stesso Dio che ci ha dotato di senso, ragione ed intelletto intendesse che noi ne facessimo a meno."
-- Galileo Galilei

https://ltworf.codeberg.page/
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