Arch Linux

HurricanePootis

Member

Registered: 2020-10-16

Posts: 34

Setting up a reuse compliant package

Hello,

According to the AUR submission guidelines, if I want my package to be eligible to be included upstream, I need to make it following the Arch package's guideline for for Package Source Licenses.

Let's say I am working on one of my AUR packages, azahar. I do pkgctl license setup, and it generates the following:

drwxr-xr-x    - hurricane 20 Jan 12:13 .git
drwxr-xr-x    - hurricane 20 Jan 12:27 LICENSES
.rw-r--r--   75 hurricane 28 Dec  2025 .nvchecker.toml
.rw-r--r-- 1.1k hurricane 20 Jan 12:13 .SRCINFO
.rw-r--r-- 1.0k hurricane 28 Dec  2025 azahar.install
.rw-r--r--  646 hurricane 20 Jan 12:27 LICENSE
.rw-r--r-- 2.5k hurricane 20 Jan 12:13 PKGBUILD
.rw-r--r--  375 hurricane 20 Jan 12:27 REUSE.toml

Inside of the REUSE.toml file is the following:

version = 1

[[annotations]]
path = [
    "PKGBUILD",
    "README.md",
    "keys/**",
    ".SRCINFO",
    ".nvchecker.toml",
    "*.install",
    "*.sysusers",
    "*.tmpfiles",
    "*.logrotate",
    "*.pam",
    "*.service",
    "*.socket",
    "*.timer",
    "*.desktop",
    "*.hook",
]
SPDX-FileCopyrightText = "Arch Linux contributors"
SPDX-License-Identifier = "0BSD"

Should I change the FileCopyrightText to my own name since I am the one who created the package? I think pkgctl defaults to "Arch Linux contributors" since this is technically a devtool for upstream packages. Furthermore, is there a way to automate the addition of these tags to the files within my repository? I don't wish to manually add these tags for almost 200 packages lol.

Edit: I just read the reuse specification, and it says that since there is a REUSE.toml, I don't have to add the license information to the top of each file. Still, I should be changing it from "Arch Linux Contributors" to myself, right?

Last edited by HurricanePootis (2026-01-20 18:34:41)

twelveeighty

Member

Registered: 2011-09-04

Posts: 1,428

Re: Setting up a reuse compliant package

Still, I should be changing it from "Arch Linux Contributors" to myself, right?

Strictly speaking, if you put yourself there as the copyright holder, then if the Arch Devs wanted to adopt your AUR package into [extra] they would have to ask your permission if they wanted to change the copyright to "Arch Linux contributors". I do not know if changing SPDX-FileCopyrightText for packages entering [extra] is important for the devs or if they are even concerned with asking permission if they change it.

Since your attribution is already in the PKGBUILD as # Maintainer or # Contributor, it might be the most practical if you keep "Arch Linux Contributors" in SPDX-FileCopyrightText applied to PKGBUILD. This is of course very different from the copyright/license as it applies to the (upstream) package itself.

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,730

Re: Setting up a reuse compliant package

Arch Linux Contributors is rather vague but since its a devtools default its unlikely to incude aur submitters/maintainers .

I'd put your name there.
In case you want to make it easy for members of "Arch linux Contributors" to adopt it to an official repo , just add them.

Something like

SPDX-FileCopyrightText = "HurricanePootis, Arch Linux contributors"

(not sure of the syntax)

---

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Try clean chroot manager by graysky