[bug-gettext] [bug #55733] The scancode program does not grok "This file is distributed under the same license as ..."

[Bruno Haible]

Update of bug #55733 (project gettext):

                  Status:                    None => Not a Bug              
             Open/Closed:                    Open => Closed                 

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Follow-up Comment #1:

License notices are primarily meant for humans, including lawyers. A statement
like "This file is distributed under the same license as the cpufrequtils
package." is perfectly clear and unambiguous to humans, including lawyers.

A PO file MUST have a license notice, otherwise it cannot be distributed and
installed with the package. The only other option would be to copy the
license's text to the PO file, and this would mean additional trouble:

1. More work for the developers who gettextize their package.
2. Translators would need to learn about licenses, differences between GPLv2
and GPLv2+ and so on.
3. Trouble when the package changes its license.

This sentence "This file is distributed under the same license as ..." is
fulfilling its goal: it has not caused trouble between developers and
translators in the last ca. 20 years.

> I might be able to deal with it somehow.
So, please deal with it somehow.

The text "# This file is distributed under the same license as the PACKAGE
package." is template text. When you encounter it, it indicates incomplete
adaptation of the package for use with gettext. Please point the developers to
this section of the gettext manual:
https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/po_002fMakevars.html

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