[Fedora-packaging] Using Debian packaging bits in Fedora packages

[Yaakov Nemoy]

2009/10/24 Mary Ellen Foster <mefoster at gmail.com>:
> I was just wondering -- is there a policy on using bits of Debian
> packages in Fedora packages? As a concrete example, if Debian has
> already packaged a Java library and has written a build.xml file
> (essentially, a Makefile) for building it, am I allowed to include
> that file in my package? Should I apply the whole Debian patch
> (complete with upstream URL) and then copy the build.xml to where it
> needs to be, or can I just grab the build.xml file itself and include
> it as a source?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions,

Not only is thsi a good idea, but there are ways to take this further.
We had a little distro mini summit at the Google Summer of Code Mentor
Summit, and i think the one big takeaway impression i had is that we
would all like to see more cooperation between distros. With that in
mind, why not also email the debian maintainer(s) and let him/her/them
know you're copying their file. Then offer to collaborate in the
future. If you can at least keep each other informed about possible
changes either of you need to make, it means we'll have better and
more consistent packages in both Fedora and Debian.

-Yaakov