Incorrect FSF Address error from rpmlint

[Matěj Cepl]

On 2014-12-23, 21:06 GMT, Gerald B. Cox wrote:
> Upstream had a few files that had the old address.  I've 
> noticed the GPLv3 doesn't have an address in it's notice.  Is 
> it sufficient to instruct upstream to just remove the address 
> for GPLv2.  Not that they're going to move again, but seems to 
> be alot of work for everybody if the address is actually 
> required.

Yes, with GPLv3 FSF finally acknowledged the existence of 
Internet :) and it mentions the copy of the license being 
available on the Internet.

GPLv2 is from 1991 and we have to admit that the Internet was 
not widely available or even known most of the time, so the 
preferred method for obtaining the license was the snail mail.

However, I don't think that the “How to use GNU license for your 
own software” has any contractual significance whatsoever in 
using, so I don’t see anything bad in upgrading even the 
instructions for GPLv2 to the Internet age (of course, you have 
to fix the name of the program, and decide about "or any later 
version" clause).

    <one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of 
    what it does.>
    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it 
    and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public 
    License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either 
    version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later 
    version.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be 
    useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied 
    warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 
    PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more 
    details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public 
    License along with Foobar.  If not, see 
    <https://gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.txt>.

Whatever way you decide to resolve the conflict (just fix the 
address, or use this modified license information), I believe 
your best bet is to make a patch (and adding it via normal 
Patch: clause) and send the whole patch upstream for the 
inclusion in the project.

Best,

Matěj