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I would like to collect all the pictures from the various Ubuntu wallpapers together with their appropriate credits/license. I found how to get the packages thanks to this question and I found where to find the copyright info thanks to this one. Apparently the files are installed in /usr/share/backgrounds/ and the filenames seem to always include the author's name.

However I struggle to with the copyright file /usr/share/doc/<package id>/copyright: it's a very long file with many filenames and authors sorted by license type, but it contains a lot more than the files I can see in the directory (why?), and at first sight it doesn't contain all the files in the dir (at least when I test with grep).

Basically I just want to make sure that the proper author and license are matched with the corresponding picture. Any advice how to interpret this file, or another more convenient source where I could find this info?

Erwan
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1 Answers1

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The copyright file /usr/share/doc/ubuntu-wallpapers-jammy/copyright --as you have discovered-- has multiple sections.

Each section is a different license or version of a license.

Let's do the wallpapers on a 22.04 (Jammy) system as an example:

$ dpkg -S /usr/share/backgrounds
ubuntu-wallpapers-jammy, ubuntu-wallpapers: /usr/share/backgrounds

Let's focus on the ubuntu-wallpapers-jammy package.

$ dpkg -L ubuntu-wallpapers-jammy | grep .jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/Blue_flower_by_Elena_Stravoravdi.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/Cherry_Tree_in_Lakones_by_elenastravoravdi.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/DSC2943_by_kcpru.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/Mirror_by_Uday_Nakade.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/Optical_Fibers_in_Dark_by_Elena_Stravoravdi.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/canvas_by_roytanck.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/jj_dark_by_Hiking93.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/jj_light_by_Hiking93.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/ubuntu2_by_arman1992.jpg
/usr/share/backgrounds/ubuntu_by_arman1992.jpg

That's 10 images to track down in the Copyright file.

You probably got this far on your own. Now for the secret sauce: Check the appropriate license section first

All submissions for the 20.04 wallpaper contest are under a CC-BY-SA-4.0 license, and --sure enough-- all contest submissions are in that section.

The section begins on line 160 of the file. The first line of that section is `Files: 80s_Disco_Dingo_Simulation_by_Abubakar_NK.jpg

Files: 80s_Disco_Dingo_Simulation_by_Abubakar_NK.jpg
       Beijling_park_burial_path_by_Mattias_Andersson.jpg
   ->  Blue_flower_by_Elena_Stravoravdi.jpg
       Capucijnengang_by_Artem_Kavalerov.jpg
   ->  canvas_by_roytanck.jpg
   ->  Cherry_Tree_in_Lakones_by_elenastravoravdi.jpg
       Cramond_Island_by_Keanu_Kerr.jpg
       Disco_Dingo_Alt_Default_by_Abubakar_NK.png
   ->  DSC2943_by_kcpru.jpg
       Ermine_lines_by_Gustavo_Brenner.png
       Flight_dive_by_Nicolas_Silva.png
       Flower_Gate_Bridge_by_Michele_Agostini.jpg
       Frozen_sunset_on_the_lake_by_Manuel_Arslanyan.jpg
   ->  jj_dark_by_Hiking93.jpg
   ->  jj_light_by_Hiking93.jpg
       Milky_Way_by_Paulo_José_Oliveira_Amaro.jpg
   ->  Mirror_by_Uday_Nakade.jpg
       On_the_harbour_by_Víctor_Fernández_Rico.jpg
   ->  Optical_Fibers_in_Dark_by_Elena_Stravoravdi.jpg
       Origin_of_nature_by_Julian_Tomasini.jpg
       Sky_Sparkles_by_Joe_Thompson.jpg
       Staniel_Cay_by_Joseph_Bylund.jpg
       Stargazing_by_Marcel_Kächele.jpg
       Sunset_of_Peloponnesus_by_Simos_Xenitellis.jpg
       Tennis_ball_by_Artem_Kavalerov.jpg
   ->  ubuntu_by_arman1992.jpg
   ->  ubuntu2_by_arman1992.jpg
       Ubuntu_80s_glitch_by_Abubakar_NK.jpg
       Ubuntu_gel_by_Midge_Mantissa_Sinnaeve.jpg
       Water_of_Leith_by_Keanu_Kerr.jpg
       Way_by_Kacper_Ślusarczyk.jpg
Copyright: Abubakar NK
           Arman Esmaeili
           Artem Kavalerov
           Elena Stravoravdi
           Gustavo Brenner
           Hiking93
           Joe Thompson
           Joseph Bylund
           Julian Tomasini
           Kacper Ślusarczyk
           Keanu Kerr
           Manuel Arslanyan
           Marcel Kächele
           Mattias Andersson
           Michele Agostini
           Midge Mantissa Sinnaeve
           Nicolas Silva
           Paulo José Oliveira Amaro
           Roy Tanck
           Simos Xenitellis
           Uday Nakade
           Víctor Fernández Rico
License: CC-BY-SA-4.0
user535733
  • 62,253
  • Thank you! This file format is not very intuitive. So do you know what are the other parts of the file? does it include the filenames from other distributions? – Erwan Oct 31 '22 at 20:33
  • I investigated more thoroughly and found many cases where the files are not listed in the copyright file, for example in ubuntu-wallpapers-maverick or ubuntu-wallpapers-karmic. I guess it's related to the fact these distribs are old? Any idea where I could find the license for these? – Erwan Nov 05 '22 at 18:01
  • AskUbuntu is poorly suited for followup questions. Please open a detailed new question, naming the specific files and showing how you determined that those files are missing from that package's copyright file. – user535733 Nov 05 '22 at 18:11
  • Ok, I wasn't sure since it's quite specific. I asked a new question here, I would be grateful if you could have a look :) – Erwan Nov 06 '22 at 17:03