I've always had a sig generator, but until recently it was raw homebrew stuff. Then I found the Signify package, but it didn't do quite what I wanted, so I hacked another feature into it. I emailed the author to tell him about the change, but he didn't respond.

The other thing is that the package is public domain, and I'd rather have my work under a license. My understanding of public domain is that anyone can do anything they want with it, including add their own license to it. So, although I realise this is untenably rude if the author is still out there, I'm considering GPL'ing and adopting the package.

Is this legal, first of all? Am I breaking the 'all linked code must be GPL' in reverse? I don't think I am, because his code will be available more freely than GPL.

Second, what criteria need to be met for a package to be orphaned? Bear in mind I've only just started USING Debian, let alone packaging, so all advice and webpages welcome.

Alexis