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When doing a componentized CPack build with multiple trees (ie. via CPACK_INSTALL_CMAKE_PROJECTS) it is not possible to externally manage the copyright files. Ubuntu/Debian policy, enforced by lintian, requires that every package have a /usr/share/doc/<package-name>/copyright file, but adding install() calls directly to the project presumes a component-name-to-package-name mapping. If you're trying to package multiple components together in a group, you're out of luck.

I propose creating variables CPACK_DEBIAN_RESOURCE_FILE_LICENSE and CPACK_DEBIAN_<COMPONENT>_RESOURCE_FILE_LICENSE that configure their target files to the mandated path (/usr/share/doc/<package-name>/copyright). They could take their default value from CPACK_RESOURCE_FILE_LICENSE (with a policy) or do nothing if not set.

It would be especially useful if the copyright files could be configured with packaging variables available: @CPACK_PACKAGE_NAME@, @CPACK_PACKAGE_CONTACT@, @CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_HOMEPAGE@, etc.

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I'm currently hacking around this with a pre-build script (CPACK_PRE_BUILD_SCRIPTS) that looks like:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.19)

foreach(comp IN LISTS CPACK_COMPONENTS_ALL)
  string(TOUPPER "CPACK_DEBIAN_${comp}_PACKAGE_NAME" package_name_var)
  string(TOLOWER "${${package_name_var}}" package_name)
  set(copyright_dir "${CPACK_TEMPORARY_DIRECTORY}/${comp}/usr/share/doc/${package_name}")
  configure_file("${CPACK_RESOURCE_FILE_LICENSE}" "${copyright_dir}/copyright" 
                 @ONLY NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS)
endforeach()

Of course this works for me only because I happen to know all the intermediate variables exist.