Re: [gentoo-project] rfc: copyright attribution clarifications

[Andrew Savchenko <bircoph@gentoo.org>]

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On Wed, 14 Nov 2018 07:24:28 -0800 Rich Freeman wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 6:45 AM Andrew Savchenko <bircoph@gentoo.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, 14 Nov 2018 07:50:48 -0800 Rich Freeman wrote:
> > > On Tue, Nov 13, 2018 at 6:46 PM William Hubbs <williamh@gentoo.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Nov 13, 2018 at 06:17:17PM -0800, Rich Freeman wrote:
> > > > > On Tue, Nov 13, 2018 at 10:32 AM William Hubbs <williamh@gentoo.org> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > >
> > > Give me an example of a Linux kernel source file that contains a
> > > multiline table of years and copyright holders.  At best you'll find
> > > random notices scattered around files in my experience, mostly because
> > > of how the code was pulled in from outside.
> >
> > Sure, from line 4 to line 10:
> > https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/char/random.c
> >
> > Multiline table with copyright holders and separate years for each
> > one.
> 
> Sure, now look at the very next file in the same directory:
> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/char/raw.c
> 
> No copyright notice at all.

And there is nothing wrong with this. The point of my link was to
prove that multiline copyright notices are used in well known
projects.

> > > > Look anywhere outside the Gentoo tree. For that matter, take the Linux
> > > > kernel, or even in the systemd source, there are several places with
> > > > multiple copyright notices in them.
> > >
> > > Find me any project that organizes these into tables with years and
> > > copyright holders at the top of the file consistently as a matter of
> > > policy.  As far as I can tell the Linux project has no consistent
> > > policy on this front, and systemd inherited numerous outside source
> > > trees as its scope expanded.
> >
> > We are not talking about demanding multiline headers for each
> > ebuild, we are talking about a policy allowing such headers if
> > necessary. This is the essentially same as Linux kernel does.
> 
> The Linux kernel has no policy at all regarding copyright notices.
> So, they allow anything and everything as far as I can tell.  Or, if
> they apply any filters it is just at the individual committer level as
> code trickles its way up.

It doesn't matter if they have a written policy or not. It is
matter that such headers are allowed.

And please show me the FOSS project other than Gentoo or its
derivatives which requires single line copyright header and
explicitly forbids multiline copyright notices.


Best regards,
Andrew Savchenko

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