Re: [tracecompass-dev] Removing contributor list from copyright header

[Alexandre Montplaisir <alexmonthy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for providing this insight!

First, just so it's clear to everyone, I am *not* suggesting that we 
remove the copyright headers entirely! These are very important to have! 
I am only talking about the contributor list, which is the 
"Contributors:" line and the ones below listing a kind of changelog of 
every file.

Indeed, what I am proposing for Trace Compass here is slightly different 
than what CDT and Platform are suggesting. CDT and Platform are making 
those lists optional. I personally feel that the contributor lists are 
superfluous, and that our project could (if the other committers agree 
of course) enforce to not use them at all. It would remain compatible 
with Eclipse's template.


On 2015-08-06 02:39 PM, Oberhuber, Martin wrote:
> [...]
> 1. for some contributors, having their name listed in the Copyright Header is a small signal of appreciation.

I can totally understand this. However, the copyright header is supposed 
to list copyright holders, it is only there for legal reasons. The git 
logs (author and sign-off lines) are arguably a better place to put 
contributor appreciation.

> 2. the copyright headers never claimed to be complete or accurate, since it always said "... and others" in the first line.

I find this problematic. Copyright headers are supposed to be complete 
and accurate. OSS licenses depend on copyright laws to be enforceable, 
and while IANAL, I don't think "and others" holds a meaning as strong as 
explicitly listing all copyright holders. As I mentioned previously in 
[1], I think this is a flaw in the current copyright header template.

>      Thus there is no urgency in pruning or cleaning them.

Of course, there is no rush to remove the existing contributor lists.


Cheers,
Alexandre

[1] https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=435933#c8