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

[Patrick Tasse <patrick.tasse@xxxxxxxxx>]

> The contributor lists have been deemed to not be useful in any way.

Not useful for legal purposes, maybe.

> The contributor's name are already in @author tags

About a quarter of our files don't have any @author tag, and most that do only have the initial author.

> and in Git.

Not always. Older files, files that have been split, don't have every contributor in their git history.

> I have yet to hear a sound argument for 3)

I am sorry to hear that you don't think any of the previously stated arguments are sound.

Best regards,

Patrick

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 5:20 PM, Alexandre Montplaisir <alexmonthy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2015-08-17 11:16 AM, Bernd Hufmann wrote:

Thinking about it for a while and following the discussions on the corresponding bug 435933 and this mailing list, I think that we should

1) not remove any existing entries from existing contributor lists

This I don't completely agree, but I can understand. We may not want to touch the "legacy" parts. I also agree with Marc-André's point that if they were to be removed, it should be done in one go. But I don't think anyone has the patience to do that, not even myself ;)

2) not require entries to the contributor list
3) allow new entries to the contributor list if a contributor would like to do so

This I have a harder time understanding. As a project this is something we can enforce, just like coding style. The contributor lists have been deemed to not be useful in any way. The contributor's name are already in @author tags and in Git.

Unlike point 1), which has the "status quo" argument going for it, I have yet to hear a sound argument for 3), other than "CDT and Platform do it".


Cheers,
Alex

/Bernd

On 08/14/2015 03:43 PM, Marc-André Laperle wrote:

Woops, double-negation. I think I meant "We could just not encourage people to add their names".

________________________________________
From: tracecompass-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [tracecompass-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] on behalf of Marc-André Laperle [marc-andre.laperle@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 06 August 2015 3:38 PM
To: tracecompass developer discussions
Subject: Re: [tracecompass-dev] Removing contributor list from    copyright       header

If we remove them as we go, it will make patches bigger for not much reason (like unrelated formatting changes). I think I'd rather not touch them at all or remove them all at the same time. We could just not encourage people to not add their names. I guess this is more or less the approach of the Platform/CDT.

Marc-Andre

________________________________________
From: tracecompass-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [tracecompass-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] on behalf of Alexandre Montplaisir [alexmonthy@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 06 August 2015 3:16 PM
To: Martin.Oberhuber@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: tracecompass developer discussions
Subject: Re: [tracecompass-dev] Removing contributor list from copyright       header

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

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