Re: Two copyright notices missing in 6.20?

[Alejandro Colomar <alx+linux-man@kernel.org>]

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Hi Carlos,

> Date: 2026-11-03 09:55:31-0500
> From: Carlos O'Donell <carlos@redhat.com>
>
[...]
> > Did I miss any?
> 
> Yes, 3, but I will also note the remaining 4 topics that came from the audit.
> 
> (1) Copyright statements for Michael Kerrisk
> 
> sync.2:
> \" Copyright (c) 1992 Drew Eckhardt (drew@cs.colorado.edu), March 28, 1992
> .\" and Copyright (c) 2011 Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> 
> select.2:
> .\" This manpage is copyright (C) 1992 Drew Eckhardt,
> .\"     copyright (C) 1995 Michael Shields,
> .\"     copyright (C) 2001 Paul Sheer,
> .\"     copyright (C) 2006, 2019 Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> 
> epoll_ctl.2:
> .\"  Copyright (C) 2003  Davide Libenzi
> .\"  Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
> .\" and Copyright 2009, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 Michael Kerrisk <tk.manpages@gmail.com>
> 
> May you please add these 3 back for Michael?

Sure; thanks!  Will do tonight.

> (2) Removal of Linux Foundation copyright statements
> 
> There were ~116 of Linux Foundation copyright notices present that were removed.

I'm waiting for them to approve it formally.  I expect they will.

> e.g.
> a1eaacb1a5 man7/signal.7     (Alejandro Colomar    2022-11-09 16:36:36 +0100    1) '\" t
> ^fea681daf man7/signal.7     (Michael Kerrisk      2004-11-03 13:51:07 +0000    2) .\" Copyright (c) 1993 by Thomas Koenig (ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de)
> f527d6fe30 man7/signal.7     (Michael Kerrisk      2020-11-12 16:36:34 +0100    3) .\" and Copyright (c) 2002, 2006, 2020 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> 743bc3957a man7/signal.7     (Michael Kerrisk      2008-07-04 14:36:28 +0000    4) .\" and Copyright (c) 2008 Linux Foundation, written by Michael Kerrisk
> 743bc3957a man7/signal.7     (Michael Kerrisk      2008-07-04 14:36:28 +0000    5) .\"     <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> 
> a1eaacb1a5 man7/signal.7     (Alejandro Colomar    2022-11-09 16:36:36 +0100    1) '\" t
> 73ec1f03be man/man7/signal.7 (Alejandro Colomar    2025-11-21 01:08:05 +0100    2) .\" Copyright 1993, Thomas Koenig <ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>
> 73ec1f03be man/man7/signal.7 (Alejandro Colomar    2025-11-21 01:08:05 +0100    3) .\" Copyright 2002-2020, Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> f99f884ddb man/man7/signal.7 (Alejandro Colomar    2025-05-17 15:18:26 +0200    4) .\" Copyright, the authors of the Linux man-pages project
> ^fea681daf man7/signal.7     (Michael Kerrisk      2004-11-03 13:51:07 +0000    5) .\"
> 
> Did the project get permission from the foundation for the removal?

Not yet.

> (3) Collapsed years
> 
> Michael's copyright status collapsed from 2002, 2006, 20220 to 2002-2020.
> 
> Were additional contributions made in the intervening years?

I don't know.  I suspect there are, even though he probably didn't
consider them worthy of copyright.

> If there were no such contributions then the years should be kept distinct.

I think I disagree.  The copyright dates are only meaningful as a start
and an end.  One could also argue that 2005 means 2005-01..2005-12, but
there might have been contributions only in 2005-07.  Is it legally
meaningful to say 2002, 2004 in a way that 2002-07, 2002-09, 2004-05
isn't?  And is it legally meaningful to say 2002-2004 instead of any of
the above?

> 
> Only ranges like 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 etc. should be collapsed into a contiguous range e.g. 2002-2005.
> 
> May you please correct the collapsed ranges?

I'd really like to avoid this.

> (4) SPDX identifiers
> 
> With Linus' clause restored, the SPDX identifier for setreuid.2 is not correct.
> 
> The original text read:
> .\" Portions extracted from linux/kernel/sys.c:
> .\"             Copyright (C) 1991, 1992  Linus Torvalds
> .\"             May be distributed under the GNU General Public License
> 
> Which makes this SPDX identifier incorrect:
> .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-4-Clause-UC
> 
> Should include GPL?

Indeed.

> Likewise bind.2.
> 
> Likewise connect.2.
> 
> Likewise iopl.2 implied GPL.
> 
> Likewise subpage_prot.2 implied GPL.
> 
> May you please update 5 pages with GPL notices?

Thanks!  I'll GPL these files tonight.

> 
> Likewise signbit.3, significand.3, and memcpy.3 are GFDL derivatives.
> - These should be rewritten from scratch or GFDL front-matter invariant requirements apply.

Ouch!  Indeed.

> 
> The man-pages project should not copy from the glibc manual
> due to the GFDL front-matter invariant requirements, and that
> GFDL cannot be combined with GPL.

Agree.  I'll try to rewrite them from scratch.

memcpy(3) will be easier, because I know the page very well (and I've
already rewritten most of it from scratch; I guess the only remnants are
in CAVEATS).  The others, I'll need to learn about them before
rewriting.  I'll use the BSD pages to learn about these APIs.

> (5) Uncertain provenance
> 
> Restore the des_crypt.3 uncertain provenance header:
> 
> .\" However, the above header line suggests that this file in fact is
> .\" Copyright Sun Microsystems, Inc (and is provided for unrestricted use,
> .\" see other Sun RPC sources).
> 
> Or conclusively resolve the provenance issue.
> 
> I'd leave the SPDX-header as-is because Eric's statement can be seen as authoritative
> over the uncertain provenance.
> 
> Likewise login.3 uncertain GFDL.
> 
> Likewise remove.3 which should include copyright notices from unlink.2 as a derived work.
> 
> May we please add back the uncertain text notes?

Okay.

> 
> Were any of these uncertain notices resolved?

Some of them might have been resolved due to the affected text being
removed.  It's probably not worth the effort, so I think it might be
easier to just restore them (even if maybe not relevant anymore).


Cheers,
Alex

> 
> -- 
> Cheers,
> Carlos.
> 
> 

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

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