Re: Removing in-source contribution records contributer

Alejandro Colomar
2025-05-09T14:39:08Z

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Hi Dave,

On Fri, May 09, 2025 at 03:14:57PM +0100, Dave Martin wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, May 09, 2025 at 02:54:31PM +0200, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I've added to BCC everyone whose copyright notices have been removed
> > (those that noted an email). The full thread for this discussion can be
> > found here:
> > <https://lore.kernel.org/linux-man/jpin2dbnp5vpitnh7l4qmvkamzq3h3xljzsznrudgioox3nn72@57uybxbe3h4p/T/#u>
> >
> > Please let me know if it's okay to you to transform your copyright
> > notices to make them uniform? That is, do you approve
> > <https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/commit/?id=9f2986c34166085225bb5606ebfd4952054e1657>
> > in what affects you?
>
>
> Should the one-line replacement statement in each file refer back to
> the CREDITS file?

I prefer not, because then someone can copy the files to a different
repository, without needing to modify the notices (they might take the
CREDITS file as CREDITS_Linux-man-pages).

> Also, nothing seems to say that anyone listed in CREDITS actually
> contributed copyrightable material to the project (as opposed to, say,
> review effort, moral support or free pizza).

I initially planned to include reviewers, etc. into CREDITS. While
doing that, I realized that wasn't easy, because the file would be huge,
and would need to be updated too frequently; plus git(1) does a better
job of documenting that with the Reviewed-by, Cc, and other tags.

> Renaming the CREDITS file to AUTHORS and/or clarifying this in a brief
> top-level LICENSE / COPYING file might make the meaning clearer?

Yes, now that I discarded the idea of crediting *all* contributors, I
agree this file should be renamed to AUTHORS. Regarding a file solely
to clarify that the AUTHORS file holds the copyright holders of the
project, I guess by calling it AUTHORS it would already be obvious. I'm
hesitant to add another file for explaining that because the more
uppercase files there are in the root of the repo, the harder it is to
understand their relationship. However, I can add something in the
README, where I already document what each file is.

> Either way, ack for the changes affecting me.

Thanks!

Have a lovely day!
Alex

>
> [...]
>
> Cheers
> ---Dave
>

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