Re: Removing in-source contribution records contributer

Alejandro Colomar
2025-04-07T23:05:05Z

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[CC -= Amit]

Hi Branden,

On Thu, Feb 13, 2025 at 12:20:58AM +0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 12, 2025 at 05:02:10PM -0600, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> > At 2025-02-12T21:26:20+0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > [...]
> > > > .\" Modified 2004-06-24 by aeb
> > > > .\" Modified, 2004-11-30, after idea from emmanuel.colbus@ensimag.imag.fr
> > > > +.\" Modified 2025-02-12, after correction from <amitpinhass@gmail.com>
> > >
> > > We don't update those anymore. We now rely on the metadata in git(1).
> > >
> > > Every now and then, I consider if I should just remove all of those
> > > lines, to avoid confusing people. If anyone is interested in the
> > > history before git(1), one can certainly look at those lines in old
> > > versions of the pages. Anyone reading the mailing list opposes
> > > removing those lines? (I'll ask again before removing anything, with
> > > a proper subject line.)
>
> Okay, time has come to open this melon. :)
>
> > If you do this, I suggest you replace these lines with something like:
> >
> > .\" See the Git revision history at
> > .\" $URL
> > .\" for records of changes and contributors to this file.
>
> Good idea.

I'm thinking I won't do that. I don't want to add that overhead to each
page. People interested in the history of a page will already have a
look at the git history, and there they'll find the old states of a
page, in which they'll find this information.

And it would require some non-trivial work to add this note
consistently. I'll go with a removal without replacement, I think.

I have the commit already pushed to my git development branch:
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es/src/alx/linux/man-pages/man-pages.git/commit/?h=contrib&id=c64b27120c90aad00f6e698bdf758f11196d97ac>

Have a lovely night!
Alex

> > That way (1) anyone diffing old and new versions don't see what looks
> > like an unmotivated erasure of contributor credits; (2) people who
> > have contributed and been credited don't feel as much of a sting, since
> > they know records continue to be kept in a publicly available (and
> > replicated, distributed place) and (3) future contributors know that
> > they can expect to be treated equitably with past ones.
>
> How about something like this?
>
> diff --git i/man/man2/mount.2 w/man/man2/mount.2
> index 178d59b52..f65c3947f 100644
> --- i/man/man2/mount.2
> +++ w/man/man2/mount.2
> @@ -4,18 +4,8 @@
> .\"
> .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft
> .\"
> -.\" Modified 1996-11-04 by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>
> -.\" Modified 2001-10-13 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> -.\" Added note on historical behavior of MS_NOSUID
> -.\" Modified 2002-05-16 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> -.\" Extensive changes and additions
> -.\" Modified 2002-05-27 by aeb
> -.\" Modified 2002-06-11 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> -.\" Enhanced descriptions of MS_MOVE, MS_BIND, and MS_REMOUNT
> -.\" Modified 2004-06-17 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
> -.\" 2005-05-18, mtk, Added MNT_EXPIRE, plus a few other tidy-ups.
> -.\" 2008-10-06, mtk: move umount*() material into separate umount.2 page.
> -.\" 2008-10-06, mtk: Add discussion of namespaces.
> +.\" See git(1) commit man-pages-6.11^ (2025-02-13, "Remove in-source contribution records")
> +.\" for old records of changes to this file.
> .\"
> .TH mount 2 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
> .SH NAME
>
> I would of course make sure to commit this right before the release, to
> make sure I don't invalidate the reference.
>
>
> Have a lovely night!
> Alex
>
> --
> <https://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>

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