Commit | Line | Data |
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d0278ce8 | 1 | How to Maintain Copyright Years for GNU Emacs |
a9c2d46a | 2 | (see also file "copyright" in this directory) |
a85732e6 | 3 | |
d0278ce8 | 4 | "Our lawyer says it is ok if we add, to each file that has been in Emacs |
631e2c0f | 5 | since Emacs 21 came out in 2001, all the subsequent years[1]. We don't |
d0278ce8 TTN |
6 | need to check whether *that file* was changed in those years. |
7 | It's sufficient that *Emacs* was changed in those years (and it was!). | |
a85732e6 | 8 | |
d0278ce8 TTN |
9 | For those files that have been added since then, we should add |
10 | the year it was added to Emacs, and all subsequent years." | |
a85732e6 | 11 | |
d0278ce8 | 12 | --RMS, 2005-07-13 |
a85732e6 | 13 | |
631e2c0f GM |
14 | [1] Note that this includes 2001 - see |
15 | <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-pretest-bug/2006-12/msg00119.html> | |
16 | ||
d0278ce8 | 17 | |
1f02059f TTN |
18 | For the refcards under etc/, it's ok to simply use the latest year |
19 | (typically in a `\def\year{YEAR}' expression) for the rendered copyright | |
20 | notice, while maintaining the full list of years in the copyright notice | |
21 | in the comments. | |
22 | ||
d0278ce8 TTN |
23 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
24 | ||
25 | ||
26 | Following is the policy that we tried to write down one time (mid 2005). | |
27 | Although it is incorrect, we keep it around to remind us how complicated | |
28 | things used to be (and may become in the future). | |
e5841459 TTN |
29 | |
30 | ||
31 | Principle: Individual files need to have the year of the release | |
32 | in the copyright notice if there is significant change. | |
33 | ||
34 | ||
35 | Practice: | |
36 | ||
37 | - individual files | |
38 | - each must be examined, along w/ its history, by a human | |
39 | - automated tools facilitate but can never replace this process | |
40 | ||
41 | - year of the release | |
42 | - may be different from year of file introduction, | |
43 | or year of last significant change | |
44 | - sometimes the release year slips, leaving a file w/ prematurely | |
45 | marked release year => need update (e.g., s/2004/2005/ for Emacs 22) | |
46 | - intervening years (between releases) are not valid and may cause | |
47 | embarrassment later in case of dispute => remove (however, see next) | |
48 | - years for new files (merged, contributed) that have been separately | |
49 | published are valid even if between releases => leave alone | |
50 | ||
51 | - significant change | |
52 | - insignificant | |
53 | - whitespace | |
54 | - copyright notice | |
55 | - version control tags | |
56 | - simple var/func renaming | |
57 | - in-file reorganization/reordering | |
58 | - typos | |
59 | - small bugfixes | |
60 | - small docfixes | |
61 | - filename renaming | |
62 | - most everything else is significant | |
63 | - change to interface | |
64 | - change in functionality | |
65 | - new file | |
66 | - many small changes may be significant in aggregate | |
67 | ||
68 | - when in doubt, ask (and update these guidelines -- thanks!) | |
69 | ||
70 | - sometimes people make mistakes | |
71 | - if they have not read these guidelines, point them here | |
72 | - if the guidelines are not helpful, improve the guidelines |