Re: [gentoo-project] [RFC] GLEP 76: Copyright Policy

[Michał Górny]

W dniu pon, 11.06.2018 o godzinie 12∶25 -0400, użytkownik NP-Hardass
napisał:
> On 06/10/2018 04:34 PM, Ulrich Mueller wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Copyright Attribution
> > ---------------------
> >
> > All files included in Gentoo projects must contain an appropriate
> > copyright notice, as defined by this policy.
> >
> > A proper copyright notice appears near the top of the file, and reads::
> >
> >     Copyright YEARS LARGEST-CONTRIBUTOR [OTHER-CONTRIBUTORS] and others
> >
> > The largest contributor is whatever entity owns copyright to some
> > portion of the largest number of lines in the file.  Additional
> > contributors can be listed, but this is neither required nor
> > recommended.  The "and others" text may be omitted if the explicitly
> > listed contributors hold copyright to the entire file.
>
> Why is this not recommended? Here are a couple of scenarios that came to
> mind that lead to me to question how that would play out:
> If developer A writes 51% of the lines of an ebuild and developer B
> writes 49%, should B not be listed?
> What if all the metadata lines defining variables consists of 75% of the
> file and was written by A, but the core functionality of the ebuild (25%
> by size) was written by B?
> If A writes an ebuild, and B replaces a majority (>50%) of the ebuild,
> should B remove A from attribution?
> I think that specifying that substantial (though not necessarily
> specific in defining this) contributions/contributors should included in
> the copyright attribution and that substantial contribution attribution
> *is* recommended.
>

Note that line attribution is not a very precise measure anyway.  For
example, you can easily update all lines in the ebuild without making
any substantial change to it.  Therefore, according to 'git blame' you'd
be 100% owner but at the same time the previous author would have far
more original contribution than you did.

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny