[ros-dev] Re: Copyright notices

[Quandary]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2005 at 11:09:01AM +0200, Rafal Kupiec
wrote:
> I think, now we're not violating the GPL.
> for eg:
>http://svn.berlios.de/wsvn/hostilix/trunk/Sources/apps/notepad/dialog.c?op=diff&rev=0&sc=1

You know, it would have been WAY simpler if you had
just not screwed with -any- of the file headers in the
first place. Grab the latest ReactOS SVN, export it,
re-import it into your SVN, then DON'T MESS WITH THE
COPYRIGHT NOTICES. I mean, you've obviously had to do
a lot of work to add your name and replace the
contents of the other files, and look at how much good
it's done you?

In reality, the "right" process is really, really
easy. It's not necessary to plaster your name all
over the place, especially if you haven't done
anything in a given file. Whenever you make a change,
just add your copyright to the start of the file. It's
that easy. It means you do 0 work up front, *and* you
don't have angry devs breathing down your neck about
blatently ripping them off. "Branding" all of the
files, to be frank, is a *very* stupid waste of your
time, and has (clearly) only served to piss everyone
off.

Now, that's not to say people still won't be
disgruntled about it, but they'll grumble much more
quietly -- and it's WAY easier for you to cover your
ass by saying "all of the original copyright notices
in the source are intact" (because if you only add
notices, it doesn't remove or alter the existing
notices). Release everything under GPL, and bam...
you shouldn't run into too much trouble.


Cheers,

-- Travis



		
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