Re: master bef1be8: Fixes for "Maintainer:" and related lines

[Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>]

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On 5/20/19 7:40 AM, Glenn Morris wrote:
> It is long-standing Emacs convention that if there is
> no Maintainer header, the Author is the maintainer. See elisp node
> "Conventional Headers for Emacs Libraries".

I didn't know that. However, that node doesn't match existing practice 
as it goes on to say, "Some files in Emacs use ‘FSF’ for the 
maintainer.  This means that the original author is no longer 
responsible for the file, and that it is maintained as part of Emacs" 
despite the fact that no files in the Emacs source code use "FSF" for 
the maintainer (either before or after my recent patch).

Also, it appears that many (most?) people didn't know about and didn't 
follow the convention. Not only did the convention not come up in 
discussion until now, it's quite common to see comment pairs like the 
following, which are the first five remaining instances of "Maintainer:" 
lines in Emacs's .el files (sorted by file name):

;; Author: Markus Rost <markus.rost@mathematik.uni-regensburg.de>
;; Maintainer: Markus Rost <rost@math.ohio-state.edu>

;; Author: David Ponce <david@dponce.com>
;; Maintainer: David Ponce <david@dponce.com>

;; Author: David Ponce <david@dponce.com>
;; Maintainer: David Ponce <david@dponce.com>

;; Author: Richard Kim <ryk@dspwiz.com>
;; Maintainer: Richard Kim <ryk@dspwiz.com>

;; Author: Kevin Gallagher <kevin.gal@verizon.net>
;; Maintainer: Kevin Gallagher <kevin.gal@verizon.net>

and this indicates the authors were following the opposite convention 
that a file without a listed maintainer is being maintained collectively.

All in all I think it'd lessen confusion and simplify maintenance if we 
used "Maintainer:" for contacting current maintainers who aren't authors 
and don't normally read bug reports. Something like the attached 
proposed patch, say?


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From c18d6f7f7c18f5d2ef3a221242146ea2c7acbb5f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
Date: Mon, 20 May 2019 08:35:53 -0700
Subject: [PROPOSED] Adjust Maintainer: doc
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* doc/lispref/tips.texi (Library Headers): Don’t say that
a missing Maintainer: header means the authors are maintainers.
---
 doc/lispref/tips.texi | 8 +++-----
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/lispref/tips.texi b/doc/lispref/tips.texi
index d41fe82572..c46e3a0f6c 100644
--- a/doc/lispref/tips.texi
+++ b/doc/lispref/tips.texi
@@ -1011,11 +1011,9 @@ Library Headers
 person(s) who currently maintain(s) the file (respond to bug reports,
 etc.).
 
-If there is no maintainer line, the person(s) in the Author field
-is/are presumed to be the maintainers.  Some files in Emacs use
-@samp{FSF} for the maintainer.  This means that the original author is
-no longer responsible for the file, and that it is maintained as part
-of Emacs.
+If there is no maintainer line, nobody in particular (other than
+perhaps the authors) has volunteered to maintain the file, or an
+ordinary Emacs bug report is a good way to contact the maintainers.
 
 @item Created
 This optional line gives the original creation date of the file, and
-- 
2.21.0