Re: Licensing of NEWS files?

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

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Xue Fuqiao wrote:
> IMO a file named HISTORY should be something like
> these:
>
> *https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/html_node/History.html#History
> *https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/History.html#History

Thanks for the suggestion; I installed the attached patch. More history could be 
written, but one step at a time.

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From f8e589c53254ec694fabb8caa657d8508f1b70f5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2016 16:53:24 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] * etc/HISTORY: Add some more history, plus git tags.

---
 etc/HISTORY | 71 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------
 1 file changed, 46 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)

diff --git a/etc/HISTORY b/etc/HISTORY
index 0426425..8107026 100644
--- a/etc/HISTORY
+++ b/etc/HISTORY
@@ -1,14 +1,35 @@
-	GNU Emacs versions and their release dates
+	GNU Emacs history, versions, and release dates
 
 For more details about release contents, see the NEWS* files.
 
+Most of the development history of GNU Emacs is available in its
+source code repository <http://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=emacs>.
+However, in the early days GNU Emacs was developed without using
+version control systems and was published via half-inch 9-track
+1600-bpi magnetic tape reels.  Although information about this early
+development is sketchy, the following text summarizes what is known.
+
+EMACS started out as a set of macros atop the TECO text editor, and
+was first operational in late 1976.  It was inspired by earlier work
+such as the E editor of Stanford, and was based on older TECO macro
+sets.  EMACS in turn inspired several similar editors.  See:
+Stallman RM. EMACS: The Extensible, Customizable Self-Documenting
+Display Editor.  AI Memo 519a, MIT, 1981-03-26
+<http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/5736/AIM-519A.pdf>.
+
+In 1984, work began on GNU Emacs, a fresh implementation designed to
+run on GNU and GNU-like systems, with a full-featured Lisp at its
+core.  GNU Emacs 1.0 through 1.12 were released in early 1985.  The
+next version after 1.12 was 13; this was the initial public release.
+
+Here is a list of known GNU Emacs stable releases starting with the
+initial public release.  Entries in the list are of the form "GNU
+Emacs N (DATE) TAG", where N is the version number, DATE the release
+date, and TAG (if present) the corresponding tag in the source code
+repository.  Any commentary about the version starts on the next line.
 Dates are approximate in the following list; some are when the version
 was made, some are when it was announced.
 
-
-GNU Emacs 1.0 through 1.12 were released in early 1985.
-The next release after 1.12 was 13.
-
 GNU Emacs 13 (1985-03-20)
 Initial release announced on Usenet.
 
@@ -135,15 +156,15 @@ GNU Emacs 19.32 (1996-07-31)
 
 GNU Emacs 19.33 (1996-08-11)
 
-GNU Emacs 19.34 (1996-08-21)
+GNU Emacs 19.34 (1996-08-21) emacs-19.34
 
-GNU Emacs 20.1 (1997-09-15)
+GNU Emacs 20.1 (1997-09-15) emacs-20.1
 
-GNU Emacs 20.2 (1997-09-19)
+GNU Emacs 20.2 (1997-09-19) emacs-20.2
 
-GNU Emacs 20.3 (1998-08-19)
+GNU Emacs 20.3 (1998-08-19) emacs-20.3
 
-GNU Emacs 20.4 (1999-07-12)
+GNU Emacs 20.4 (1999-07-12) emacs-20.4
 
 GNU Emacs 20.5 (1999-12-04)
 
@@ -151,40 +172,40 @@ GNU Emacs 20.6 (2000-02-15)
 
 GNU Emacs 20.7 (2000-06-13)
 
-GNU Emacs 21.1 (2001-10-20)
+GNU Emacs 21.1 (2001-10-20) emacs-21.1
 
-GNU Emacs 21.2 (2002-03-16)
+GNU Emacs 21.2 (2002-03-16) emacs-21.2
 
-GNU Emacs 21.3 (2003-03-19)
+GNU Emacs 21.3 (2003-03-19) emacs-21.3
 
 GNU Emacs 21.4 (2005-02-08)
 
 GNU Emacs 21.4a (2005-02-17)
 This is Emacs 21.4 with an updated notice in etc/PROBLEMS.
 
-GNU Emacs 22.1 (2007-06-02)
+GNU Emacs 22.1 (2007-06-02) emacs-22.1
 
-GNU Emacs 22.2 (2008-03-26)
+GNU Emacs 22.2 (2008-03-26) emacs-22.2
 
-GNU Emacs 22.3 (2008-09-05)
+GNU Emacs 22.3 (2008-09-05) emacs-22.3
 
-GNU Emacs 23.1 (2009-07-29)
+GNU Emacs 23.1 (2009-07-29) emacs-23.1
 
-GNU Emacs 23.2 (2010-05-08)
+GNU Emacs 23.2 (2010-05-08) emacs-23.2
 
-GNU Emacs 23.3 (2011-03-10)
+GNU Emacs 23.3 (2011-03-10) emacs-23.3
 
-GNU Emacs 23.4 (2012-01-29)
+GNU Emacs 23.4 (2012-01-29) emacs-23.4
 
-GNU Emacs 24.1 (2012-06-10)
+GNU Emacs 24.1 (2012-06-10) emacs-24.1
 
-GNU Emacs 24.2 (2012-08-27)
+GNU Emacs 24.2 (2012-08-27) emacs-24.2
 
-GNU Emacs 24.3 (2013-03-10)
+GNU Emacs 24.3 (2013-03-10) emacs-24.3
 
-GNU Emacs 24.4 (2014-10-20)
+GNU Emacs 24.4 (2014-10-20) emacs-24.4
 
-GNU Emacs 24.5 (2015-04-10)
+GNU Emacs 24.5 (2015-04-10) emacs-24.5
 
 \f
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