From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Kastrup Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: copyright for merged code Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 14:14:45 +0200 Message-ID: <85y8akhc96.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1115901344 2838 80.91.229.2 (12 May 2005 12:35:44 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 12:35:44 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu May 12 14:35:39 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DWCta-0001UA-O6 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 12 May 2005 14:34:31 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DWD2W-0003ET-C5 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 12 May 2005 08:43:44 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1DWCvA-000860-Sc for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 12 May 2005 08:36:09 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1DWCv8-00085G-Vk for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 12 May 2005 08:36:07 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DWCuN-0007ai-GJ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 12 May 2005 08:35:20 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1DWChK-00079g-Ka for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 12 May 2005 08:21:50 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lola.goethe.zz) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1DWCZV-0005e3-67; Thu, 12 May 2005 08:13:45 -0400 Original-Received: by lola.goethe.zz (Postfix, from userid 1002) id BB3D61C46518; Thu, 12 May 2005 14:14:45 +0200 (CEST) Original-To: ttn@glug.org In-Reply-To: (Thien-Thi Nguyen's message of "Thu, 12 May 2005 12:25:56 +0200") User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:37029 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:37029 Thien-Thi Nguyen writes: > i'm presently updating the copyright years in lisp/net/ and > have come upon a doubt: certain files have been merged from > outside emacs, w/ copyright notices that show years prior > to their merging (as far as i can tell from looking at the > "cvs log" output for these files). i am inclined to remove > those years completely, but would like confirmation that this > is the correct approach. Those files could only have been merged because of a copyright assignment or copyright disclaimer. In the case of a copyright assignment, the copyrightable years of the original file remain valid for the copyright claims of the FSF. In the case of a disclaimer (which is pretty rare in the Emacs code base), the FSF has no copyright for changes prior to the import of the file, but one should likely keep the original notices of the import intact, I'd guess. In particular if the software was not placed generally into the public domain, but just disclaimed to the FSF for the purpose of using it in GPLed form in Emacs (I seem to remember that some parts of MULE have this status). That's my take on the matter, and of course my take is not actually relevant. So you should wait for Richard'd comment before doing anything. -- David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum