Re: [PATCH] memset: also update copyright years

[Paul Eggert <eggert at cs dot ucla dot edu>]

On 04/09/2012 05:37 PM, Carlos O'Donell wrote:

>> -You can use a range (@samp{2008-2010}) instead of listing individual
>> -years (@samp{2008, 2009, 2010}) if and only if: 1)@tie{}every year in
>> -the range, inclusive, really is a ``copyrightable'' year that would be
>> +Ranges can appear in year lists (@samp{2008, 2010-2012}) instead of
> 
> I think we need to make it *really* clear that you can collapse the
> entire range if that's what your project wants to do (and in fact gdb
> and glibc are doing it now).

Can you suggest further wording improvements along those lines?
The point seems clear to me already, but quite possibly this is because
I'm too close to the issue.

> `Ranges can appear in year lists (@samp{2008, 2010-2012}, or
> @samp{2008-2012}) instead of'

This change alone wouldn't work, since the existing example relies
on contrasting "2008, 2010-2012" with "2008, 2010, 2011, 2012".

>> +listing individual years (@samp{2008, 2010, 2011, 2012}) if and only
>> +if: 1)@tie{}every year in
>> +the range, inclusive, really is a copyrightable year that would be
> 
> Is it right to say `that would be?'

I don't see why not -- the point is that "2008-2010" is correct
if and only if "2008, 2009, 2010" is correct.

> In the case of glibc we *could* add copyright years to all the files
> for every copyrightable year, but we don't

I think I see part of the problem.  glibc is transitioning from the old
system (where every file kept track of the years *that file* was was
published with a nontrivial change) to the new system (where every
file keeps track of the years that the glibc package, a collective
work, was published with a nontrivial change).  Your sentence is referring
to the old system.  The GNU coding standards assume the new system,
not the old.

To clarify this, perhaps add the following text to maintain.texi?

  If a package's files use the older GNU style of copyright notices
  where every file's year lists were recorded independently, you can
  convert the copyright notices to the new style all at once, or you can
  convert each file's notices when the file is changed, whichever is
  more convenient.