Re: Further suggestions for Copyright Notices

[Rik]

On 01/07/2020 09:58 PM, John W. Eaton wrote:
> On 1/7/20 3:16 PM, Rik wrote:
>> On 01/07/2020 09:00 AM, address@hidden wrote:
>
>> I agree with external code being excluded.  For the manual, what are the
>> arguments against using the same system as for the code (consistency
>> normally being a good thing)?
>
> I'm OK with using the same copyright notice for the manual especially
> since much (most?) of it is made up of doc strings extracted from the
> sources.  I was thinking more about whether we should continue to list
> the authorship the same way as we have now?

Mostly because this is yet one more decision to make which requires careful
thought, I would just punt and leave it as is for now.

>
>>> I used a script to generate the initial COPYRIGHT.md file.  I'm not
>>> sure that it's necessary to add it to the hg archive, but I can share
>>> it if there is interest.
>>
>> If it is a one-off script needed to create the first version then it
>> doesn't require version control.  If it is a script that will need to be
>> executed every time there is a new release then that should go somewhere
>> in the hg archive, maybe build-aux/?
>
> No, it's not something that should need to be run again.  I think we
> should just make corrections and maintain it mostly manually now.  We can
> extract a list of most of the contributors for a given year from the hg
> archive automatically, then insert them in the file or update existing
> entries as needed.
>
>> I would change the visual formatting of the Copyright block.  Below is
>> the current format as taken from wilkinson.m.
>>
>> ## [...]
>>
>> function retval = wilkinson (n)
>>
>>    if (nargin != 1)
>>      print_usage ();
>>    endif
>>
>> As a programmer, I acknowledge the Copyright but I don't want to be
>> distracted by it.  I would like to be able to immediately find where the
>> code (my interest) begins.  To do that, I would set off the Copyright
>> block in some manner from the rest of the file.  A common demarcation
>> might be a line of 80 '#' characters.
>
> I'm not a big fan of these kinds of markers, but it seems OK for the
> copyright.  How about 72 characters?  I don't know why, but like seeing a
> margin on the right side.  Though line widths are kind of arbitrary now
> that we are not limited by 80x24 CRT displays.  Also, maybe use C++ style
> '//' comments for these copyright notices as well?

I don't think the length is particularly important as long as the eye
notices the break.  So sure, 72 characters.

I think it would be fine to match the comment character to the language and
so have a line of 72 '/' characters as the break in C++ files as well as
starting out each line with "//" instead of "##".

>
>> Another demarcation might be two newlines after the end of the GPL clauses.
>
> After doing some experiments with the comment markers above and below the
> text, I'm not sure that's really necessary.

I only propose the two newlines if the line markers weren't used. 
Otherwise, it is probably overkill.

--Rik