[Incubator] PyWPS copyright and license headers requirement

Jody Garnett jody.garnett at gmail.com
Wed Sep 28 23:04:23 PDT 2016


No problem with your feedback Daniel - can you provide an alternate wording
for the FAQ for the mailing list to consider?


While I am more comfortable with a copyright header ... I am old and
recognize it is just what I am used to.  You can see the policy geotools
did after this clarification, filling in a (c) based on file creation date
and then leaving it alone.

As for minimums, from the community projects table we have the following:

- LICENSE.txt <-- this covers open source. This is both a github convention
and used for automated open source audits
- CONTRIBUTING.txt <-- this covers inclusive development (ie project has
thought about having outside contribution). This is a github convention.
- README.txt <-- recommended :)



--
Jody Garnett

On 28 September 2016 at 04:56, Daniel Morissette <dmorissette at mapgears.com>
wrote:

> Hi Jody,
>
> While the copyright header may not be a legal requirement, I think it is a
> best practice that we should strongly encourage to avoid any risk of
> ambiguity in the interpretation of code ownership and licensing.
>
> At the minimum, I would reword your text to say "A header that names the
> project, links to the project page, and references the licence is
> informative and is strongly recommended."
>
> Can we also agree on a minimal requirement to have a LICENSE.txt file as
> part of the source tree and make that an incubation requirement?
>
> Once again, while this may not be required legally, we need to make sure
> we reduce the chances of outsiders misinterpreting the copyright and
> license terms associated with a given piece of code.
>
> My 0.02$
>
> Daniel
>
>
>
> On 2016-09-28 2:38 AM, Jody Garnett wrote:
>
>> Thanks! I think I can edit that ... oh wait it is a formal document with
>> a version 1.0 so I need to make a motion.
>>
>> Here is an alternate wording - if you are happy with that I can make a
>> motion to update to version 1.0.1.
>>
>> *Q: Do we need to ensure there is a copyright and licence headers in
>> every file?*
>> *
>> *
>> No - copyright headers in source code files are not required to enforce
>> copyright.
>>
>> A header that names the project, links to the project page, and
>> references the licence is informative is recommended. While not legally
>> binding this approach can help anyone who found your code via a web
>> search.
>> *
>> *
>> This question arrises from the traditional practice of embedding a
>> copyright and license header in every source file (.cpp and .h for
>> instance) required in the United States prior to joining the Berne
>> Convention <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention> in 1992. For
>> more information see GeoTools blog post
>> <http://geotoolsnews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/copyright-headers-i
>> n-source-code-files.html>.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jody Garnett
>>
>> On 27 September 2016 at 03:22, Tom Kralidis <tomkralidis at gmail.com
>> <mailto:tomkralidis at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     Thanks for the clarification.  As specified originally, in
>>     http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/codereview.html
>>     <http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/codereview.html>,
>>     section "Frequently Asked Questions".  Snippet:
>>
>>     Do we need to ensure there is a copyright and licence headers in
>>     every file?
>>
>>     Projects are expected to embed a copyright and license header in
>>     every source file (.cpp and .h for instance). Machine generated
>>     files (such as lex or yacc output for instance) does not require a
>>     header if it is inconvenient to embed one, but then an effort should
>>     be made to embed a header in the original source file (ie. .l or
>>     .y). There is no need to embed copyright and license headers in
>>     build files (ie. Makefiles, Visual Studio project files), nor in
>>     small documentation fragments (like READMEs). Copyright/license
>>     headers should be included in substantial bodies of documentation if
>>     it can be done in such a way that it doesn't interfere with the
>>     document.
>>
>>     Thanks
>>
>>     ..Tom
>>
>>
>>     On Tue, 27 Sep 2016, Jody Garnett wrote:
>>
>>         Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2016 02:44:48 -0700
>>
>>         From: Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com
>>         <mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com>>
>>         To: Tom Kralidis <tomkralidis at gmail.com
>>         <mailto:tomkralidis at gmail.com>>
>>         Cc: "incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>>         <mailto:incubator at lists.osgeo.org>" <incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>>         <mailto:incubator at lists.osgeo.org>>
>>         Subject: Re: [Incubator] PyWPS copyright and license headers
>>         requirement
>>
>>         I expect you were finding the incubation faq? do you have a link
>>         to any
>>         page that led you astray?
>>
>>         Here was the blog post I was looking for:
>>
>>         -
>>         http://geotoolsnews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/copyright-headers-in
>> -source-code-files.html
>>         <http://geotoolsnews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/copyright-headers-i
>> n-source-code-files.html>
>>
>>         That should be super clear :)
>>
>>         --
>>         Jody Garnett
>>
>>         On 21 September 2016 at 08:21, Tom Kralidis
>>         <tomkralidis at gmail.com <mailto:tomkralidis at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>             Thanks for the clarification. I imagine the FAQ will be
>>             updated over time.
>>
>>             Thanks
>>
>>             ..Tom
>>
>>             On Wed, 21 Sep 2016, Jody Garnett wrote:
>>
>>             Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2016 14:59:12 +0000
>>
>>                 From: Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com
>>                 <mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com>>
>>                 To: Tom Kralidis <tomkralidis at gmail.com
>>                 <mailto:tomkralidis at gmail.com>>
>>                 Cc: "incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>>                 <mailto:incubator at lists.osgeo.org>"
>>                 <incubator at lists.osgeo.org
>>                 <mailto:incubator at lists.osgeo.org>>
>>                 Subject: Re: [Incubator] PyWPS copyright and license
>>                 headers requirement
>>
>>
>>                 It is not a requirement at all. There is an advantage to
>>                 listing the
>>                 license at the top of each file.
>>
>>                 Can you read the links provided again and tell me what I
>>                 can do to be more
>>                 clear?
>>                 On Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 12:34 PM Tom Kralidis
>>                 <tomkralidis at gmail.com <mailto:tomkralidis at gmail.com>>
>>                 wrote:
>>
>>                 Jody: thanks for the info.  So to clarify, having a
>>                 copyright and
>>
>>                     license header in source code files is a hard
>>                     requirement correct?
>>
>>                     On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 9:39 PM, Jody Garnett
>>                     <jody.garnett at gmail.com <mailto:
>> jody.garnett at gmail.com>>
>>                     wrote:
>>
>>                         We had a clarifications via OSGeo legal in
>>                         August. I shared it with the
>>                         mailing list here and wrote a geotools blog post
>>                         (which was the project
>>                         seeking clarification). GeoServer, and I expect
>>                         other OSGeo project will
>>                         match this policy over time as is less work.
>>
>>
>>                         http://geotoolsnews.blogspot.c
>> om.au/2016/06/geotools-header-
>>                         <http://geotoolsnews.blogspot.
>> com.au/2016/06/geotools-header->
>>
>>                     policy-updated.html
>>
>>
>>
>>                         https://github.com/geotools/ge
>> otools/wiki/Updates-to-Copyrig
>>                         <https://github.com/geotools/g
>> eotools/wiki/Updates-to-Copyrig>
>>
>>                     ht-Header-Policy
>>
>>
>>                         https://github.com/geoserver/g
>> eoserver/wiki/GSIP%20147
>>                         <https://github.com/geoserver/
>> geoserver/wiki/GSIP%20147>
>>
>>                         Do you have any questions?
>>                         On Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 12:44 AM Tom Kralidis
>>                         <tomkralidis at gmail.com
>>                         <mailto:tomkralidis at gmail.com>>
>>
>>                     wrote:
>>
>>
>>                             Hi all: we are discussing the requirement of
>>                             copyright/license headers
>>                             as part of PyWPS incubation [1] and as a
>>                             result looking for
>>
>>                         clarification.
>>
>>
>>
>>                             The FAQ in [2] says that we need this for
>>                             every source file.  While I
>>                             fully agree with this practice there are
>>                             questions and examples of
>>                             other 'serious' (<- my word :) projects
>>                             which do not adhere to this,
>>
>>                         like
>>
>>
>>                         the Django project (e.g. in [3]).
>>
>>
>>                             Thoughts?  Am I (aside from my personal
>>                             preference of always having
>>
>>                         these
>>
>>
>>                         headers) interpreting this requirement
>>                         incorrectly?  If not, is there
>>
>>                             background/context which roots the
>> requirement?
>>
>>                             Please advise.
>>
>>                             Thanks
>>
>>                             ..Tom
>>
>>
>>                             [1]
>>                             https://github.com/geopython/pywps/issues/187
>> <https://github.com/geopython/pywps/issues/187>
>>                             [2]
>>                             http://www.osgeo.org/incubator
>> /process/codereview.html
>>                             <http://www.osgeo.org/incubato
>> r/process/codereview.html>
>>                             [3]
>>
>>                             https://github.com/django/djan
>> go/blob/master/django/db/model
>>                             <https://github.com/django/dja
>> ngo/blob/master/django/db/model>
>>
>>                     s/__init__.py
>>
>>                         _______________________________________________
>>
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>> n/listinfo/incubator>
>>
>>
>>                         --
>>                         --
>>                         Jody Garnett
>>
>>
>>                     --
>>
>>                 --
>>                 Jody Garnett
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
> --
> Daniel Morissette
> http://www.mapgears.com/
> T: +1 418-696-5056 #201
>
> http://evouala.com/ - Location Intelligence Made Easy
>
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