[Python-Dev] Copyright notices (original) (raw)

Nadeem Vawda nadeem.vawda at gmail.com
Mon Mar 21 23:06:47 CET 2011

On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 2:20 PM, M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:

Nadeem Vawda wrote:

[snip] Since you'll be adding new IP to Python, the new code you write should contain your copyright and the standard PSF contributor agreement notice, e.g. """ (c) Copyright 2011 by Nadeem Vawda. Licensed to PSF under a Contributor Agreement. """ (please also make sure you have sent the signed agreement to the PSF; see http://www.python.org/psf/contrib/) We don't have a general copyright or license boiler plate for Python source files.

[snip] If the file copies significant code parts from older files, the copyright notices from those files will have to added to the file comment as well - ideally with a note explaining to which parts those copyrights apply and where they originated. If you are replacing the old implementation with a new one, you don't need to copy over the old copyright statements.

Thanks for the information. I still need to submit a Contributor Agreement, so I'll do that as soon as possible.

(As an aside, it might be useful to include this info more explicitly in the devguide, to make it easier for newbies to find. I'll put together a patch when I get a chance.)

On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 4:48 PM, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:20:59 +0100 "M.-A. Lemburg" <mal at egenix.com> wrote:

Since you'll be adding new IP to Python, the new code you write should contain your copyright and the standard PSF contributor agreement notice, e.g. I agree with Raymond's argument that we shouldn't add new copyright boilerplate: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2009-January/085267.html

I agree that it would be preferable not to clutter the code with copyright notices unnecessarily, especially since you can get the same information from the version control history. However, as things stand, the CA requires their inclusion, and changing it would (I imagine) involve a lot of work.

Regards, Nadeem

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