Re: [jira] [Commented] (GEODE-52) Remove @author tags from Java source

[Jacob Barrett <jb...@pivotal.io>]

+1



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Jacob Barrett

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On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 3:57 PM, John Blum (JIRA) <ji...@apache.org> wrote:

>     [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GEODE-52?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=14575383#comment-14575383 ] 
> John Blum commented on GEODE-52:
> --------------------------------
> I don't necessarily agree with this bug.
> IMO... {{@author}} tags are not the same thing as if there were an {{@owner}} tag.  
> In addition, I think the Copyright at the top of the source file is more of an indication to whom the source belongs (i.e. with an ALv2, the "community"), where as the {{@author}} indicates who "authored" the source, who might be able to be contacted in case of questions, etc.
> It is also entirely possible a particular source file could have multiple authors, 1 {{@author}} tag for the initial developer and subsequent {{@author}} tags for additional engineers who have modified and maintain the file, leaving a sort of "footprint", or "stamp" on the file to indicate who is familiar with the code.
> For example...
> {code:java}
> /*
>  * Copyright 2010-2015 the original author or authors.
>  *
>  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
>  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
>  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
>  *
>  *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
>  *
>  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
>  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
>  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
>  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
>  * limitations under the License.
>  */
> package org.apache.x.y.z;
> import ...
> /**
>  * The SomeAplicationComponent class... blah blah blah...
>  * 
>  * @author jondoe
>  * @author agentsmith
>  * @see ...
>  * @since 1.0.0
>  * ...
>  */
> public class SomeApplicationComponent ... {
>     ...
> }
> {code}
> Here, the Copyright implies to me who owns the "rights" to the code where as the "authors" are the ones responsible for creating it, maintaining it, etc.
> Just an opinion as I find the {{@author}} tags useful in certain cases.
>> Remove @author tags from Java source
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>>                 Key: GEODE-52
>>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GEODE-52
>>             Project: Geode
>>          Issue Type: Bug
>>            Reporter: Jakob Homan
>>
>> Apache generally frowns on @author tags (as they imply ownership of the code by a single individual, see https://blogs.oracle.com/ahe/entry/coding_conventions_and_attribution [best asf link is not working, annoyingly] and https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/AVRO/How+To+Contribute as an example)
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