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Posted to legal-discuss@apache.org by Brian Minchau <mi...@ca.ibm.com> on 2006/10/30 20:04:37 UTC
Copyright questions for Apache Xalan/Xerces
I have four questions below on updating our copyright information.
Apache Xalan is approaching a new release. It hasn't had one in a while so
the new rules at http://www.apache.org/legal/src-headers.html are
applying.
On that web page it says this:
<<
Since contributors maintain their copyright ownership in the works they
submit, it is misleading to place the ASF copyright at the top of each
source file.
>>
Previously there were Apache copyrights with various year ranges in our
code, but there won't be in the future.
1) Is it is OK to loose that information? I guess it must be, but could
someone confirm that for me please.
In general, where possible non-Apache copyrights should be moved to the
NOTICE file.
2) Is the NOTICE file intented to record which parts have copyright by
which companies and for which range of years?
Our xml-xalan/java/licenses/xalan.NOTICE.txt contains the following, in
part::
Portions of this software was originally based on the following:
- software copyright (c) 1999-2002, Lotus Development Corporation.,
http://www.lotus.com.
- software copyright (c) 2001-2002, Sun Microsystems.,
http://www.sun.com.
- software copyright (c) 2003, IBM Corporation., http://www.ibm.com.
- voluntary contributions made by Ovidiu Predescu <ov...@cup.hp.com>
on
behalf of the Apache Software Foundation that was originally
developed
at Hewlett Packard Company.
3) Another Apache Xalan PMC member has noted that they think
that those notices in the NOTICE.txt file might need to be revised to
reflect on-going contributions, as follows, is that correct?
Portions of this software was originally based on the following:
- software copyright (c) 1999-2002, Lotus Development Corporation.,
http://www.lotus.com.
- software copyright (c) 2001-2006, Sun Microsystems.,
http://www.sun.com.
- software copyright (c) 2003-2006, IBM Corporation.,
http://www.ibm.com.
- voluntary contributions made by Ovidiu Predescu <ov...@cup.hp.com>
on
behalf of the Apache Software Foundation that was originally
developed
at Hewlett Packard Company.
4) Must the NOTICES file be named exactly "NOTICES"? Our is currently
named "NOTICES.txt"
Regards,
- Brian Minchau
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brian Minchau
Apache Xalan PMC Chariperson
e-mail: minchau@apache.org
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Re: Copyright questions for Apache Xalan/Xerces
Posted by Henri Yandell <ba...@apache.org>.
On 10/30/06, Brian Minchau <mi...@ca.ibm.com> wrote:
>
>
> I have four questions below on updating our copyright information.
I'll give it a shot at an answer, based on my ever evolving
understanding of things.
> Apache Xalan is approaching a new release. It hasn't had one in a while so
> the new rules at http://www.apache.org/legal/src-headers.html are
> applying.
>
> On that web page it says this:
> <<
> Since contributors maintain their copyright ownership in the works they
> submit, it is misleading to place the ASF copyright at the top of each
> source file.
> >>
>
> Previously there were Apache copyrights with various year ranges in our
> code, but there won't be in the future.
> 1) Is it is OK to loose that information? I guess it must be, but could
> someone confirm that for me please.
Confirmed. The text at the top changes too, it's not just a question
of deleting the copyright lines.
> In general, where possible non-Apache copyrights should be moved to the
> NOTICE file.
> 2) Is the NOTICE file intented to record which parts have copyright by
> which companies and for which range of years?
Interestingly the AL 2.0 doesn't explain what goes in the NOTICE, just
the rules about keeping it.
http://www.apache.org/dev/apply-license.html does mention it:
"In addition, a NOTICE file should be included in the same directory
as the LICENSE file. The NOTICE should include only those attribution
notices that are required by any part of the entire distribution."
but the page is now out of date and needs updating to match the new
pages - so I'd not treat that as gospel.
> Our xml-xalan/java/licenses/xalan.NOTICE.txt contains the following, in
> part::
>
> Portions of this software was originally based on the following:
> - software copyright (c) 1999-2002, Lotus Development Corporation.,
> http://www.lotus.com.
> - software copyright (c) 2001-2002, Sun Microsystems.,
> http://www.sun.com.
> - software copyright (c) 2003, IBM Corporation., http://www.ibm.com.
> - voluntary contributions made by Ovidiu Predescu <ov...@cup.hp.com>
> on
> behalf of the Apache Software Foundation that was originally
> developed
> at Hewlett Packard Company.
Good stuff for the NOTICE.txt.
> 3) Another Apache Xalan PMC member has noted that they think
> that those notices in the NOTICE.txt file might need to be revised to
> reflect on-going contributions, as follows, is that correct?
>
> Portions of this software was originally based on the following:
> - software copyright (c) 1999-2002, Lotus Development Corporation.,
> http://www.lotus.com.
> - software copyright (c) 2001-2006, Sun Microsystems.,
> http://www.sun.com.
> - software copyright (c) 2003-2006, IBM Corporation.,
> http://www.ibm.com.
> - voluntary contributions made by Ovidiu Predescu <ov...@cup.hp.com>
> on
> behalf of the Apache Software Foundation that was originally
> developed
> at Hewlett Packard Company.
I'm not sure I get how the copyright thing works nowadays to answer this.
It used to be that we thought that the ASF received a copy of my
commit for its use and maintained copyright over its copy (or
something like that) - but that thinking changed to the committer
retaining the ownership over their copyright.
So I could add bits to every NOTICE.txt I've been involved with to
record my copyright, right?
One problem with the above is that companies don't commit code to the
ASF, individuals do. So it would seem that Ovidiu could continue to
change his copyright bit with each new commit in a new year, but the
companies couldn't unless they donate new code via a software grant
and the incubator. Or do the individuals have permission to commit
their employers copyright, but it never actually becomes their own
copyright. They're less middlemen of copyright and more transporters.
Sorry...no answers here on this one, just questions.
> 4) Must the NOTICES file be named exactly "NOTICES"? Our is currently
> named "NOTICES.txt"
http://www.apache.org/dev/apply-license.html#license-file-name
NOTICE and LICENSE are the preference, but NOTICE.txt and LICENSE.txt
are allowed. We use the latter in Commons.
Hen
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DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
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