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1NOTES ON COPYRIGHTS AND LICENSES
2
3Some terminology:
4
5A "copyright notice" consists of one or a few lines of this format:
6"Copyright (C) 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc."
7
8A "license notice" is a statement of permissions, and is usually much
9longer, eg the text "GNU Emacs is free software...".
10
11
12Every non-trivial file distributed through the Emacs CVS should be
13self-explanatory in terms of copyright and license. This includes
14files that are not distributed in Emacs releases (for example, the
15admin/ directory), because the whole Emacs CVS is publicly
16available.
17
18The definition of triviality is a little vague, but a rule of thumb is
19that any file with less than 15 lines of actual content is trivial. If
20a file is auto-generated (eg ldefs-boot.el) from another one in the
21CVS, then it does not really matter about adding a copyright statement
22to the generated file.
23
24The years in the copyright notice should be updated every year (see
25file "years" in this directory). The PS versions of refcards etc
26should display copyright notices (an exception to the rule about
27"generated" files), but these can just display the latest year. The
28full list of years should be kept in comments in the source file. If
29these are distributed in CVS, check in a regenerated version when the
30tex files are updated.
31
32Copyright changes should be propagated to any associated repositories
33(eg Gnus, MH-E), but I think in every case this happens automatically
34(?).
35
36All README (and other such text files) that are non-trivial and were
37added by Emacs developers need copyright and copying permission
38statements (see eg INSTALL in the top-level directory).
39
40All images files that allow for comments should have copyright and
41license statements. Whether or not this is possible, the information
42should be recorded in a README file in each directory with images.
43
44When installing a file with an "unusual" license (after checking first
45it is ok), put a copy of the copyright and license in the file (if
46possible. It's ok if this makes the file incompatible with its
47original format, if it can still be used by Emacs), or in a README
48file in the relevant directory.
49
50The vast majority of files are copyright FSF and distributed under the
51GPL. A few files (mainly related to language and charset support) are
52copyright AIST alone, or both AIST and FSF. (Contact Kenichi Handa
53with questions about legal issues in such files.) In all these cases,
54the copyright years in each file should be updated each year.
55
56There are some exceptions to the points in the previous paragraph, and
57these are listed below for reference, together with any files where
58the copyright needs to be updated in "unusual" ways.
59
60If you find any other such cases, please consult to check they are ok,
61and note them in this file. This includes missing copyright notices,
62and "odd" copyright holders. In most cases, individual authors should
63not appear in copyright statements. Either the copyright has been
64assigned (check copyright.list) to the FSF (in which case the original
65author should be removed and the year(s) transferred to the FSF); or
66else it is possible the file should not be in Emacs at all (please
67report!).
68
69[For reference, most of these points were established via email with
70rms, 2007/1, "Copyright years".]
71
72
73<top-level>/install-sh
74lispintro/install-sh
75 - this file is copyright MIT, which is OK. Leave the copyright alone.
76
77etc/edt-user.doc
78 - update BOTH notices in this file
79
80[etc/orgcard.tex, orgcard.ps - files removed 2007/1/29]
81 - with no assignment from Rooke, these files were removed. We are
82 asking for an assignment, and if one is received the files will be
83 replaced.
84
85leim/CXTERM-DIC/4Corner.tit, ARRAY30.tit, CCDOSPY.tit, ECDICT.tit,
86ETZY.tit, PY-b5.tit, Punct-b5.tit, Punct.tit, QJ-b5.tit, QJ.tit,
87SW.tit, TONEPY.tit, ZOZY.tit
88 - leave the copyrights alone.
89
90leim/MISC-DIC/CTLau-b5.html, CTLau.html, cangjie-table.b5, cangjie-table.cns,
91pinyin.map, ziranma.cin
92 - leave the copyright alone.
93
94leim/SKK-DIC/SKK-JISYO.L
95ja-dic/ja-dic.el
96 (the latter is auto-generated from the former). Leave the copyright alone.
97
98lib-src/etags.c
99 - this has a copyright Ken Arnold. We are still deciding what should
100 be done here (see below).
101
102lib-src/getopt1.c, getopt_int.h
103 - these are from the GNU C library. Leave the copyrights alone.
104
105lisp/play/tetris.el
106 - no special rules about the copyright. We note here that we believe
107 (2007/1) there is no problem with our use of the name "tetris" or
108 the concept.
109 rms: "My understanding is that game rules as such are not copyrightable."
110 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2007-01/msg00960.html>
111
112lispref/doclicense.texi
113man/doclicense.texi
114 - leave the copyright alone in this imported file.
115
116lisp/net/tramp.el
117 - there are also copyrights in the body of the file. Update these too.
118
119msdos/is_exec.c, sigaction.c
120 - these files are copyright DJ Delorie. Leave the copyrights alone.
121
122src/gmalloc.c
123 - contains numerous copyrights from the GNU C library. Leave them alone.
124
125[src/unexhp9k800.c - removed 2007/1/27
126[src/m/sr2k.h - removed 2007/1/27]
127 - First file removed due to legal uncertainties; second file removed
128 due to dependency on first. Note that src/m/hp800.h is still needed on
129 hp800 arch.
130
131
132*** These are copyright issues still to be addressed:
133
134
135Is it OK to just `cvs remove' a file for legal reasons, or is
136something more drastic needed? A removed file is still available from
137CVS, if suitable options are applied.
138
139
140All README (and other such files) that are non-trivial and were added
141by Emacs developers need copyright statements and copying permissions
142to be added.
143
144
145All images files that allow for comments should have copyright and
146license statements added. Whether or not this is possible, the
147information should be recorded in a README file in each directory with
148images. Image files to consider (is there such a thing as a "trivial"
149image?):
150 src/bitmaps/
151 etc/*.xpm, *.xbm
152 etc/images/
153 etc/tree-widget/
154 etc/*.ps, .eps
155
156
157admin/check-doc-strings
158 Author is Martin Buchholz, but no assignment from him on file, and
159 rms has no way to reach him.
160admin/make-announcement - no copyright
161admin/nt/makedist.bat - no copyright
162etc/ms-kermit - no copyright, but ms-7bkermit has one
163etc/e/eterm-color.ti - no copyright
164 rms: "I think that is not copyrightable under the merger doctrine
165 because the entries are all forced. At least that is the case in the
166 US; I am not sure whether we can rely on that in general."
167
168For the above files, mail sent from rms to Matthew (Martin?) Norwood
169asking what to do (via Eben Moglen), 2007/1/22 ("Copyright years").
170
171
172etc/gnus-refcard.tex
173 I (rgm) think the "Gnus Bugfixing Girls + Boys" copyright should
174 probably be removed, but it may be ok (waiting for rms)
175
176
177[etc/orgcard.tex, orgcard.ps]
178 Re-add these files if an assignment is received from Rooke.
179
180
181etc/sk-refcard.ps, pl-refcard.ps, cs-refcard.ps
182These refcards need to be regenerated (by those with suitable TeX
183setups) to get updated copyrights.
184
185
186lib-src/etags.c - no 'k.* arnold' in copyright.list'
187 rms: "That is ok, in principle. I used free code released by Ken
188 Arnold as the starting point. However, it may be that we need to get
189 and insert whatever his license was for his code."
190
191
192lispref/back.texi, elisp-covers.texi, lay-flat.texi,
193two-volume-cross-refs.txt, two.el
194 - add standard notices to any decided to be non-trivial.
195
196
197lwlib/lwlib-int.h, lwlib.h - no copyright
198lwlib/Makefile.in, lwlib-utils.c, lwlib.c - copyright Lucid
199lwlib/lwlib-Xaw.c - copyright Chuck Thompson
200lwlib/lwlib.c - copyright Lucid, but FSF copyright was added in 2002 -
201 was that correct?
202 rms: "I asked Matthew Norwood about these, I believe."
203
204
205man/back.texi, trampver.texi
206 - add standard notices to any decided to be non-trivial.
207
208
209msdos/
210 - do we need to add COPYING.LIB (because COPYING.DJ refers to it)?
211 (but see below).
212
213
214msdos/is_exec.c
215 - does copying.dj replace eliz's copyright?
216
217
218msdos/is_exec.c, sigaction.c
219 - relicense under the GPL
220
221
222oldXMenu/
223 - should there be any FSF copyrights at all in here? Some were added
224 in 2005, without licence notices. Was this right?
225oldXMenu/Makefile.in, Makefile, Imakefile, descrip.mms, insque.c
226 - issues described in mail to rms, 2006/12/17.
227rms: "I have asked for lawyer's advice about these."
228
229
230src/acldef.h, chpdef.h, gnu.h, ndir.h
231src/m/mips4.h, news-r6.h, news-risc.h, pmax.h
232src/s/aix3-2.h, bsd386.h, hpux8.h, hpux9.h, irix4-0.h, irix5-0.h,
233isc2-2.h, netbsd.h, osf1.h, sol2-3.h, sunos4-0.h, umips.h, usg5-4-2.h
234 - all these (not obviously trivial) files are missing copyrights.
235 rms: "I should talk about these with Matthew Norwood."