copyright holders

Hi!

There are two things that are in a very bad state in logwatch: The
listed copyright holders in the scripts and the file License in the
source tarball.

Problem 1 is that some scripts have no copyright notice at all, some
state "were written by ..." (this is not a proper copyright notice), and
only a few have proper copyright notices.

Problem 2 is that the file License only lists the X11 license, despite
the fact that at least three files are distributed under the BSD
License. The list of copyright holders is also incomplete, but that's
more part of Problem 1,

##
- How does a proper copyright notice look like?

Copyright (c) <year1>{,<yearn>} <person>

(The unicode character for a "c" in in a circle would be better, but I'm
not sure if all people can read it)

A hint about the applicable license should also be added, particularly
as there are scripts not licensed under the X11 license.

- When should a copyright notice be added to a script?

Whenever someone contributes non-trivial (copyrightable to be exact)
changes.

- Are proper copyright notices really necessary?

Yes, because a license can only be granted by declared copyright
holders. Contributions of undeclared copyright holders are thus not
distributable. See also [1]
##

I have started to look at the various files and marked those that are
properly copyrighted by renaming them to file.fixed. [2] (Please apply
attached patches to my scripts)

What needs to be done is to ask every author and contributor [3] of each
script when he created the contribution and if he is also the copyright
holder [4], and also if the copyright holder agrees to distribute his
work under Logwatch's license.

Who of you is willing to help? I can't do this on my own as I have to
meet some deadlines in the next few weeks, and I have some examinations.

Willi

[1] http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html#s-pkgcopyright
[2] http://svn.debian.org/viewsvn/pkg-logwatch/trunk/copyright-status/
[3] Of course only when the patch is copyrightable.
[4] author and copyright holder may differ, especially if the work was
written as part of an employment

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--- courier.old	2008-02-21 16:47:07.000000000 +0100
+++ courier	2008-02-21 18:41:22.000000000 +0100
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-# Copyright 2003-2006 by Willi Mann <[email protected]>
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2003-2006 Willi Mann
+# License: X11 as stated in file License.X11
+#
+# Author: Willi Mann <[email protected]>
+#
 ###########################################################################
 # $Id: courier,v 1.15 2007/02/16 04:15:52 bjorn Exp $
 ###########################################################################
@@ -7,23 +12,6 @@
 # Using default license for Logwatch, per Willi Mann.
 #
 ###########################################################################
-#
-# Please don't change the formatting:
-# 
-# if (...) {
-#    ...
-# }
-# 
-# but 
-# 
-# (while|foreach) .. 
-# {
-#    ...
-# }
-# 
-
-# Note: In case this is wanted and if I'm asked, I might relicense the 
-# generic reporting functions under Logwatch's license.
 
 use strict;

--- dpkg.old	2008-02-21 16:50:15.000000000 +0100
+++ dpkg	2008-02-21 18:42:25.000000000 +0100
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-# Copyright 2006 by Willi Mann <[email protected]>
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2006 Willi Mann
+# License: X11 as stated in file License.X11
+#
+# Author: Willi Mann <[email protected]>
+#
 ###########################################################################
 # $Id: dpkg,v 1.2 2007/02/16 04:15:52 bjorn Exp $
 ###########################################################################