Copyright Headers

[justinbeaty]

I know this has been discussed before, but I would like to propose a change in the license headers:

/**
 * OpenMage
 *
 * NOTICE OF LICENSE
 *
 * This source file is subject to the Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
 * that is bundled with this package in the file LICENSE.txt.
 * It is also available through the world-wide-web at this URL:
 * http://opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php
 * If you did not receive a copy of the license and are unable to
 * obtain it through the world-wide-web, please send an email
 * to [email protected] so we can send you a copy immediately.
 *
 * DISCLAIMER
 *
 * Do not edit or add to this file if you wish to upgrade OpenMage to newer
 * versions in the future. If you wish to customize OpenMage for your
 * needs please refer to https://www.openmage.org for more information.
 *
 * @category    Mage
 * @package     Mage
 * @copyright  Copyright (c) 2006-2020 Magento, Inc. (http://www.magento.com)
 * @copyright  Copyright (c) 2020-2022 OpenMage (https://www.openmage.org)
 * @license    http://opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php  Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
 */

There are a few changes here:

1. Changing Magento -> OpenMage in a few places that are not part of the license or copyright. They are just instances of the project name and I don't see why that cannot change.

2. Adding a second @copyright tag. This would only be added to files that have been changed by OpenMage (probably nearly all files) with the correct year for when the first modification was made until 2022.

If people approve, then I can make a PR.

[Flyingmana]

Openmage is not a legal entity, therefore can not claim copyright here

[Flyingmana]

another point to mention, as soon as we add another @copyright line, we cant remove it anymore from this files till copyright expired. So when doing the decision keep in mind, its a non-reversible one.

[fballiano]

And that also means that, in 2023, we'll have a release that changes every single file (bye bye doing a diff between releases) just to update the copyright year :-\

[addison74]

I totally agree. That block if it will ever be modified should not require other periodic changes.

[justinbeaty]

We can overlap years, that's not a problem.

Instead of updating the copyright on all files every year, I will make the script (which will be included in the PR) set the range of years from the earliest modification, to the most recent one. Therefore, when comparing changes only files that would be included in the diff anyways will have a copyright change. This is also more correct, because if a file only had one change from OpenMage in (for example) 2020, then there's no reason to have to put 2020-2023.

[justinbeaty]

Even if we could never remove the copyright notice, I still think it's a good idea to implement this.

In my opinion, it shows we're actively maintained. Say a few years from now in 2025, people (and management) feel better seeing more current year than using an e-commerce platform with the last copyright update of 2020.

Furthermore, if someone ever forks OpenMage, we get the credit of having been part of that new codebase's history.

[fballiano]

Also, do we really need the "DISCLAIMER" part in every file? we could spare 6 lines removing it and it doesn't seem to be that necessary in 2022

[justinbeaty]

We could remove it in a separate PR. I don't have any strong opinion. It may still serve as a determent to modifying core files, but anyone who has modified core files in the past has clearly ignored that warning.

[luigifab]

drop it!

[justinbeaty]

I'll make two PRs then. One for copyright and one for dropping that disclaimer.

[justinbeaty]

First PR: #2295 to add in new copyright tags

[justinbeaty]

Second PR: #2297 to change Magento -> OpenMage and remove DISCLAIMER

[justinbeaty]

Question: should we also modify lib/Mage and lib/Magento ?

In general I ignored the lib dir because I do not know what plans to be broken out to composer deps.

[luigifab]

Yes! There are some commits.

[justinbeaty]

Okay, I updated to not ignore lib at all. This updated lib/Magento, lib/Mage, lib/Varien and one file in lib/flex (which is gone in 20.0 anyway).

The script only changed files where it saw the @copyright Magento, LLC line. So it has not changed files in app/code/core/Zend, lib/Zend, lib/mcryptcompat, lib/phpseclib, etc. Best to not change those anyway I think.

[luigifab]

Does this script must be executed before each release to update copyright years?
Because for all current PR, I think nobody update or add: * @copyright Copyright (c) xyz OpenMage (https://www.openmage.org).

[justinbeaty]

Ideally yes, it is ran before each release. Either on 1.9.4.x then merged to 20.0 (and script run again on 20.0), or on 1.9.4.x and 20.0 independently with the 1.9.4.x commit not cherry-picked.

But, I do not know how much mental overhead this adds to maintainer's workflow. It could be run every so often instead.

[addison74]

We did a great job related to this issue.