On Wed, 13 May 1998 16:16:09 -0400 
 rbraun@cstone.net (Rolf Braun) wrote:

 > IMHO, that's really a nit to pick given that the diffs will be used to
 > patch source files that DO have the copyright notice. I think the reason
 > nobody's sued FreeBSD over this is that nobody at Berkeley is insane enough
 > to pick nits like this.

..for small diffs, maybe.  But, say I'm the copyright holder on a file
which carries my copyright and license notice, and it's "this year's" (i.e.
I won't be updating the notice when I add new code).

Now, say that I implement some MAJOR new feature.  Let's say the amount
of code is non-trivial.  Using an "anonymous CVS" type service, someone
would be able to lift that code _without_ getting the copyright and
license notice.  Is that right?  I don't think it is.

The point is that it's not just UCBs license that we're trying to protect.
As a project, I think we have the responsibility of trying to protect _all_
of our contributors, as well as The NetBSD Foundation, Inc. itself.

 > I guess this could be worked around while still using diffs if every line
 > in the copyright header were given a timestamp or build number each time
 > the file was modified. Then diff would have to include the header each
 > time. Hmm.

Now you're talking about modifying the behavior of RCS... "oh joy".  What
if notices are spread throughout the files?  How do you tag these.  It's
possible, but a pain :-)

 > >Disclaimer: IANAL.
 > 
 > Hmm? What's that one stand for? :)

"I am not a lawyer."

Jason R. Thorpe                                       thorpej@nas.nasa.gov
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