Policy to add "AUTHORS", copyright refers to "Blender Authors" instead of "Blender Foundation" #110784

New Issue

Campbell Barton · 2023-08-04T08:14:54+02:00

Campbell Barton commented

2023-08-04 08:14:54 +02:00

Motivation

Currently listing the "Blender Foundation" as copyright holder
implies the Blender foundation holds copyright to files which
may include work from many developers.

While keeping copyright on headers makes sense for isolated libraries,
Blender's own code may be refactored or moved between files in a way that
makes the per file copyright holders less meaningful.

Proposal

This proposal suggests to:

Replace the copyright holder Blender Foundation in headers with Blender Authors.
Add an AUTHORS file in the projects root directory,
this list will contain all copyright holders, both individuals & organizations.
The authors file for the Chromium project will be used as a template.

# This is the list of Blender authors for copyright purposes.
#
# This does not necessarily list everyone who has contributed code.
# To see the full list of contributors, see the revision history in source
# control.

# Names should be added to this file with this pattern:
#
# For individuals:
#   Name <email address>
#
# For organizations:
#   Organization <fnmatch pattern>
#
# See python fnmatch module documentation for more information.
#
# Please keep the list sorted.

# BEGIN individuals section.
Example Name <example@domain.com>
More Names <another@domain.com>
# Please DO NOT APPEND here. See comments at the top of the file.
# END individuals section.

# BEGIN organizations section.
Blender Foundation <*@blender.org>
Example Company <*@example.com>
# Please DO NOT APPEND here. See comments at the top of the file.
# END organizations section.

Notes

Anyone wishing to find the origin of source code needs to use version-control
tools to track down the exact author for a given file/function.
Other copyright holders included in file headers will be left as-is.
scripts/addons & scripts/addons_contrib will not be included in this list.

Proposed Steps

Replace all copyright text referencing Blender Foundation with Blender Authors.
See script: ./SPDX_blender_foundation_rename_to_authors_once.py in PR.
Add an AUTHORS file based on a modified output of tools/utils/credits_git_gen.py.

We may want to remove authors who made very small changes (only a few lines added/removed for e.g.).
The current authors file includes lines changed (clamped at 100).
Once added, manually maintain this file.

Open Topics

Criteria for including individuals in AUTHORS.
- Suggest to exclude authors who have made very small changes (less than 10 lines changed for e.g.), the exact number is arbitrary and we could even include all if we wanted.
Criteria for including organizations in AUTHORS.
- We could include all companies listed in the credits, although some of them were more sponsors for work than authors, so details need to be ironed out.

See pull request: !110783 which implements this change.

### Motivation Currently listing the "Blender Foundation" as copyright holder implies the Blender foundation holds copyright to files which may include work from many developers. While keeping copyright on headers makes sense for isolated libraries, Blender's own code may be refactored or moved between files in a way that makes the per file copyright holders less meaningful. ### Proposal This proposal suggests to: - Replace the copyright holder `Blender Foundation` in headers with `Blender Authors`. - Add an `AUTHORS` file in the projects root directory, this list will contain all copyright holders, both individuals & organizations. The authors file for the Chromium project will be used as a template. ``` # This is the list of Blender authors for copyright purposes. # # This does not necessarily list everyone who has contributed code. # To see the full list of contributors, see the revision history in source # control. # Names should be added to this file with this pattern: # # For individuals: # Name <email address> # # For organizations: # Organization <fnmatch pattern> # # See python fnmatch module documentation for more information. # # Please keep the list sorted. # BEGIN individuals section. Example Name <example@domain.com> More Names <another@domain.com> # Please DO NOT APPEND here. See comments at the top of the file. # END individuals section. # BEGIN organizations section. Blender Foundation <*@blender.org> Example Company <*@example.com> # Please DO NOT APPEND here. See comments at the top of the file. # END organizations section. ``` ### Notes - Anyone wishing to find the origin of source code needs to use version-control tools to track down the exact author for a given file/function. - Other copyright holders included in file headers will be left as-is. - `scripts/addons` & `scripts/addons_contrib` will not be included in this list. ### Proposed Steps - Replace all copyright text referencing `Blender Foundation` with `Blender Authors`. See script: `./SPDX_blender_foundation_rename_to_authors_once.py` in PR. - Add an `AUTHORS` file based on a modified output of `tools/utils/credits_git_gen.py`. We may want to remove authors who made very small changes (only a few lines added/removed for e.g.). The current authors file includes lines changed (clamped at 100). - Once added, manually maintain this file. ### Open Topics - Criteria for including individuals in `AUTHORS`. - Suggest to exclude authors who have made very small changes (less than 10 lines changed for e.g.), the exact number is arbitrary and we could even include all if we wanted. - Criteria for including organizations in `AUTHORS`. - We could include all companies listed in the credits, although some of them were more sponsors for work than authors, so details need to be ironed out. ---- See pull request: !110783 which implements this change.

👍 6

Campbell Barton added the

Type

Design

label 2023-08-04 08:14:55 +02:00

Campbell Barton changed title from ~~Policy for SPDX copyright identifier~~ to Policy to add "AUTHORS", copyright belongs to "Blender Authors" instead of "Blender Foundation"

2023-08-04 08:24:38 +02:00

Campbell Barton changed title from ~~Policy to add "AUTHORS", copyright belongs to "Blender Authors" instead of "Blender Foundation"~~ to Policy to add "AUTHORS", copyright refers to "Blender Authors" instead of "Blender Foundation"

2023-08-04 08:24:57 +02:00

Campbell Barton referenced this issue

2023-08-04 08:30:17 +02:00

License Headers: Use "SPDX-FileCopyrightText: ... Blender Authors, add AUTHORS #110783

Campbell Barton added the

Module

Core

label 2023-08-04 08:49:46 +02:00

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2023-08-04 12:54:03 +02:00

A discussed earlier elsewhere, I think we should have a disclaimer like this as found in AUTHORS files in some other projects:

# This is the list of Blender authors for copyright purposes.
#
# This does not necessarily list everyone who has contributed code.
# To see the full list of contributors, see the revision history in source
# control.

Criteria for including individuals in AUTHORS.

Suggest to exclude authors who have made very small changes (less than 10 lines changed for e.g.), the exact number is arbitrary and we could even include all if we wanted.

I would not bother to make this distinction, to keep it simple. Sometimes 10 lines changed could arguably have copyright, while sometimes 1000 lines of spelling fixes arguably do not. Sometimes there might be multiple smaller PRs that add up to a bigger change. Just seems easier if reviewers don't have to make decisions here.

Criteria for including organizations in AUTHORS.

We could include all companies listed in the credits, although some of them were more sponsors for work than authors, so details need to be ironed out.

Yes, we need to contact some of the contributors to check this.

A discussed earlier elsewhere, I think we should have a disclaimer like this as found in AUTHORS files in some other projects: ``` # This is the list of Blender authors for copyright purposes. # # This does not necessarily list everyone who has contributed code. # To see the full list of contributors, see the revision history in source # control. ``` > Criteria for including individuals in AUTHORS. > > Suggest to exclude authors who have made very small changes (less than 10 lines changed for e.g.), the exact number is arbitrary and we could even include all if we wanted. I would not bother to make this distinction, to keep it simple. Sometimes 10 lines changed could arguably have copyright, while sometimes 1000 lines of spelling fixes arguably do not. Sometimes there might be multiple smaller PRs that add up to a bigger change. Just seems easier if reviewers don't have to make decisions here. > Criteria for including organizations in AUTHORS. > > We could include all companies listed in the credits, although some of them were more sponsors for work than authors, so details need to be ironed out. Yes, we need to contact some of the contributors to check this.

Jacques Lucke commented

2023-08-04 15:31:24 +02:00

Looks like a good change to me. I wonder, how does this work with individuals that have contributed with different email addresses? Can someone be listed multiple times?

Ray molenkamp commented

2023-08-04 16:21:26 +02:00

We're free to do whatever we like, the chromium template we're following here seems to have no issue listing people twice, in either the individual and organisation sections, so I guess it's ok, but it's ultimately call for the admins to make. Don't think there is a right or wrong way here.

We're free to do whatever we like, the chromium template we're following here seems to have no issue listing people twice, in either the [individual](https://github.com/chromium/chromium/blob/main/AUTHORS#L1313) and [organisation](https://github.com/chromium/chromium/blob/main/AUTHORS#L1529) sections, so I guess it's ok, but it's ultimately call for the admins to make. Don't think there is a right or wrong way here.

Campbell Barton commented

2023-08-07 09:20:58 +02:00

A discussed earlier elsewhere, I think we should have a disclaimer like this as found in AUTHORS files in some other projects:
# This is the list of Blender authors for copyright purposes.
#
# This does not necessarily list everyone who has contributed code.
# To see the full list of contributors, see the revision history in source
# control.

Done.

Criteria for including individuals in AUTHORS.

Suggest to exclude authors who have made very small changes (less than 10 lines changed for e.g.), the exact number is arbitrary and we could even include all if we wanted.

I would not bother to make this distinction, to keep it simple. Sometimes 10 lines changed could arguably have copyright, while sometimes 1000 lines of spelling fixes arguably do not. Sometimes there might be multiple smaller PRs that add up to a bigger change. Just seems easier if reviewers don't have to make decisions here.

Agree this is very arbitrary, although I wouldn't mind picking a very small threshold. e.g. skip authors with 4 lines or less changed.
Otherwise this might as well be a generated dump of the credits.

Looks like a good change to me. I wonder, how does this work with individuals that have contributed with different email addresses? Can someone be listed multiple times?

@JacquesLucke the current listing uses the most recent git-author, there are so many that I don't think it's practical to do anything too sophisticated here. There is at least one duplicated which needs to be manually resolved, otherwise I think we can manually correct this as needed.

> A discussed earlier elsewhere, I think we should have a disclaimer like this as found in AUTHORS files in some other projects: > > ``` > # This is the list of Blender authors for copyright purposes. > # > # This does not necessarily list everyone who has contributed code. > # To see the full list of contributors, see the revision history in source > # control. > ``` Done. > > Criteria for including individuals in AUTHORS. > > > > Suggest to exclude authors who have made very small changes (less than 10 lines changed for e.g.), the exact number is arbitrary and we could even include all if we wanted. > > I would not bother to make this distinction, to keep it simple. Sometimes 10 lines changed could arguably have copyright, while sometimes 1000 lines of spelling fixes arguably do not. Sometimes there might be multiple smaller PRs that add up to a bigger change. Just seems easier if reviewers don't have to make decisions here. Agree this is very arbitrary, although I wouldn't mind picking a very small threshold. e.g. skip authors with 4 lines or less changed. Otherwise this might as well be a generated dump of the credits. ---- > Looks like a good change to me. I wonder, how does this work with individuals that have contributed with different email addresses? Can someone be listed multiple times? @JacquesLucke the current listing uses the most recent git-author, there are so many that I don't think it's practical to do anything too sophisticated here. There is at least one duplicated which needs to be manually resolved, otherwise I think we can manually correct this as needed.

Campbell Barton referenced this issue from a commit

2023-08-15 16:21:49 +02:00

License Headers: Set copyright to "Blender Authors", add AUTHORS

Campbell Barton referenced this issue from a commit

2023-11-07 05:47:00 +01:00

License headers: attribute copyright to "Blender Authors"

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Policy to add "AUTHORS", copyright refers to "Blender Authors" instead of "Blender Foundation" #110784

Motivation

Proposal

Notes

Proposed Steps

Open Topics