Anthony Gorecki wrote:
Hello,
After recently submitting an updated ebuild for inclusion, I've become concerned with the statement "Copyright 1999-2004 Gentoo Foundation" that appears within packages, for a number of reasons:
First, by using a date range in the copyright declaration, it is given that updated changes to the copyrighted work have been made and released to the public in each of the consecutive covered years that are listed. In the case of updated ebuilds, the first ebuild for a given package may not have been released in 1999, making such a date range incorrect. For ebuilds that add usability for presently unavailable software, only the year of release would be necessary.
A good piece of information on the subject is listed on the GNU website, <http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html#Copyright-Notices>, and to quote a small section:
"The list of year numbers should include each year in which you finished preparing a version which was actually released, and which was an ancestor of the current version.
Please reread the paragraph above, slowly and carefully. It is important to understand that rule precisely, much as you would understand a complicated C statement in order to hand-simulate it."
Let's start this off with a wise attitude... That's a good one...
do you need a mirror to see the one with the wrong attitude? he was quoting, not being wise
But to really answer your question, all ebuilds originiate from the ebuild.skel file, which so far as received some attention every year from 1999, so in fact an ebuild is not born in 2004 or 2005 for a new package. It was born in 1999.
As far as your statement on copyright assignment, if you're country does not permit copyright assignment then you should not submit ebuilds. Simple as that. The Gentoo Foundation copyright is there for a reason, so the Portage tree remains unencumbered by numerous copyrights. In the past people would have their own copyright notices up there and it was really a huge mess. We've gotten rid of that and standardized long ago. Without that, parts of your Portage tree might disappear, never to return if someone suddently pulled their works.
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