Robert Connolly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I think everyone would agree that patches have the same copyright as
> the files that they patch, with exception to new files, and unless
> otherwise stated. If a patch creates a new file it is the
> responsability of the author of that file to copyright it, otherwise
> it is 'all rights reserved' by default.  Patches can also have
> copyrights for portions of code... like a function or paragraph
> might be quoted from another source, and so the patched file would
> have a dual copyright.

These issues are a good reason to have an explicit policy on this
matter.  For example, the patch for mktemp creates the script file
`maketemp', which does not have a copyright or license notice.  In my
mind, this can mean one of three things:

1) It is under the same license as the mktemp package
2) It is under the same license as the LFS book
3) It has no license, and is thus not free software

I guess (and hope) that the author (Tushar Teredesai) assumed that it
falls under either 1) or 2).

It would be less ambiguous and thus much better if patches had a
"License" field in the header.  I don't think it would be much work,
either.

-- 
Henrik S. Hansen
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