In message <9623c9a50910122312y7de4b5d5j7568786e226b9...@mail.gmail.com>, Xiao-Feng Li writes: > > On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 8:03 AM, sebb <seb...@gmail.com> wrote: > > [SNIP] > > > > The problem with @author tags in code is that they can very quickly > > get out of date. > > After a few years of edits, how much of the original code is left? > > Have the tags been kept up to date? Does it really make sense to have > > recognition in the source code? > > Last time when this issue was discussed, my opinion is that: > 1) Any new contributor of a file has the right to remove the old > @author tag in that file; > 2) If the new contributor removes the old @author tag, he/she should > not add his/her own name in it; > 3) If a file has no new contributor, the original author tag can be > kept as is, unless he/she agrees to remove the name. > 4) Agreed with Tim to keep a name list of contributors if their names > are removed; > 5) I support to remove all the occurrences of my name in all the > files, no matter if there is a new contributor of not.
At what point does a new contributor have the right to remove the author tag? When converting tabs to spaces? When adding annotations? When fixing a spelling mistake? Consider: http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/harmony/enhanced/classlib/trunk/modules/security/src/main/java/common/java/security/KeyStore.java?r1=821750&r2=821749&pathrev=821750 While I appreciate Tim's contribution to this file, I'd question whether removing the @author tag was really justified[0]. What do you think? My goals are: 1) To give credit where it is due. As discussed previously, I am in the process of putting together a more thorough contributors page for the web site. I hope that this will provide a more visible reference point for those wishing to cite their contributions. 2) To be consistent. While I respect what you are trying to achieve with list of "rules" for @author tags, I don't see how we will be able to be consistent without going back over past commits and because there is too much scope for interpretation with respect to what constitutes a contribution worthy of removing an existing @author tag. In my view the only way to achieve 2) is to remove them all and not add any again. > > Seems to me it's better to have a "contributors" page, for example as in: > > > > http://commons.apache.org/email/team-list.html > > > > Much easier to manage - and better visibility too. I agree which is why I am doing this. -Mark. [0] Many @author tags have been removed and I've probably even removed some myself; this one was just the first I found that was questionable.
