gbranden pushed a commit to branch master
in repository groff.
commit f3b81eb8c146e45c9dbfa42d87dd0c46aec1185e
Author: G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]>
AuthorDate: Mon Nov 3 01:43:10 2025 -0600
src/roff/groff/groff.cpp: Tweak copyright notices.
Drop ersatz '(C)' copyright symbol.
Software developers have long labored under the no-longer-correct
misconception that omitting a copyright symbol from one's notice was a
fatal defect that effectively placed the work in the public domain.
That stopped being true as of 1 March 1989.[1] Further, prior to
guidance issued by the U.S. Copyright Office in the decades since, the
use of "(C)" as a substitute for a copyright sign _may not have
sufficed_ to prevent the copyright notice from being regarded as
defective. The Copyright Office, then and now, prefers the abbreviation
"copr." when © is typographically unavailable.[ibid.] Nowadays, its
advice is that "c" (note lowercase) is an "acceptable variant", that
_may_ retain the efficacy of the copyright notice. The word
"copyright", spelled out in full, also suffices per that resource, and
is already present in this notice.
[1] https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf
---
ChangeLog | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
src/roff/groff/groff.cpp | 4 ++--
2 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b328844ff..089f45350 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,26 @@
+2025-11-03 G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]>
+
+ * src/roff/groff/groff.cpp (main): Drop ersatz '(C)' symbol from
+ copyright notice.
+
+ Software developers have long labored under the no-longer-
+ correct misconception that omitting a copyright symbol from
+ one's notice was a fatal defect that effectively placed the work
+ in the public domain. That stopped being true as of 1 March
+ 1989.[1] Further, prior to guidance issued by the U.S.
+ Copyright Office in the decades since, the use of "(C)" as a
+ substitute for a copyright sign _may not have sufficed_ to
+ prevent the copyright notice from being regarded as defective.
+ The Copyright Office, then and now, prefers the abbreviation
+ "copr." when © is typographically unavailable.[ibid.] Nowadays,
+ its advice is that "c" (note lowercase) is an "acceptable
+ variant", that _may_ retain the efficacy of the copyright
+ notice. The word "copyright", spelled out in full, also
+ suffices per that resource, and is already present in this
+ notice.
+
+ [1] https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf
+
2025-11-06 G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]>
* src/devices/gropdf/gropdf.pl (usage): Tweak synopsis syntax.
diff --git a/src/roff/groff/groff.cpp b/src/roff/groff/groff.cpp
index aafe66021..c64b728fa 100644
--- a/src/roff/groff/groff.cpp
+++ b/src/roff/groff/groff.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* Copyright (C) 1989-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+/* Copyright 1989-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Written by James Clark ([email protected])
This file is part of groff.
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
want_version_info = true;
printf("GNU groff version %s\n", Version_string);
puts(
-"Copyright (C) 1989-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\n"
+"Copyright 1989-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\n"
"This is free software, distributed under the terms of the GNU General"
" Public\n"
"License, version 3, or any later version, at your option. There is NO"
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