On 06/10/2015 12:58, S Ellison wrote:
(quoting without attribution to the author, who would appear to be Uwe
Liggges).
The former co-author contributed, so he is still author and probably copyright
holder and has to be listed among the authors, otherwise it would be a CRAN
policy violation ...
It's a bit of a philosophical question right now, but at some point in a
developing package's life - particularly one that starts small but is
subsequently refactored in growth - there may be no code left that was
contributed by the original developer.
Is there a point at which the original developer should not stay on the author
list?
Authorship is not just about code. For example, there are functions in
R which have been completely recoded, but the design and documentation
remain. Copyright can apply to designs and there is shading between
inspiration and infringement. And many of us believe that inspiration
should be credited as a moral even if not a legal obligation.
As in "George Washington's axe" and similar myths, if all the parts are
replaced it remains of the original design.
--
Brian D. Ripley, rip...@stats.ox.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, University of Oxford
1 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK
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