GPLv3|L8R -- Status report - ready for inspection?

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Mats Lidell writes:

 > OK. So it is clear from the FAQ that is it Jan Vroonhof who
 > contributed this. From Jerrys "GPL version 3 source survey" we have
 > the comment "(probably Steve Baur or Jan Vroonhof, email pending
 > 2009/11/10 --sjt)" 

I'd say delete it.  When I looked into the matter, there was no
evidence that Jan wrote it; the FAQ entry quotes Jan as quoting the
script, and he doesn't claim authorship at all in that message.  I
seem to recall that Jan eventually wrote us and disclaimed authorship,
but I can't find that message.

It's not like it would be hard for somebody to code something similar
if we're asked.

 > A question about short files (which etc/gtkrc is an example of. It is
 > only eight lines.) Shall we make these files longer by inserting
 > copyright notices and license text or shall we adopt the "shorter than
 > 10 lines rules"

That (actually 16 lines, IIRC) is the FSF's rule for assignments, not
for copyright/license notices.

If we know the author, then ISTM

# Copyright 1999 Malcolm Purvis
# This file is part of XEmacs, licensed to you under the GNU
# General Public License, version 3 or later at your option.
# There is NO WARRANTY, explicit or implied, on this file.

is short enough to not hurt anything.  The longer formula used in more
substantial files isn't absolutely necessary, and I think these days
everybody will recognize that abbreviated version.  The longer version
is a courtesy to downstream developers who *might* happen to receive a
file separated from the rest of XEmacs, and an advertisement for the
FSF.