[webkit-dev] unwritten rules of webkit style

[Patrick Mueller]

Darin Adler wrote:
> On Sep 2, 2009, at 5:00 PM, Cameron McCormack wrote:
> 
>> I’ve noticed a couple of different ways of writing subsequent copyright
>> lines, e.g.:
>>
>>  Copyright (C) 2005 Somebody <email>
>>                2006, 2007 Somebody Else <email>
>>
>>   — http://trac.webkit.org/browser/trunk/WebCore/svg/SVGSVGElement.cpp
>>
>> and:
>>
>>  Copyright (C) 2005 Somebody <email>
>>  Copyright (C) 2006, 2007 Somebody Else <email>
>>
>>   — http://trac.webkit.org/browser/trunk/WebCore/svg/SVGFilterElement.cpp
> 
> 
> I think the second format is the one we should use.

IBM actually has rules about what the copyright statements should look 
like (surprise surprise) for our own copywritten material, and so I 
applied it for a recent set of changes to 
WebCore/inspector/front-end/ResourceView.js:

  * Copyright (C) 2007, 2008 Apple Inc.  All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (C) IBM Corp. 2009  All rights reserved.

I'll be first to say ... ick ...  And I'll also note that it's unlikely 
anything horrible will happen to me if I was forced to use some other 
format instead (like what everyone else is using, for instance).  But 
other folks may not be so flexible.

I'm thinking we probably be need to be flexible about the format of the 
line, perhaps strongly suggest the current format as the format to use.

And I certainly agree that the second form is better.  I can imagine a 
lawyer getting upset if they don't see the "Copyright (C)" on a line 
where they expect it ("OMG - YOU DIDN'T COPYRIGHT IT!!!")

-- 
Patrick Mueller - http://muellerware.org