Re: copyright notice question

Rick Macklem wrote this message on Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 01:03 +0000:
> Warner Losh wrote:
> >On Mon, Oct 19, 2020, 7:25 PM Rick Macklem <rmacklem_at_uoguelph.ca<mailto:rmacklem_at_uoguelph.ca>> wrote:
> >>I'll admit I've hesitated to ask this for a long time, but I guess I have to;-)
> >>I've created two daemons for NFS-over-TLS, using the code in
> >>/usr/src/usr.sbin/gssd/gssd.c as a starting point.
> >>--> As such, I left the copyright notice from this file on the two files.
> >>      (As you can see, it is a 2 clause FreeBSD one, so the terms aren't
> >>       an issue.)
> >>
> >>What I am wondering is if I should be adding my name to it as an
> >>additional author or something like that?
> >>(I don't care, but it does seem a little weird that the copyright is held
> >> by Isilon Inc, since I have no connection to them.)
> >>
> >Likely. If you changed a substantial amount, then yes. The rule of thumb is >50%
> > is no brainer yes. Smaller percentages require more nuanced judgement as to whether the changes are substantial enough to create a new work. Chances are
> > quite good you fall into one of those categories. Also, if you have replaced more 
> >than ~90% chances are good no original work remains. Again, a judgement call. 
> >There are more technical legal guidelines, but that would require a lawyer.
> >
> >My hunch is that unless this is something far more trivial than I then I'd add the
> > notice, but retaining the old.
> Well, I'd guess it's somewhere in the 50->90% category.
> Would just adding a comment below the current copyright notice like:
> /*
>  * Extensively modified from /usr/src/usr.sbin/gssd.c for RPC-over-TLS
>  * by Rick Macklem.
>  */
> be sufficient for the project, or should I put a second copyright notice
> on it with my name on it? (This will seem odd, since it will have the same
> terms as the extant one, but if that is what is appropriate for the project..)

I'd add both the above notice, but also your own copyright at the top...
You don't need to add your own copyright, but if you do, the by Rick
Macklem isn't needed in the modified from notice (and IMO, an
unnecessary distraction)...  The fact that you did the initial
modifications will be apparent in the SVN/git history.

-- 
  John-Mark Gurney				Voice: +1 415 225 5579

     "All that I will do, has been done, All that I have, has not."