maintain.texi proposed patch for "(C)" (was: Re: FYI: WS & (C))

[Paul Eggert]

Kevin Ryde <address@hidden> writes:

> I thought just the word Copyright sufficed.  Cf:
> 
>       http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain_8.html

maintain.texi is schizoid: it recommends the style "Copyright 2003",
but it _uses_ the style "Copyright (C) 2003".

This issue got fixed a while ago in standards.texi (see
<http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_18.html>) but the problem remains
in maintain.texi.  Here's a proposed patch:

--- maintain.texi-old   2003-03-26 07:58:23.000000000 -0800
+++ maintain.texi       2003-05-23 23:36:40.796665000 -0700
@@ -447,13 +447,21 @@
 A copyright notice looks like this:
 
 @example
-Copyright @var{year1}, @var{year2}, @var{year3}  @var{copyright-holder}
+Copyright (C) @var{year1}, @var{year2}, @var{year3}  @var{copyright-holder}
 @end example
 
 The @var{copyright-holder} may be the Free Software Foundation, Inc., or
 someone else; you should know who is the copyright holder for your
 package.
 
+Replace the @samp{(C)} with a C-in-a-circle symbol if it is available.
+For example, use @samp{@@address@hidden@}} in a Texinfo file.  However,
+stick with parenthesized @samp{C} unless you know that C-in-a-circle
+will work.  For example, a program's standard @option{--version}
+message should use @samp{(C)} in an @acronym{ASCII} locale, though
+message translations should use C-in-a-circle in locales where that
+symbol is known to work.
+
 The list of year numbers should include each year in which you finished
 preparing a version which was actually released, and which was an
 ancestor of the current version.