Re: bug in --version

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello Eric,

Old old thread...

* Eric Blake wrote on Sun, Dec 03, 2006 at 04:10:43PM CET:
> According to Eric Blake on 12/3/2006 8:09 AM:
> > According to Ralf Wildenhues on 12/3/2006 2:26 AM:
> >> Hello Eric,
> >> On Sun, Oct 15, 2006 at 07:02:50PM -0600, Eric Blake wrote:
> >>> Thanks for the 1.10 release!  However, 'automake --version' does not
> >>> comply with GNU Coding Standards.  The Copyright line is missing "(C)"
> >>> before the year, and the GCS recommends that the copyright appear on the
> >>> second line, with the authors appearing after the copyright/warranty.
> >> Thanks for the report.  OK to apply?
> > 
> > What about other scripts owned by autoconf, such as compile, depcomp,
>                                     ^^^^^^^^
> I meant automake, obviously

Oh well, they all contain the special exception.  So effectively
we either need to write a lot of blurb in order to output correct
information.  Or we leave things the way they are: for practical
purposes they are usable with few restrictions.

If you would like to sort out with FSF license gurus how to put
the exact terms in a short form and write a patch, I'd be happy
if you applied that.  Otherwise let's just leave things the way
they are: it's rather difficult to misunderstand things currently
in a harmful way.

I've applied the patch below to HEAD and branch-1-10.

Cheers,
Ralf

        * aclocal.in (version): Fix output to match GCS requirements.
        * automake.in (version): Likewise.
        Report by Eric Blake.

Index: aclocal.in
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/automake/automake/aclocal.in,v
retrieving revision 1.142
diff -u -r1.142 aclocal.in
--- aclocal.in  7 Jul 2007 11:23:27 -0000       1.142
+++ aclocal.in  7 Jul 2007 12:13:13 -0000
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # aclocal - create aclocal.m4 by scanning configure.ac
 
 # Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
-# 2005, 2006  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+# 2005, 2006, 2007  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -889,12 +889,13 @@
 {
   print <<EOF;
 aclocal (GNU $PACKAGE) $VERSION
+Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
+This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
+There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
+
 Written by Tom Tromey <address@hidden>
        and Alexandre Duret-Lutz <address@hidden>.
-
-Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
-warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 EOF
   exit 0;
 }
Index: automake.in
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/automake/automake/automake.in,v
retrieving revision 1.1646
diff -u -r1.1646 automake.in
--- automake.in 7 Jul 2007 11:23:27 -0000       1.1646
+++ automake.in 7 Jul 2007 11:35:59 -0000
@@ -7686,12 +7686,13 @@
 {
   print <<EOF;
 automake (GNU $PACKAGE) $VERSION
+Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
+This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
+There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
+
 Written by Tom Tromey <address@hidden>
        and Alexandre Duret-Lutz <address@hidden>.
-
-Copyright 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
-warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 EOF
   # --version always returns 0 per GNU standards.
   exit 0;