svn commit: r335042 - head/usr.bin/top

[Warner Losh]

On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 6:10 AM, Eitan Adler <eadler at freebsd.org> wrote:

> > I do see some people adding their Copyright on some commits but overall
> > we haven't done that as a project and I am curious if we should change
> > in that regard.
>
> The rule of them is about 25% of the file, right?
>

The law that motivates this (but maybe not requires it) states only
substantial change. One cannot mislead people about the copyright term
which also feeds into it (which is one of the motivators for not doing it
for trivial changes: it would lead people to believe that a copyright is
being claimed that might not be substantial). Trouble is, there's no
concrete rules for substantial in the laws, and the caselaw is
substantially muddied. People know and use the terms, but there's no sharp
line that can be drawn or articulated.

Generally, the project has adopted a bit of a Potter Stewart like standard.
A substantial change is situational. Generally, a 25% or more change is
substantial. Sometimes, substantial changes can be less when important new
functions are added. Other times, like with mechanical changes that may
lack artistic expression, you can  change 90% of the file (via indent) and
not have it be substantial.

The current case is on the boarder. There's a lot of code motion that
doesn't change the functionality and just moves code around, inflating any
scoring efforts. On the other hand, there's been some level of cleanup of
the code as well on a very systemic basic through the whole code base. I've
not paid extreme attention to every change, to be honest, but on the whole
I think it's a close call. Generally, however, the project has been
deferential to cases that are close calls where the author has legitimately
asserted a claim. That deference, however, has not been extended in several
instances where it's not a borderline case.

So there's your answer, clear as mud.

Warner