Re: [RFC PATCH] CODING_STYLE: Establish a policy with regards to copyright notices

[Jan Beulich <jbeulich@xxxxxxxx>]

On 27.01.2026 19:24, Alejandro Vallejo wrote:
> This patch modifies CODING_STYLE to severely discourage use of copyright
> notices when their presence is not legally mandatory.
> 
> Copyright notices are redundant on commit, misleading from the time the file
> receives contributions from anyone not represented by such notice, and 
> actively
> harmful for attribution by the time the original code is long gone. They are
> plain wrong when added on code motion.... the list goes on.
> 
> All attribution worth keeping is version-controlled through Signed-off-by,
> Co-authored and the like, DCO and the cumulative contents of git history.
> License banners have already been superseded by the contents of licenses/ and
> SPDX tags.
> 
> Other FOSS projects have already moved away from explicit copyright notices
> where possible, and severely discourage their use when not.
> 
> Apache and LLVM take active issue with copyrighted contributions and Chromium
> takes issues with copyrighted contributions not attributed to the project. 
> Some
> Linux subsystem maintainers already frown upon copyright notices too, even if
> it hasn't reached the point of being a mandated requirement yet.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Alejandro Vallejo <alejandro.garciavallejo@xxxxxxx>
> ---
> The actual changes are almost verbatim from the LLVM guideline, but it's not
> exact. Wording can be adjusted as needed. I care about the core of the 
> proposal.
> Saying "please, drop the notice" on contributions where it's clearly not a
> legal requirement, or have the contributor state that it is a legal 
> requirement
> and why.

This "is a legal requirement" ...

> --- a/CODING_STYLE
> +++ b/CODING_STYLE
> @@ -24,6 +24,24 @@ license, e.g.:
>  
>  See LICENSES/ for a list of licenses and SPDX tags currently used.
>  
> +Copyright notices
> +-----------------
> +
> +Copyright for the code in the Xen Project is held by the respective
> +contributors. Because you (or your company) retain ownership of the code you
> +contribute, you know it may only be used under the terms of the open source
> +license you contributed it under: the license for your contributions cannot 
> be
> +changed in the future without your approval.
> +
> +The Xen Project does not accept contributions that include in-source 
> copyright
> +notices except in the following cases:
> +  * where a committed file already contains it.
> +  * where a committed file is renamed.
> +  * where such notices are on files from an external project being imported.

... may want (need?) reflecting as another bullet point here.

The wording of the first bullet point also can be taken to mean that adding to
such pre-existing notices is acceptable. This may not be the intention?

Jan