Re: POTFILES.in example copyright in gettext manual

[Paul Eggert]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

>>      # List of source files containing translatable strings.
>>      # Copyright (C) 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
>> 
>> That copyright message seems insufficient.
>
> Why is this insufficient? It is not a file of its own; it is an example.

But the example copyright notice is incorrect, at least for the GNU
project, and this incorrectness is leaking into several GNU projects.

How about changing the example to be as follows?

  # List of source files containing translatable strings.
  # [Put your copyright notice here.]

> Why not simply state "This file is distributed under the same
> license as the enclosing package"?

I'm afraid that won't work; for legal reasons you have to be crystal
clear about the license in each copyright notice.  Among other things
many packages are distributed with different parts under different
licenses (e.g., GPL, LGPL, FDL).