[LEGAL-300] Should ASF headers be excluded from the auto-generated output of GNU Autotools?

• Type: Question
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Assignee: Chris A. Mattmann
• Reporter: Mike Jumper
• Created: 17/Apr/17 18:13
• Updated: 24/Sep/18 02:04
• Resolved: 24/Sep/18 02:04

Description

Hello,

During the release VOTE for Apache Guacamole 0.9.12-incubating, concerns were raised regarding the presence of ASF headers in the auto-generated output of the build system, in this case GNU Autotools:

...

• There's a few files such as Makefile.in that have a mix of ASF and
  non-ASF headers, which isn't really appropriate. I also don't see the FSF
  claim in the License file.

...

(See: https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/2f7ca58b1907698f70af06c113e36e75f2dc987e416b0a0242ab436f@%3Cgeneral.incubator.apache.org%3E)

The "Makefile.in" file mentioned above is automatically generated by the build system based on the input file "Makefile.am". That input file does (and must) have ASF headers, as it is part of the Apache Guacamole codebase:

https://github.com/apache/incubator-guacamole-server/blob/37fe3548de87adefe189ce48ebe4aebef3d0a18e/Makefile.am#L1-L18

Because GNU Autotools includes verbatim portions of "Makefile.am" while generating "Makefile.in", comments from the original input file are preserved, including the ASF header. GNU Autotools also adds its own licensing header to its output, resulting in a file containing both headers:

# Makefile.in generated by automake 1.15 from Makefile.am.
# @configure_input@

# Copyright (C) 1994-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

# This Makefile.in is free software; the Free Software Foundation
# gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
# with or without modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.

# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law; without
# even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
# PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

@SET_MAKE@

#
# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
# distributed with this work for additional information
# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
# specific language governing permissions and limitations
# under the License.
#

It is not possible to exclude the FSF header that is automatically added, but it is possible to exclude the ASF header by altering the format of the comment in the input (using a leading "##" instead of "#").

Given:

1. The FSF and ASF headers seem to conflict.
2. The ASF header can be excluded if necessary.
3. The auto-generated output file does contain verbatim portions of the input to which the ASF header should apply.
4. The auto-generated output file contains verbatim portions of the GNU Autotools build system to which the FSF header applies.

Should the ASF headers be excluded from the auto-generated output of GNU Autotools for ASF projects using that build system?

Thanks.

Issue Links

• is related to: GUACAMOLE-353 Clarify ASF header within Makefile.am, etc. regarding build system output