Details
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Question
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Status: Closed
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Major
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Resolution: Fixed
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None
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None
Description
When it comes to adding the Apache header to source files, according to https://www.apache.org/legal/src-headers.html#faq-exceptions there are exceptions for when it comes to content that has no degree of creativity, i.e.
> A file without any degree of creativity in either its literal elements or its structure is not protected by copyright law; therefore, such a file does not require a license header. If in doubt about the extent of the file's creativity, add the license header to the file.
The question is whether configuration files count as not having any degree of creativity and hence fall under the exception? An example of such a source file that we are dealing with is https://github.com/apache/incubator-pekko/blob/main/actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
It can be said that due to the nature of it being a configuration file, by definition there is no degree of creativity because any change to the literal elements and/or structure will mean the configuration file will fail to work with the application/library in question. Note that the logic for parsing/reading a configuration file resides in the application/library, not in the configuration file itself.
This means the only real changes that can be done (and hence are expected to be done) are mundane changes to values, i.e.
logger-startup-timeout = 5s
vs
logger-startup-timeout = 10s