patacongo edited a comment on issue #128:
URL: https://github.com/apache/incubator-nuttx/issues/128#issuecomment-691732515


   > Take care with this. The copyright holder in source may or may not be the 
correct one.
   
   Similarly, the author in GIT may not be the author of the file.  Often the 
copyright holder in the source file header is the correct one, even though that 
person many not appear in GIT history.
   
   Many people copy files that wrote into different locations (very often for 
new architectures and for new boards which are very similar to older 
architectures and boards).  Very often, I am the author of the file in these 
cases.
   
   Bottom line:  There is no magic, automated way to correct determine the 
author.  It requires collecting data and then also applying human insight.
   
   @justinmclean https://github.com/justinmclean For many cases there are 
multiple contributors of changes to a file.  There is an original author, the 
original committer (who might be a different person) and people who have made 
trivial changes (as trivial as a spelling fix) or who have made substantial 
enhancements or re-designs.  The former would not be treated as authors or 
copyright holders, but the latter may be.  Is there any rule of thumb for what 
constitutes a significant change warranting rights to the file?  Or does this 
also require human insight.
   
   There are thousands of files involved here.  This is potentially multiple 
man years of effort.  I don't see how we can ever accomplish this.
   
   


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