translations June 2009

translations@drupal.org

3 participants
3 discussions

Re: [translations] Copyright?
by Gerhard Killesreiter 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 larry(a)garfieldtech.com schrieb: > Gerhard Killesreiter wrote: > >>> Drupal's CVS policy is to not state a copyright or authorship on >>> anything, since most code gets so many people working on it that >>> separating out who did what is infeasible. Commit messages should >>> specify credit. Therefore, po files in CVS should follow the same >>> convention as code: Don't specify an author or a copyright or a license >>> in the file itself and let the packaging system add a LICENSE.txt file >>> as appropriate. >> >> While I agree, this is a bit impractical. The copyright notices in the >> PO files are usually added by the PO translator software. While it is >> possible to remove them (man vi), most translators might not know how. >> >> In fact, our own extractor.php adds this to the header of the files: >> >> $output = "# LANGUAGE translation of Drupal (". $file .")\n"; >> $output .= "# Copyright YEAR NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"; >> >> Since they do not claim something that is not true, I suggest to ignore >> them. >> >> Cheers, >> Gerhard > > Well they may become untrue over time if multiple people work on a given > PO file. That's why PHP files do not carry an author identification. I > do not know the usual workflow for PO files well enough to say if it is > a valid concern there, so will defer to Gerhard on the enforcement front. Thank you so much. :p I guess a good policy would be to place something like "the Drupal translators for foo language" in that line. Realistically I've no time to enforce this at all. But maybe Mori would like to draw up some policy that we can add to the translators' handbook. Cheers, Gerhard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAko5aaIACgkQfg6TFvELooRDdwCfSwdVPZqR8Sq4MPR0vf+bSh8f dJoAoIAs1t1FdAChDTSsP/3hiTA0ZufW =Hx05 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [translations] Copyright?
by Gerhard Killesreiter 17 Jun '09

17 Jun '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 larry(a)garfieldtech.com schrieb: > 1) Anything in Drupal CVS is under the GPL. The copyright is held by > all kinds of people, but the license is the GPL. That includes all > translatable strings. > > 2) A translation is a derivative work of the work being translated. In > this case, the work being translated is Drupal. > > 3) Derivative works of a GPLed work must be distributed under the GPL if > they are distributed. > > 4apply. > > 4a) If that is the case, then neither the original string nor the > translation of it are subject to copyright and so a copyright notice is > inappropriate. > > 4b) If that is not the case, then the original text is copyrighted its > original author and released under the GPL and the translation, as a > derivative work, must also be under the GPL. Claiming a copyright on > the translation is valid, but it still must be distributed under the GPL. > Thanks! > Drupal's CVS policy is to not state a copyright or authorship on > anything, since most code gets so many people working on it that > separating out who did what is infeasible. Commit messages should > specify credit. Therefore, po files in CVS should follow the same > convention as code: Don't specify an author or a copyright or a license > in the file itself and let the packaging system add a LICENSE.txt file > as appropriate. While I agree, this is a bit impractical. The copyright notices in the PO files are usually added by the PO translator software. While it is possible to remove them (man vi), most translators might not know how. In fact, our own extractor.php adds this to the header of the files: $output = "# LANGUAGE translation of Drupal (". $file .")\n"; $output .= "# Copyright YEAR NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"; Since they do not claim something that is not true, I suggest to ignore them. Cheers, Gerhard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAko5Z5UACgkQfg6TFvELooQCnQCgwKXzknncX6m8df0uCLI/80M9 E6IAniNRkXjj8cPIRMRmS0rLvgfWv8yb =O/9K -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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17 Jun '09

Hi, Sorry this may be an FAQ, but I couldn't find any answers to this: I'm wondering if we are allowed to claim copyright to translations (and .po files) of any strings in Drupal and its core / contrib modules. I noticed many .po files come with a copyright notice at the top of the files, but since Drupal is licensed under GPL, my understanding is that .po files are derivatives and thus they cannot be copyrighted. I couldn't find a specific answer for Drupal translation files, but did find some sources that my argument is correct (at least in the States) so I'm assuming that is the case: www.linuxjournal.com/article/6366 "A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more pre-existing works, such as a translation . . . A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License "The GPL is clear in requiring that all derivative works of code under the GPL must themselves be under the GPL." Thanks in advance for your reply. Kind regards, Mori

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translations June 2009