Re: update-copyright make rule?

[Jim Meyering]

Simon Josefsson wrote:
> In build-aux/update-copyright it says:
>
> # You may wish to place a target like the following in your top-level
> # makefile in your project:
> #
> #   .PHONY: update-copyright
> #   update-copyright:
> #       if test -d .git; then                                   \
> #         git grep -l -w Copyright                              \
> #           | grep -v -E '(^|/)(COPYING|ChangeLog)'             \
> #           | xargs $(srcdir)/build-aux/$@;                     \
> #       fi
>
> I'd rather not have to manually add this snippet to 5+ projects, and
> keep it synchronized in case of changes.
>
> How about adding the rule to maintainer-makefile?  The rule above is
> git-specific, but that can easily be solved by just renaming the rule
> update-git-copyright if it is deemed a significant problem (see below).

I've added it there, but we don't need to change the name.
Instead, I've used $(VC_LIST_EXCEPT) to make it VC-agnostic.
Then, per-project exceptions can go in a file named
.x-update-git-copyright.

I debated whether to use GNU xargs' --no-run-if-empty option
or to omit that, on the presumption that every project using
this code has at least one version-controlled file containing
the word Copyright.  The risk of an empty file name list seems
negligible, so I've omitted it.

>From 9c34d44ff2f210d5347b430bb505f658098f539e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jim Meyering <address@hidden>
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 09:53:04 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] maint.mk: add a copyright-updating rule

* top/maint.mk (update-copyright): New rule.
Derived from coreutils/Makefile.am.
---
 ChangeLog    |    4 ++++
 top/maint.mk |    7 +++++++
 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 435a4a7..1eacff5 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 2009-08-04  Jim Meyering  <address@hidden>

+       maint.mk: add a copyright-updating rule
+       * top/maint.mk (update-copyright): New rule.
+       Derived from coreutils/Makefile.am.
+
        update-copyright: rename some variables
        * build-aux/update-copyright: Rename a few variables for clarity.
        Tweak syntax.  List Joel E. Denny as coauthor.
diff --git a/top/maint.mk b/top/maint.mk
index c3e2f47..2db44ba 100644
--- a/top/maint.mk
+++ b/top/maint.mk
@@ -771,3 +771,10 @@ INDENT_SOURCES ?= $(C_SOURCES)
 .PHONY: indent
 indent:
        indent $(INDENT_SOURCES)
+
+# Run this rule once per year (usually early in January)
+# to update all FSF copyright year lists in your project.
+.PHONY: update-copyright
+update-copyright:
+       grep -l -w Copyright $$($(VC_LIST_EXCEPT))              \
+         | xargs $(build_aux)/$@
--
1.6.4.212.g4719