[openstack-dev] Usage of @author tags in the header of Python files

Chris Buccella chris.buccella at antallagon.com
Wed Oct 8 19:28:50 UTC 2014


Nova has a hacking check for this (N315):
https://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack/nova/tree/nova/hacking/checks.py#n220

Based on the general sentiment around the issue, maybe other projects
should consider enforcing this similarly.


On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 1:56 PM, Monty Taylor <mordred at inaugust.com> wrote:

> On 10/08/2014 10:45 AM, John Griffith wrote:
> > On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 11:15 AM, David Lyle <dklyle0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I don't see any need nor benefit from the tags. We should remove them if
> >> convenient.
> >>
> >> David
> >> On Oct 8, 2014 3:02 AM, "Duncan Thomas" <duncan.thomas at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> On 8 October 2014 10:39, Ihar Hrachyshka <ihrachys at redhat.com> wrote:
> >>>> On 08/10/14 09:30, Christian Berendt wrote:
> >>>>> After proposing a change to Horizon to remove the @author tags from
> >>>>> the header of Python files
> >>>>> (https://review.openstack.org/#/c/126656/) Matthias Runge proposed
> >>>>> to discuss this first on the mailing list.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Is it necessary to track the authorship of a file inside the file
> >>>>> using @author tags?
> >>>>
> >>>> Git is a lot better in attributing authorship, so for me, @author tags
> >>>> are just a waste of precious disk bytes and cpu cycles.
> >>>
> >>> The tags also make people worried about changing 'somebody else's
> >>> thing', are difficult to make meaningful over time (how much of a
> >>> function do you need to change to claim authorship of it) and
> >>> generally give no significant benefit. While I don't currently work on
> >>> Horizon, I vote for scrapping them and putting a hacking check in to
> >>> keep them out.
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> OpenStack-dev mailing list
> >>> OpenStack-dev at lists.openstack.org
> >>> http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
> >>>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> OpenStack-dev mailing list
> >> OpenStack-dev at lists.openstack.org
> >> http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
> >>
> >> I have to echo what others are saying, IMO the @author tags are pretty
> > meaningless and worse misleading.  I don't have an opinion on removing
> them
> > but I certainly think it's ridiculous for people to add them going
> > forward.  Certainly wouldn't object to them being removed as new
> > contributors add/amend the files that have them.
>
> I agree with everything that has been said.
>
>
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