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

John Griffith john.griffith at solidfire.com
Wed Oct 8 17:45:56 UTC 2014


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.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-dev/attachments/20141008/97c426b1/attachment-0001.html>


More information about the OpenStack-dev mailing list