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Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 09:49:18 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Stian Soiland-Reyes (JIRA)" <jira@apache.org>
To: dev@taverna.incubator.apache.org
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Subject: [jira] [Created] (TAVERNA-897) Remove @author tags?
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Stian Soiland-Reyes created TAVERNA-897:
-------------------------------------------

             Summary: Remove @author tags?
                 Key: TAVERNA-897
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/TAVERNA-897
             Project: Apache Taverna
          Issue Type: Bug
            Reporter: Stian Soiland-Reyes
            Assignee: Stian Soiland-Reyes


Some of our Javadoc contain @author tags - which are reflected in the HTML =
of the JAvadoc - for instance

http://taverna.incubator.apache.org/javadoc/taverna-language/org/apache/tav=
erna/scufl2/api/package-summary.html

http://taverna.incubator.apache.org/javadoc/taverna-osgi/org/apache/taverna=
/configuration/ConfigurationManager.html

Apache NiFi's argument against Javadoc @author tags: http://mail-archives.a=
pache.org/mod_mbox/incubator-nifi-dev/201505.mbox/%3CCAGHyZ6LcrZ1aPMUjJ%3Dr=
JkkK19Cmveew7PmTUKuWprK_bz3jxmg%40mail.gmail.com%3E =E2=80=93 which I find =
myself agreeing with.=20

Older discussion also says Apache projects should stay away from @author ta=
gs:
https://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-community/200306.mbox/%3C2003=
0609234538.GA22335@lyra.org%3E

A simple argument is that under ASF all of the Taverna committers are equal=
ly responsible or attributable for all the code base - even if a particular=
 person made a class to start with. =20

Maintenance of @author tag is error-prone (how big a change  before you add=
 yourself? What about thousands of files with no @author?)

Also there's the question of what is the purpose of the @author tag beyond =
attribution (it shows up in the HTML representation), when any questions ab=
out a class should be taken to dev@taverna - not to that person.

The git log should provide attribution about who made a file, but sadly aft=
er various folder/repository moves and version control system changes this =
is a bit tricky (you need to use {{git log --follow}} and hope for the best=
). So there is an counter-argument for keeping the @author tags - specially=
 as coming up in TAVERNA-894 lots of the classes of taverna-osgi and tavern=
a-engine were initially written by David Withers and Tom Oinn, and neither =
joined the Apache Taverna project.=20

What are your views?


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