Re: GNU C++ Library: call for writers

[Phil Edwards <phil at jaj dot com>]

On Mon, Feb 04, 2002 at 01:20:14AM +0000, Jonathan Wakely wrote:
> I'd like to help with this effort, as I've been using doxygen recently and
> have discovered how useful it is, and would like to be help the project
> but don't feel up to working on the code itself. I've started adding
> doxygen hooks to stl_algo.h but have a few questions.

Wonderful!


> Firstly, Phil, are you already working on stl_algo.h ?

Nope.


> How careful do I have to be not to plagiarise other docs?

Darn good question, and one I've been studiously trying to avoid by being
as creative as possible... we can quote chunks from the standard under
"fair use" exemptions, but I usually try to paraphrase.  Sometimes I will
just quote directly, using quotation marks, and then cite the standard using
[a.b.c.d]/p notation.


> From my reading of the SGI terms, I could directly lift descriptions from
> their docs, provided their copyright info is given, which it already is in
> all the relevant libstdc++ headers, right?

In the headers, yes.  I think lifting from SGI could be more trouble than
it's worth, because then we'd have to constantly be citing the sources.
(But I don't feel strongly about it.)

The general tables of common operations on containers would probably be
the only thing I'd actively encourage grabbing from somewhere, anywhere,
so that we don't have to do it all over again.  Whether we quote SGI or the
standard makes no difference to me... although quoting the standard would
be more authoritative.  In that case, I ought to write and get permission
to duplicate the (5? 6? don't recall) tables.


> Are the SGI and HP copyright notices reproduced in the doxygen docs?
> The copyright notices say it must be in the supporting docs, so if they're
> not there already is a copyright.cc file needed to contain nothing but
> doxygen comments?

That's a good idea.  I should do that.


Phil

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