Re: metapost plugin

[Cyrille Chepelov <chepelov calixo net>]

Le jeu, sep 13, 2001, à 01:26:47 -0400, Chris Sperandio a écrit:

> > Looks mostly good (I haven't actually compiled it). One issue and two
> > questions:
> > 	* you need to add your copyright and a summary of your changes to
> > the first comment block, in order to comply with the GPL.
> 
> Which changes?  Those made to the original pstricks plug-in?

Currently, all there is in the header is Alex's copyright. From my reading
of the GPL, since you made major "modifications" from the pstricks plug-in,
you should replace the original copyright line by something like:
   Metapost plugin copyright (C) $YEAR, $YOURNAME
   Originally derived from the pstricks plug-in $ALEX_COPYRIGHT

For minor modifications, simply writing a correct ChangeLog entry looks like
a practice widely accepted as sufficient (even though the GPL's text asks
that the <<modified files>> themselves carry the <<prominent notices stating
[the changes and date thereof]>>). But for major changes (or a fork,
like in this case), the core GPL language shall apply. 

>> [charset nitpicking]

> Sorry, these are a little out of field.  I write embedded DSP code for a
> living and really don't know much about locales/charsets, but I'll take
> a look.

I foresee the major problem will be with the locale/charset system Metapost
is likely to use (I really don't know ; I just assume it's similar to TeX,
which IIRC does not know about UTF-8).
With that exception, as long as you handle whole strings (not iterating
through each character), there should be no problem.

	-- Cyrille

-- 
Grumpf.