Universal Copyright Header Script

Description

A reusable script that automatically adds copyright headers to source files based on git history. It correctly attributes each file to its original author by checking git logs. Available for bash (Linux/Mac), Windows batch, and PowerShell.

Features

• Automatic Author Detection: Uses git log to find who created each file
• Year Detection: Gets the year from the first commit of each file
• Multiple Language Support: Supports 30+ programming languages with appropriate comment styles
• JSON Support: Adds copyright as a JSON property for .json files
• Special Author Handling: Can add website/contact info for specific authors
• Smart Updates: Updates existing copyright headers without duplicating
• Exclusion Patterns: Automatically excludes build artifacts, dependencies, and generated files
• Customizable Rights Statement: Add "All Rights Reserved" or other legal text
• Cross-Platform: Available for Linux/Mac (bash), Windows (batch), and PowerShell
• Configuration File: All settings now managed through a single sources.txt file
• Multi-Repository Support: Process multiple git repositories recursively in one run
• Creation Timestamps: Adds timestamp showing when copyright header was added

Requirements

• Git repository (scripts use git history to determine authorship)
• One of: Bash (Linux/Mac), PowerShell (Windows), or Command Prompt (Windows)
• A sources.txt configuration file (see Configuration section)

Quick Start

# 1. Clone or download the scripts
# 2. Create sources.txt with your configuration
echo "COMPANY_NAME=MyCompany" > sources.txt
echo "FILE_EXT_1=js" >> sources.txt
echo "FILE_EXT_2=py" >> sources.txt
echo "EXCLUDE_DIR_1=node_modules" >> sources.txt

# 3. Run the script
./add_copyright_headers.sh  # Linux/Mac
# OR
.\add_copyright_headers.ps1  # Windows PowerShell
# OR
add_copyright_headers.bat   # Windows Batch

Migration from Environment Variables

⚠️ IMPORTANT: The scripts no longer use environment variables. If you were using the old version with environment variables like COMPANY_NAME or RIGHTS_STATEMENT, you must now create a sources.txt file with your configuration.

Usage

1. Create a sources.txt file in the same directory as the scripts (see Configuration section below)
2. Run the appropriate script for your platform:

Single Repository Mode

Run the script from within a git repository:

Bash/Linux/Mac

cd /path/to/your/repo
./add_copyright_headers.sh

Windows Batch

cd C:\path\to\your\repo
add_copyright_headers.bat

Windows PowerShell

cd C:\path\to\your\repo
.\add_copyright_headers.ps1

Multi-Repository Mode (Recursive)

Run the script from a parent directory containing multiple git repositories:

Bash/Linux/Mac

cd ~/projects  # Contains multiple git repos
./add_copyright_headers.sh

Windows Batch

cd C:\projects  REM Contains multiple git repos
add_copyright_headers.bat

Windows PowerShell

cd C:\projects  # Contains multiple git repos
.\add_copyright_headers.ps1

The script will:

• Detect it's not in a git repository
• Search recursively for all git repositories
• Process each repository found
• Show progress as [current/total]

Configuration

IMPORTANT: All scripts now use a sources.txt configuration file instead of environment variables. The scripts will look for this file in:

1. The current working directory
2. The same directory as the script

If sources.txt is not found, the script will exit with an error.

Creating sources.txt

Create a sources.txt file with the following format:

# Copyright Header Configuration File
# Company name for copyright
COMPANY_NAME=MyCompany

# Rights statement (leave empty for "All Rights Reserved")
RIGHTS_STATEMENT=All Rights Reserved

# Special authors with websites
# Format: email|name|website
SPECIAL_AUTHOR_1=email@example.com|Author Name|https://website.com
SPECIAL_AUTHOR_2=another@email.com|Another Author|

# Directories to exclude from processing
EXCLUDE_DIR_1=node_modules
EXCLUDE_DIR_2=.git
EXCLUDE_DIR_3=dist
EXCLUDE_DIR_4=build
EXCLUDE_DIR_5=bin
EXCLUDE_DIR_6=obj
EXCLUDE_DIR_7=target
EXCLUDE_DIR_8=.next
EXCLUDE_DIR_9=.nuxt
EXCLUDE_DIR_10=coverage
EXCLUDE_DIR_11=__pycache__
EXCLUDE_DIR_12=.pytest_cache
EXCLUDE_DIR_13=vendor
EXCLUDE_DIR_14=packages
EXCLUDE_DIR_15=.vs
EXCLUDE_DIR_16=.vscode
EXCLUDE_DIR_17=.idea

# File extensions to process (without the dot)
FILE_EXT_1=c
FILE_EXT_2=cc
FILE_EXT_3=cpp
FILE_EXT_4=cs
FILE_EXT_5=java
FILE_EXT_6=js
FILE_EXT_7=jsx
FILE_EXT_8=ts
FILE_EXT_9=tsx
FILE_EXT_10=go
FILE_EXT_11=swift
FILE_EXT_12=kt
FILE_EXT_13=scala
FILE_EXT_14=groovy
FILE_EXT_15=dart
FILE_EXT_16=rs
FILE_EXT_17=py
FILE_EXT_18=rb
FILE_EXT_19=sh
FILE_EXT_20=pl
FILE_EXT_21=r
FILE_EXT_22=jl
FILE_EXT_23=nim
FILE_EXT_24=cr
FILE_EXT_25=ex
FILE_EXT_26=exs
FILE_EXT_27=yaml
FILE_EXT_28=yml
FILE_EXT_29=toml
FILE_EXT_30=xml
FILE_EXT_31=html
FILE_EXT_32=htm
FILE_EXT_33=svg
FILE_EXT_34=sql
FILE_EXT_35=lisp
FILE_EXT_36=clj
FILE_EXT_37=scm
FILE_EXT_38=el
FILE_EXT_39=json

Configuration Options

Setting	Description	Format	Example
COMPANY_NAME	Company name for copyright	Plain text	COMPANY_NAME=MyCompany Inc.
RIGHTS_STATEMENT	Optional rights text	Plain text	RIGHTS_STATEMENT=All Rights Reserved
SPECIAL_AUTHOR_N	Special author formatting	email|name|website	`SPECIAL_AUTHOR_1=john@example.com
EXCLUDE_DIR_N	Directories to exclude	Directory name	EXCLUDE_DIR_1=node_modules
FILE_EXT_N	File extensions to process	Extension without dot	FILE_EXT_1=js

Notes:

• The _N suffix should be replaced with sequential numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.)
• If COMPANY_NAME is not specified, it defaults to "Alexander"
• If RIGHTS_STATEMENT is empty, it defaults to "All Rights Reserved"
• For SPECIAL_AUTHOR, the website part is optional

Comment Styles by File Type

The scripts automatically detect the appropriate comment style based on file extension:

Comment Style	File Extensions
C-style (//)	.c, .cc, .cpp, .cs, .java, .js, .jsx, .ts, .tsx, .go, .swift, .kt, .scala, .groovy, .dart, .rs
Hash (#)	.py, .rb, .sh, .bash, .zsh, .pl, .r, .jl, .nim, .cr, .ex, .exs, .yaml, .yml, .toml
XML (<!-- -->)	.xml, .html, .htm, .svg
SQL (--)	.sql
Lisp (;;)	.lisp, .clj, .scm, .el
JSON ("copyright": "...")	.json

Examples

Output Format

// Copyright CompanyName, 2024. All Rights Reserved. Created by John Doe on 2024-01-15 14:30:45

With Custom Rights Statement

// Copyright CompanyName, 2024. MIT License Created by John Doe on 2024-01-15 14:30:45

Special Author Output

// Copyright CompanyName, 2024. All Rights Reserved. Created by John Doe https://johndoe.com on 2024-01-15 14:30:45

Full Example with Rights Statement

// Copyright Perilous Games, Ltd., 2024. All Rights Reserved. Created by Alexander Fields https://www.alexanderfields.me on 2024-01-15 14:30:45

With Edited By Info

// Copyright CompanyName, 2024. All Rights Reserved. Created by John Doe on 2024-01-15 14:30:45
// Edited by Jane Smith 2024-01-20 09:15:30

JSON File Example

For JSON files, the copyright is added as a property:

{
  "copyright": "Copyright MyCompany, 2024. All Rights Reserved. Created by John Doe on 2024-01-15 14:30:45",
  "name": "my-project",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

With edited by info:

{
  "copyright": "Copyright MyCompany, 2024. All Rights Reserved. Created by John Doe on 2024-01-15 14:30:45, Edited by Jane Smith 2024-01-20 09:15:30",
  "data": {}
}

How It Works

1. Checks if current directory is a git repository
2. Finds all source files (excluding build artifacts)
3. For each file:
   • Gets original author from git history
   • Gets creation year from first commit
   • Formats copyright header based on file type
   • Adds or updates the copyright header

Error Handling

• Missing sources.txt: Script exits with error and instructions
• Not in git repository: Script exits with error message
• Files not in git history: Uses current git user configuration
• Unknown file types: Skipped with message
• Missing configuration values: Uses sensible defaults

Best Practices

• Run from repository root directory
• Commit changes before running to ensure clean git history
• Review changes after running (use git diff)
• Add script to .gitignore to avoid committing it

Customization

Adding New File Types

1. Edit sources.txt and add a new FILE_EXT_N entry
2. Make sure the file extension has a corresponding comment style in the script

Adding Special Authors

1. Edit sources.txt and add SPECIAL_AUTHOR_N entries
2. Format: email|name|optional_website

Excluding Additional Directories

1. Edit sources.txt and add EXCLUDE_DIR_N entries
2. Use directory names without paths

Example sources.txt

# Company configuration
COMPANY_NAME=Acme Corp
RIGHTS_STATEMENT=All Rights Reserved

# Special authors
SPECIAL_AUTHOR_1=ceo@acme.com|Jane Smith|https://acme.com/team/jane
SPECIAL_AUTHOR_2=dev@acme.com|John Developer|

# Custom exclusions
EXCLUDE_DIR_1=node_modules
EXCLUDE_DIR_2=.git
EXCLUDE_DIR_3=my_custom_build_dir

# File types to process
FILE_EXT_1=js
FILE_EXT_2=py
FILE_EXT_3=java

Troubleshooting

"Error: sources.txt not found!"

• Make sure sources.txt exists in the current directory or the script directory
• Check file name spelling (it's case-sensitive on Linux/Mac)

No files are being processed

• Check that you've added FILE_EXT_N entries to sources.txt
• Verify the file extensions match your source files (without the dot)
• Ensure you're running from the correct directory

Copyright headers not appearing

• Verify the files are tracked in git (git status)
• Check that the file extension is configured in sources.txt
• Ensure the file type has a supported comment style

Script runs but shows no output

• The script only outputs when it processes files
• Check that your exclude directories aren't filtering out all files
• Verify you have source files with configured extensions

If you like this bad boy checkout https://www.alexanderfields.me :D