Summary
Add an option to the insert-license hook so that files that already have a license header are left unchanged (no year update, no removal). Files without a license would still get one inserted.
Motivation
- Some teams want to keep only the creation year in headers and not have the hook update existing years to a range (e.g. keep
2015 instead of changing to 2015-2025).
- The combination
--allow-past-years + --use-current-year still edits existing headers (updates to a year range). There was no way to say “never touch an existing license.”
- With this option, existing signatures stay as-is; only files missing a license get a new header (and with
--use-current-year, that new header uses the current year).
Proposed solution
Add a flag, e.g. --keep-existing-license:
- If a file already has a matching license header → do nothing (no year update, no removal).
- If a file has no license → insert the license as today (with
--use-current-year, use current year in the inserted text).
When used with --use-current-year:
- Files that already have a license (including past years) are left unchanged.
- Files with no license get a new header with the current year.
Implementation
- New CLI argument
--keep-existing-license (store_true).
- When a license is found in a file and this flag is set, skip that file (no call to update/remove).
- Document in README and clarify the difference from
--allow-past-years + --use-current-year.
References
- Branch with implementation:
feat/insert-license-keep-existing
- Commits: feat(insert-license): add --keep-existing-license option; docs; tests.
Summary
Add an option to the
insert-licensehook so that files that already have a license header are left unchanged (no year update, no removal). Files without a license would still get one inserted.Motivation
2015instead of changing to2015-2025).--allow-past-years+--use-current-yearstill edits existing headers (updates to a year range). There was no way to say “never touch an existing license.”--use-current-year, that new header uses the current year).Proposed solution
Add a flag, e.g.
--keep-existing-license:--use-current-year, use current year in the inserted text).When used with
--use-current-year:Implementation
--keep-existing-license(store_true).--allow-past-years+--use-current-year.References
feat/insert-license-keep-existing