Add standard headers to all meniOS source files

[pbalduino]

Summary

Add a standard MIT License header to all meniOS source files (excluding vendored and third-party code). This ensures proper copyright attribution and license clarity.

Background

Currently, meniOS source files lack consistent headers. Adding standard headers will:

• Clearly identify meniOS-owned code
• Provide copyright and license information
• Distinguish from vendored/third-party code
• Follow open source best practices

Standard Header Template

For C/C++ files (.c, .h, .cpp)

/*
 * meniOS - An operating system project written from scratch for fun.
 *
 * File: <filename>
 * Description: <brief description>
 *
 * Author: Plínio Balduino
 * License: MIT License
 * Copyright (c) 2020-2025 Plínio Balduino
 *
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy 
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to 
 * deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the 
 * rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or 
 * sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is 
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 *
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in 
 * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 *
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR 
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, 
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE 
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER 
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING 
 * FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER 
 * DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 */

For Assembly files (.asm, .s)

; meniOS - An operating system project written from scratch for fun.
;
; File: <filename>
; Description: <brief description>
;
; Author: Plínio Balduino
; License: MIT License
; Copyright (c) 2020-2025 Plínio Balduino
;
; [Standard MIT License text as comments...]

For Makefiles, shell scripts, Python

# meniOS - An operating system project written from scratch for fun.
#
# File: <filename>
# Description: <brief description>
#
# Author: Plínio Balduino
# License: MIT License
# Copyright (c) 2020-2025 Plínio Balduino
#
# [Standard MIT License text as comments...]

Files to Update

Include (✅ means done)

• src/kernel/**/*.c (kernel source)
• src/kernel/**/*.h (kernel headers)
• include/kernel/**/*.h (public kernel headers)
• user/libc/**/*.c (libc implementation)
• include/libc/**/*.h (libc headers)
• app/**/*.c (userland applications)
• tools/**/*.sh (build scripts)
• src/**/*.asm or .s (assembly files)
• Root Makefile

Exclude (Vendored/Third-party)

• vendor/ - All vendored code (TCC, binutils, Cairo, Pixman, FreeType)
• unity/ - Unity test framework
• Any files with existing copyright headers from other projects

Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Automated Header Generation (1-2 days)

Create a script to automatically add headers:

#!/bin/bash
# tools/add_headers.sh

TEMPLATE="header_template.txt"

for file in \$(find src app include user -name '*.c' -o -name '*.h'); do
    # Skip if already has meniOS header
    if head -3 "$file" | grep -q "meniOS"; then
        continue
    fi

    # Skip vendored code
    if echo "$file" | grep -q "vendor/"; then
        continue
    fi

    # Extract filename and guess description
    filename=\$(basename "$file")
    
    # Prepend header
    cat > "$file.tmp" <<EOF
/*
 * meniOS - An operating system project written from scratch for fun.
 *
 * File: $filename
 * Description: TODO - Add description
 *
 * Author: Plínio Balduino
 * License: MIT License
 * Copyright (c) 2020-2025 Plínio Balduino
 *
 * [Full MIT License text...]
 */

EOF
    cat "$file" >> "$file.tmp"
    mv "$file.tmp" "$file"
done

Phase 2: Manual Review (3-5 days)

• Review each file's description
• Replace "TODO - Add description" with actual descriptions
• Verify no third-party code was modified
• Test that code still compiles

Phase 3: Assembly and Script Files (1-2 days)

• Add headers to .asm/.s files (using ;`comments)
• Add headers to shell scripts (using # comments)
• Add headers to Makefiles

Phase 4: Verification (1 day)

• Ensure all meniOS files have headers
• Ensure no vendor files were touched
• Build and test everything
• Commit changes

Definition of Done

• All .c and .h files in src/, app/, include/, user/ have headers
• All assembly files have headers
• All build scripts have headers
• Descriptions are accurate (not "TODO")
• No vendored files modified
• Full system builds successfully
• Changes committed to git

Example

Before

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, world!\\n");
    return 0;
}

After

/*
 * meniOS - An operating system project written from scratch for fun.
 *
 * File: hello.c
 * Description: Simple hello world program
 *
 * Author: Plínio Balduino
 * License: MIT License
 * Copyright (c) 2020-2025 Plínio Balduino
 *
 * [Full MIT License...]
 */

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, world!\\n");
    return 0;
}

Timeline

Total: 1-2 weeks

Priority

Low-Medium - Good housekeeping, improves professionalism, but not blocking any features.