--- a/ChangeLog	Sat Aug 15 02:38:33 2009 +0200
+++ b/ChangeLog	Fri Aug 14 09:40:53 2009 -0600
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+2009-08-14  Eric Blake  <ebb9@byu.net>
+
+	maint.mk: simplify update-copyright rule
+	* top/maint.mk (update-copyright-local): Delete, and document how
+	to do it in cfg.mk instead.
+	(update-copyright-exclude-regexp): Delete, and document how to do
+	it in .x-update-copyright instead.
+	(update-copyright): Simplify, thanks to VC_LIST_EXCEPT.  Don't
+	exclude ChangeLog.
+
 2009-08-14  Bruno Haible  <bruno@clisp.org>
 
 	* m4/wchar.m4 (gl_WCHAR_H): Undo invalid optimization in last commit.

--- a/top/maint.mk	Sat Aug 15 02:38:33 2009 +0200
+++ b/top/maint.mk	Fri Aug 14 09:40:53 2009 -0600
@@ -772,19 +772,19 @@
 indent:
 	indent $(INDENT_SOURCES)
 
-# If you have an additional project-specific rule,
-# define it in cfg.mk and set this variable to its name.
-update-copyright-local ?=
-
 # If you want to set UPDATE_COPYRIGHT_* environment variables,
 # put the assignments in this variable.
 update-copyright-env ?=
 
 # Run this rule once per year (usually early in January)
 # to update all FSF copyright year lists in your project.
-update-copyright-exclude-regexp ?= (^|/)COPYING$$
+# If you have an additional project-specific rule,
+# add it in cfg.mk along with a line 'update-copyright: prereq'.
+# By default, exclude all variants of COPYING; you can also
+# add exemptions (such as ChangeLog..* for rotated change logs)
+# in the file .x-update-copyright.
 .PHONY: update-copyright
-update-copyright: $(update-copyright-local)
+update-copyright:
 	grep -l -w Copyright $$($(VC_LIST_EXCEPT))		\
-	  | grep -v -E '$(update-copyright-exclude-regexp)'	\
+		$(srcdir)/ChangeLog | grep -v COPYING		\
 	  | $(update-copyright-env) xargs $(build_aux)/$@