[question] Is there a way to skip licenseHeader for legacy files while keeping other formatters active? #2908

Environment:

• Java
• Spotless Maven Plugin

Background
Our project contains both new and legacy Java files:

• New files contain only the new license header:

  // New License Header

• Legacy files contain multiple historical license headers, for example:

  // New License Header
  
  // Old License Header

Problem
When configuring Spotless with:

<licenseHeader>
    <file>${project.basedir}/tools/spotless/license-header.txt</file>
    <delimiter>package |import |module </delimiter>
</licenseHeader>

Spotless replaces all license headers in all files, including legacy files that should keep their original headers.

This causes two issues:

1. Legacy files lose their historical license information
2. If I exclude legacy files from licenseHeader, then other formatters (googleJavaFormat, eclipse, prettier, idea, tableTestFormatter, importOrder) will also stop applying to them

Expected Behavior

• New files should receive the new license header
• Legacy files should keep their existing headers, but still be formatted by other Spotless steps

Question
Is there a recommended way to configure Spotless so that:

• licenseHeader applies only to new files
• Other formatters still apply to all files
• Legacy files are not modified by the license step