Hi Branden,

> Date: 2026-08-01 15:52:26-0500
> From: "G. Branden Robinson" <[email protected]>
>
> Hi Alex,
> 
> At 2026-08-01T22:42:09+0200, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > That's public, and has been since the begining.  It's published in the
> > git repository:
> 
> I knew it was there somewhere.  (I see now--prominently, even!)

:)

> 
> >     $ cat SPONSORS
> >     Google               <https://opensource.google/>
> >     Hudson River Trading <https://www.hudsonrivertrading.com/>
> >     Meta                 <https://www.meta.com/>
> 
> I don't think many occasions call for you to quote the file contents.

In every release, I do it.  For example, see the last one:

<https://lore.kernel.org/linux-man/aekjQuAEaq1ILKAa@devuan/>

        > From: Alejandro Colomar <[email protected]>
        > To: [email protected]
        > Cc: [email protected], [email protected]
        > Subject: man-pages-6.18 released
        > Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2026 22:04:52 +0200 [thread overview]
        > Message-ID: <aekjQuAEaq1ILKAa@devuan> (raw)
        > 
        > Gidday!
        > 
        > I'm proud to announce:
        > 
        >       man-pages-6.18 - manual pages for GNU+Linux
        > 
        ...
        > 
        > Thanks to all the contributors to this release (in BCC)!
        > And thanks to our sponsors!
        > 
        >       $ sort --random-sort <SPONSORS;
        >       Meta                 <https://www.meta.com/>
        >       Hudson River Trading <https://www.hudsonrivertrading.com/>
        >       Google               <https://opensource.google/>

Properly random-sorted, to avoid any preferences.  In the actual file,
they're sorted alphabetically.  I haven't even asked how much money each
of them pays to me, because I don't want to know.  I only get the total
amount through the Linux Foundation.  (But FWIW, I guess the three pay
the same.)

> In your position I would simply have the URL to this file handy for any
> occasion where someone takes a run at my transparency.

Yup.

> In fact I think your approach to disclosure is near-optimal.

I've been thinking that I should disclose the total amount in the commit
messages that update the file.

>  In my view
> it is strongly superior to slathering acknowledgements of your sponsors
> on all of your emails in your capacity as Linux man-pages maintainer,
> which would degrade software engineering into something like NASCAR.

I do in the releases, but since they only happen a few times a year,
I guess it's okay.

> (There I go, alienating yet another fan community...)
> 
> Regards,
> Branden


Cheers,
Alex

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

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