> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at 1:16 AM > From: "Giacomo Tesio" <giac...@tesio.it> > To: "Nathan Sidwell" <nat...@acm.org> > Cc: "GCC Development" <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> > Subject: Re: Remove RMS from the GCC Steering Committee > > Hi Nathan and hello everybody, > > On Fri, 26 Mar 2021 16:02:30 -0400 Nathan Sidwell wrote: > > > The USA is not the world and the SC is not the US government. For > > those in the USA, the (inapplicable) first amendment provides 5 > > rights, including showing an unwelcome guest the door. [...] > > > > If we fail to do so, it will continue to be harder and harder to > > attract new talent to GCC development. > > I do not know if I qualify to speak here because I'm Italian and > I ported GCC 9.2.0 to Jehanne (a Plan 9 fork, see > http://jehanne.io/2021/01/06/gcc_on_jehanne.html), but due to the > pandemic I wasn't able to align it with the new developments and > contribute the port upstream. Also, I have no idea if you would be > interested in running GCC on a Plan 9 fork and thus accept my > contribution. > > > Yet, after a careful read of this thread I realized that I might > be considered the kind of "new talent" Nathan is talking about. > > So here is my perspective on this topic, "in the hope it helps but > without any warranty". :-D > > > I do not share many of Stallman's opinions (we are VERY different), but > when I write free software and contribute to a free software community, > what I want is long term assurances about one and only one topic: that > the software will stay free as in freedom, as a common good for the > whole humanity. > > As of today, GPLv3 is the legal tool that best suit this goal. > I don't think it's perfect in this regards, but that's another story. > > > As an Italian I'm having a hard time trying to follow your reasoning > about Stallman being a problem to attract new talents. > > I could understand such statement if he had committed actual crimes, > was legally persecuted, processed and condemned like Reiser. > > But while I try, I cannot really understand why you think that his name > in the Steering Committee would drive away people from contributing GCC > > > I ported GCC to Plan 9 because I want a free compiler suite for my OS. > > Porting CLANG would have been easier (to some extent) BUT my choice was > political and Stallman in the Steering Committee is a long term > warranty that GCC development will not steer away from the Free > Software conception that I know, betraying my trust. > > > My impression is that you are, in absolute good faith, projecting your > own culture (quite US-centric, as far as I can deduce by this thread) > to the whole world.
Correct. Very good evaluation. > I do not really know if the removing Stallman from the Steering > Committee would attract more US people in GCC development. Or if it > would attract more US people that now prefer to work in LLVM only > because of they feel somehow bad working with Stallman in the SC. > > > But I can assure you that, as Pankaj Jangid said before me, many many > people are attracted to GCC, as users and developers, BECAUSE of > Stallman presence, because they know that something like this > https://medium.com/@giacomo_59737/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-contributing-to-open-source-dd63acd20696 > will not happen to them. > > > World wide, people do not LIKE Stallman, but we TRUST him on this. > Just like the GPLv3, RMS is not perfect, but it does ONE THING well. > > > So, since you care about demographics, please consider that. > > Removing RMS you might attract more of certain US demographics, > but you will certainly alienate a lot of people world wide that > do not align your political values (despite respecting them a lot!) > and do not think that a compiler suite can fix US systemic issues > anyway. > > > As for me, I would NOT trust GCC (or FSF) in the long term, had > you to distance Stallman, because I've already seen with my eyes > what happen when people do not have anything to loose to betray your > trust, and Stallman has all to lose by betraying Free Software. > > > Maybe I'm not the "new talent" you are looking for. The Gnu Project looks for all kind of talent. > But please, do not turn GCC into a US-centric project. > Giacomo
