On Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 8:40 PM Ian Lance Taylor via Gcc <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> wrote: > > On Sat, Apr 10, 2021 at 4:36 AM Pankaj Jangid <pan...@codeisgreat.org> wrote: > > > > I think, it would be great help if someone can document what the SC > > does. > > I don't know whether anybody actually tried to answer this. > > The main job of the GCC steering committee is to confirm GCC > maintainers: the people who have the right to approve changes to > specific parts of GCC, and the people who have the right to make > changes to specific parts of GCC without requiring approval from > anybody else. These people are listed in the MAINTAINERS file in the > gcc repository (currently > https://gcc.gnu.org/git/?p=gcc.git;a=blob;f=MAINTAINERS;h=db25583b37b917102b001c0025d90ee0bc12800f;hb=HEAD), > from the start of the file down to the list of "Write After Approval" > people. > > A secondary job of the GCC steering committee is to approve new > additions to GCC that are not under the GPL for one reason or another. > This happens rarely. > > A tertiary job of the GCC steering committee is to decide disputes > between maintainers that the maintainers are unable to resolve. I > can't recall this ever happening. > > The GCC steering committee is in principle a place to make decisions > that affect the entire project. There are very few such decisions. > One was the decision to change the implementation language of GCC from > C to C++, a decision made in 2010. Another was the decision to allow > GCC plugins. As a counter-example, moving GCC from Subversion to git > was supported by the steering committee members, but there was no > formal decision by the steering committee to approve the move. > > More generally, the GCC steering committee has historically served as > a point of contact between the FSF and the GCC developers. In my > opinion this has not amounted to much over the years that I've been on > the committee (since 2014).
Also, because the FSF considers the GCC SC the "package maintainers" of GCC, the Steering Committee also receives and answers questions and requests from RMS and the FSF. And, as I mentioned in another thread, I believe that the role of the GCC SC is to perform some of the duties of a good technical manager: remove real or potential roadblocks so that the developers can focus on being productive. Some of us have initiated other activities and alliances to support and promote GCC and the GNU Toolchain, although it is not an official responsibility of the GCC SC. Thanks, David
