On Tue, 20 Apr 2021 at 11:21, David Brown <david.br...@hesbynett.no> wrote:
> On 20/04/2021 08:54, Giacomo Tesio wrote: > > Hi GCC developers, > > > > just to further clarify why I think the current Steering Committee is > highly problematic, > > I'd like you to give a look at this commit > > message over Linux MAINTAINERS > > > > > https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net.git/commit/?id=4acd47644ef1e1c8f8f5bc40b7cf1c5b9bcbbc4e > > > > Here the relevant excerpt (but please go chech the quotation): > > > > "As an IBM employee, you are not allowed to use your gmail account to > work in any way > > on VNIC. You are not allowed to use your personal email account as a > "hobby". You > > are an IBM employee 100% of the time. > > Please remove yourself completely from the maintainers file. I grant you > a 1 time > > exception on contributions to VNIC to make this change." > > > > > > This is happened yesterday (literally). > > I know nothing of this case other than the link you sent. But it seems > to me that the complaint from IBM is that the developer used his private > gmail address here rather than his IBM address. > > It is normal practice in most countries that if you are employed full > time to do a certain type of job, then you can't do the same kind of > work outside of the job without prior arrangement with the employer. > That applies whether it is extra paid work, or unpaid (hobby) work. > This is partly because it can quickly become a conflict of interests, > and partly because you are supposed to be refreshed and ready for work > each day and not tired out from an all-night debugging session on a > different project. > > Usually employers are quite flexible about these things unless there is > a clear conflict of interests (like working on DB2 during the day, and > Postgresql in the evening). Some employers prefer to keep things > standardised and rigid. > > A company like IBM that is heavily involved in Linux kernel coding will > want to keep their copyrights and attributions clear. So if they have > an employee that is working on this code - whether it is part of their > day job or not - it makes sense to insist that attributions, maintainer > contact information and copyrights all make it clear that the work is > done by an IBM employee. It is not only IBM's right to insist on this, > it might also be a legal obligation. > > (It is quite possible that this guy's manager could have expressed > things a bit better - we are not privy to the rest of the email or any > other communication involved.) > > > This is precisely why copyright assignment for the FSF can involve > complicated forms and agreements from contributors' employers. > > > > > > And while this is IBM, the other US corporations with affiliations in > > the Steering Committee are no better: > https://gcc.gnu.org/pipermail/gcc/2021-April/235777.html > > > > I can't see any relevance in that post other than your "big corporations > are completely evil because there are examples of them being bad" comments. > > > I can understand that some of you consider working for such corporations > "a joy". > > But for the rest of us, and to most people outside the US, their > influence > > over the leadership of GCC is a threat. > > Please stop claiming to speak for anyone but yourself. You certainly do > not speak for /me/. I don't work for "such corporations", I am outside > the US, but I do not see IBM or others having noticeable influence over > gcc and thus there is no threat. > > David > I have raised my concerns directly with the FSF, and GNU, about the behaviours and attitudes on here - I would suggest others do the same.
