From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 21471 invoked by alias); 25 Mar 2004 15:43:57 -0000 Mailing-List: contact gdb-patches-help@sources.redhat.com; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: gdb-patches-owner@sources.redhat.com Received: (qmail 21445 invoked from network); 25 Mar 2004 15:43:55 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO yosemite.airs.com) (209.128.65.135) by sources.redhat.com with SMTP; 25 Mar 2004 15:43:55 -0000 Received: (qmail 4115 invoked by uid 10); 25 Mar 2004 15:43:54 -0000 Received: (qmail 7373 invoked by uid 500); 25 Mar 2004 15:43:44 -0000 To: Robert Dewar Cc: Bob Rossi , gdbheads@gnu.org, gdb-patches@sources.redhat.com Subject: Re: [Gdbheads] A small patch case study, -file-list-exec-source-files References: <16456.65451.461753.66554@localhost.redhat.com> <20040306155700.GA9439@white> <20040311132508.GA2504@white> <20040323130900.GA17339@white> <40605C9F.2050700@gnat.com> <20040325043648.GA20454@white> <20040325055925.GS1104@gnat.com> <406279E4.3090903@gnat.com> <20040325124313.GA21101@white> <4062E6E1.2070605@gnat.com> <4062F5DA.10708@gnat.com> From: Ian Lance Taylor Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 15:43:00 -0000 In-Reply-To: <4062F5DA.10708@gnat.com> Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-SW-Source: 2004-03/txt/msg00617.txt.bz2 Robert Dewar writes: > > I was there. I disagree. It absolutely was a factor. It was the > > elephant in the middle of the room. We at Cygnus were pointing it out > > loudly. Richard Kenner and Richard Stallman were ignoring it. > > Well it was an imaginary elephant. Yes, Richard Kenner was very > particular about what patches he admitted. This has nothing whatever > to do with Ada. You are just guessing that this was somehow related, > it was not. I disagree. Richard Kenner took specific actions which had every appearance of conflict between the demands of being gcc maintainer and the demands of being an employee of Ada Core Technologies. You say that these actions had nothing to do with Ada. My response is that it sure looked like they had everything to do with Ada. I can't read anybody's mind. Perhaps you are right. It just seems, well, unlikely. I think I personally always been able to clearly state the ways in which my employer influences my actions, and the ways in which they do not, and to acknowledge the appearance of conflict and relate that to the extent of actual conflict. Richard Kenner did not make those kinds of statements. I'll add that I'm now sorry that I brought up this ancient history. It can't lead to anything good. I apologize. I'll try to stop talking about it. I'll also add that being a GNU maintainer is an inherently political position. Technical skill is a big part of it, but it is not the only part. People with no political skills are risky choices as GNU maintainers. Ian