Re: Remove RMS from the GCC Steering Committee

[David Edelsohn <dje.gcc@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Mar 31, 2021 at 8:28 AM Richard Biener via Gcc <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Mar 31, 2021 at 1:36 PM Mark Wielaard <mark@klomp.org> wrote:
> >
> > You are referencing the recent open letter which isn't really what
> > people are discussing here. Although many probably sympathize with
> > calling for the removal of the entire Board of the Free Software
> > Foundation and calling for Richard M. Stallman to be removed from all
> > leadership positions, including the GNU Project
> >
> > You can disagree with the specific way that was worded and still come
> > to the same conclusion. See for example https://www.arp242.net/rms.html
>
> Ah, this one is _very_ well written and captures my thoughts when
> writing my response to Nathan (but not willing to spend so much time
> on this to coherently formulate what I was thinking).
>
> And just to repeat - all the GCC governance structure (the "SC") represents
> all of the same non-openess as the FSF governance structure (because
> the "SC" is in fact appointed by the Chief GNUisance "or his delegates").

Richard historically has approved nominees to the GCC SC because the
GNU Project considers the SC the official "maintainers" of GCC, but he
has not nominated or suggested any of the members.  I don't remember
him rejecting a proposed nominee.  And many major contributors to GCC
have not wished to be members of the GCC SC whose major purpose is to
be a buffer between the GCC Community and the Free Software
Foundation.

Has the GCC SC micro-managed you or prevented you from doing anything
as Global Reviewer and Release Manager?  Not that I'm aware of.

Has the GCC SC blocked any new port or major feature?  Not that I'm aware of.

Has the GCC SC blocked any qualified maintainer nominations?  Not that
I'm aware of.

Has the GCC SC instructed GCC developers on which features to work?  No.

Has the GCC SC inserted itself or voted on any disagreements?  No.

The reality is that the governance of GCC is extremely open because
it's performed by the developers in the community, not the GCC SC.
And GCC is much less bureaucratic than other, large Open Source
projects.  It doesn't have multiple committees and SIGs.  Everything
is worked out among the developers.  Projects are started by
developers who take the initiative to start a project.

Be careful what you wish for because it may be much worse than the
freedom that you currently enjoy.

Thanks, David