Re: GCC association with the FSF

[Giacomo Tesio <giacomo@tesio.it>]

Hi Ville,

On April 11, 2021 8:04:07 PM UTC, Ville Voutilainen via Gcc <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> wrote:
> I don't love Jonathan Wakely's idea of forking libstdc++. I would much
> rather not have that fork happen. But I will follow that fork. I know
> him well enough that trying to talk him out of doing the fork is
> unlikely to succeed, we're far beyond the stage where such
> talking-out is on the table.
> [...]
> Bring on the forks. 

I know I'm depicted here as a "concern troll" or as a "RMS fanboy", but I have to admit that
I really appreciate the fork solution proposed by Jonathan.

I agree that calling the fork GCC would be a mess for everybody, but I would appreciate a 
proper fork with a new name because of the clarity it would bring on the table.

You could call it Open Compiler Collection, OCC, or someting like that.


Personally I would consider to keep using GCC and I could contribute my port to the 
GNU project as I planned to do since its beginning.

But I'd expect a more, varied, international and indipendent leadership on the
GNU Compiler Collection.

One more focused with freedom and less with marketing and US-interest and 
moralism, be it economically viable or not.

I even think that in the long run, the two projects could explore different and 
interesting technical paths, and even cooperate as peers.

Or maybe not.

But for what it matters, I would welcome the clarity a fork would bring to the ecosystem.


Sincerely,
the "new talent" you'd never want to attract! :-D


Giacomo