Re: [Action Required] glibc decision to use CTI services.

[Alexandre Oliva <oliva@gnu.org>]

[adding libc-alpha, where GNU libc discussions are held]

On Aug 29, 2023, "Carlos O'Donell" <carlos@redhat.com> wrote:

> I propose the glibc project migrate to services provided by the 
> Core Toolchain Infrastructure (CTI) project, particularly services
> provided by the Linux Foundation IT team.

Nay.  I do not perceive any benefits to GNU's values in becoming
technologically dependent on an organization that never shared GNU's
values, that has constantly pretended GNU didn't exist, persistently
claimed our work to itself, and promotes and operates under values that
conflict deeply with those that GNU stands for.  It would amount to
shooting itself in the paws.

I acknowledge that the present supplier of equivalent services also
started in a hostile manner, but at this point it's the devil we know.

The plan should IMHO be to mitigate that dependency, not introduce
another or replace one with a worse one.

As I suggested back when this idea was first raised (and AFAICT there
have been no attempts to dispute that this would be a better path to
pursue), I'd be happy to accept this sort of contribution to GNU *iff*
the services were *actively* *replicated* among two or three separate
suppliers, so as to reduce the risk of dependency and of corrupting
pressure on us.

Even then, this would IMHO be a move for GNU to decide, or at the very
least be consulted on, according to its own values and priorities,
something that all mantainers appointed by GNU, myself included,
committed ourselves to observe, prioritize and uphold as maintainers of
GNU packages.  I encourage other maintainers to justify their responses
based on GNU's values and priorities, as they understand them.

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, happy hacker                    https://FSFLA.org/blogs/lxo/
   Free Software Activist                           GNU Toolchain Engineer
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