[rescue] best NetBSD support

[Greg A. Woods]

[ On Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 14:03:26 (-0400), George Adkins wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: [rescue] best NetBSD support
>
> *Sigh* My complaint is not that the volunteers haven't jumpped up and "met my 
> demands", it's that the (dis)organization of NetBSD developers produces a 
> dozen half-baked ports and has the unmitigated gall to call the archetecture 
> "supported" so that they can stick another feather in their cap...  and then 
> run off to port it to the latest variety of Nintendo to hit the market.

Management of larger free software projects is no different than the
actual design and programming and maintenance tasks.  The NetBSD
Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation.  It relies entirely on
donations of time and money.  Your statement above confirms that you are
in fact complaining that the volunteers have not jumped up and met your
demands.  If you don't want a nintendo port then don't pay for one and
don't work for one.  However you have no _right_ whatsoever to even
mention any dismay that others may have done such work.  If you want
them to do your work then you must put your money and/or your time where
your mouth is.  T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L.

The same applies for _every_ free software project, regardless of
whether it has a large group of contributors, one maintainer, or even a
legally founded organisation

In reality there's almost infinitely more direct support for the desires
and needs of users such as yourself by developers of free software than
you could ever hope to get from any commercial software vendor without
buying direct ownership into the vendor.  You already own part of NetBSD
by virtue of the fact it was given for free to the community.  The
requirements your contributions must meet if you wish them to be
included in the core project are trivial compared to those many vendors
would require you to meet.



> So, Greg, which are you?  "Deep pockets", or a volunteer?

I'm a volunteer.  You'll find dozens of PRs from me in the NetBSD GNATS
database.  You'll find a fair number with patches included.  I also
answer support questions for free in the various forums and I
participate in technical discussions to help design new features and
such.

I'm also an independent third party developer.  I create my own releases
based on the NetBSD sources.  They're available on my FTP server, though
I don't really expect anyone other than my own clients and customers to
use them, and I won't provide free support for them (unless maybe the
person asking is another developer, independent of TNF or not).  Some of
those PRs and some of the patches they contain where developed using
funding provided for by my clients.  So in some senses I'm also an
intermediary for those with deep pockets.

>  You seem pretty 
> defensive about this, are you one of those developers who orphans half-baked 
> software and contributes to making the whole "Free Software" community look 
> that much more like a bunch of rank amateurs?

Of course I'm defensive of free software developers in general.  I am
one.  I've been maintaining free software for the community for about a
dozen years now, and I've been using free software for longer than that.

However I have no idea what connotations you're trying to imply here, or
are you just trolling?

-- 
								Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;  <gwoods at acm.org>;  <g.a.woods at ieee.org>;  <woods at robohack.ca>
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