I only got into GCC because someone mentioned free beer.
"The job is not easy and it is generally thankless." — Diego Novillo, on volunteering in GCC 1
"Compilers are extremely complex programs and there's a limit to how much even the best-written internals documentation can explain." — Richard Kenner 2
"Pointing out that GCC is a co-operative project has to be done from time to time. Some people seem to think that there is a GCC master planner who hands out tasks to the hordes of willing drones." — Andrew Haley 3
"There's no schedule and progress depends on factors that can't be estimated." — Jonathan Wakely, on GCC development 4
"GCC's accumulated technical debt is large. If this trend continues, the pool of experienced GCC developers will eventually start to dwindle. Without developer renewal, GCC will naturally die out." — Diego Novillo 5