GCC association with the FSF

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Friday, April 09, 2021 at 10:37 PM
> From: "David Brown" <david.brown@hesbynett.no>
> To: "John Darrington" <john@darrington.wattle.id.au>, "David Malcolm" <dmalcolm@redhat.com>
> Cc: gcc@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: GCC association with the FSF
>
> On 09/04/2021 08:37, John Darrington wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Nobody is suggesting that RMS should be regarded by everyone or indeed
> > anyone as "mein Führer".  I think he would be very much concerned if anyone
> > tried to confer a cult hero status on him.
> > 
> > Sooner or later, if for no reason other than his age, RMS will have to step
> > down as leader of GNU.   Rather than calling for his head on a block it
> > would be more constructive to think to the future.  Unfortunately to date,
> > I have not seen anyone who in my opinion would have the qualities necessary
> > to take over the role.
> > 
> 
> And I don't think people (at least, not many) are "calling for his
> head".  My thought is that he should be encouraged to step down from all
> his positions within GNU, FSF, gcc, and any other projects he is
> involved with.  Retire now, while he can do so with dignity and without
> harm to the free and open source software worlds.

David, I oppose your thought that he should be made to step down from ALL
his positions.  That's the fundamental philosophy of China and Russia.
 
> It is only if it is left too late that people will be /forced/ to call
> for his head.  You can be very sure that complaints about his behaviour
> and attitudes will not diminish - they will grow, and the result will
> not be good for RMS, GNU, gcc, users, developers, or anyone else except
> the sellers of tabloid newspapers.  I would rather see him leave quietly
> now with respect, than be hounded out later and his statues pulled down
> - along with the careers and reputations of many who work with him.  (I
> am not saying that such a destruction would be correct or appropriate -
> I am saying it will happen in the end if the free software community is
> not careful.)
 
> (I agree that there are few, if any, people who had the qualities of RMS
> to do the job he did.  But IMHO that role is over - we don't need
> someone to fill his shoes.)
 
I do not see that a person with the qualities of RMS would ask permission for
the job.  I certainly don't! 
 
> David Brown
>