Announcing GCC Code of Conduct

[Jason Merrill]

I am pleased to announce that the GCC Steering Committee has decided
to adopt a Code of Conduct (https://gcc.gnu.org/conduct.html) for
interactions in GCC project spaces, including mailing lists, bugzilla,
and IRC.

The vast majority of the time, the GCC community is a very civil,
cooperative space. On the rare occasions that it isn't, it's helpful
to have something to point to to remind people of our expectations.
It's also good for newcomers to have something to refer to, for both
how they are expected to conduct themselves and how they can expect to
be treated.

More importantly, if there is offensive behavior that isn't corrected
immediately, it's important for there to be a way to report that to
the project leadership so that we can intervene.

At this time the CoC is preliminary: the code itself should be
considered active, but the CoC committee (and so the reporting and
response procedures) are not yet in place.  Specific suggestions for
improvement are welcome, either on the gcc-patches post or by email to
conduct@gcc.gnu.org.

If you are interested in serving on the CoC committee, or would like
to suggest someone who you think would be a good candidate, please
email conduct@gcc.gnu.org.

GCC Code of Conduct FAQ (https://gcc.gnu.org/conduct-faq.html):

Why not just refer to the GNU Kind Communication Guidelines?

The Guidelines are helpful for establishing the kind of behavior we
want to see, but it's also important to have a reporting mechanism to
help people feel safe and supported in the community, and to help
leadership to hear about problems that might otherwise have escaped
their notice.

Shouldn't people try to work problems out between themselves first?

Certainly, in many cases. And we hope referring to the CoC might be
helpful then, as well. If the problem is successfully resolved, no
report is necessary, though individuals might still want to let the
CoC committee know about the incident just for their information.

What about the rights of the reportee?

The CoC committee will get their perspective, and any other available
information, before taking any action.

Besides which, we expect the response to the vast majority of
incidents to be email asking those involved to moderate their
behavior. That has been the experience of other free software projects
after adopting a code of conduct: see the Linux Kernel CoC reports for
an example.

Is this going to be used to drive out people with "wrong" opinions?

No, this is a code of conduct, not a code of philosophy. And it only
deals with behavior within the  context of the GCC project; for
instance, harassment in private email in response to a public
discussion is covered, a social media post about politics is not.

Can I report incidents from before the adoption of the CoC?

Yes. We may take no action if the issue seems to have been resolved,
but it can be helpful to have context for future discussions.

My question isn't answered here!

Please also see the Reporting Guidelines
(https://gcc.gnu.org/conduct-report.html) and Response Guide
(https://gcc.gnu.org/conduct-response.html). If they don't answer your
question either, feel free to ask here or email conduct@gcc.gnu.org
with any additional
questions or feedback.