Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751905Ab3FIWKB (ORCPT ); Sun, 9 Jun 2013 18:10:01 -0400 Received: from mail-ie0-f181.google.com ([209.85.223.181]:41950 "EHLO mail-ie0-f181.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751699Ab3FIWJ7 (ORCPT ); Sun, 9 Jun 2013 18:09:59 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <20130607205940.4816fed5@skate> <4247099.i8S79t0Pua@flatron> Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 23:09:59 +0100 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] getting allwinner SoC support upstream (was Re: Uploading linux (3.9.4-1)) From: "luke.leighton" To: Tomasz Figa Cc: Thomas Petazzoni , linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, devicetree-discuss , Stephen Warren , Linux Kernel Mailing List , debian-arm@lists.debian.org, "jonsmirl@gmail.com" , Linux on small ARM machines , debian-kernel@lists.debian.org, Maxime Ripard Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 4215 Lines: 76 ok, so the deadline's almost up but the discussions of the past two or so days have basically i think everything that needs to be said, and i'm extremely grateful to everyone who's contributed, privately and publicly, especially on such short notice. i've passed it over to my associates who will turn it into executive-level-speak: they understand that the situation is sensitive and have far more sense than i, which is good. i'm not sure if i should admit this, but there's some irony here that needs to be shared. i passed the collation of input from people - most of it verbatim - over to my associate who is used to dealing with executive-level people, and he said it couldn't possibly go as-is to them, not even to their assistant. when i asked why he said it was because it sounded too much like ordering them what decisions to make. if you've been following the shit-storm criticism that's been directed at me, and you've also noticed the bit about "most of it being verbatim" you have to appreciate the irony, really. so *sigh* we have to trust my associates and their experience in dealing with executives to work out a way to get the message across: i understand the things about public communication on-list(s) being important and so on and will fight to make sure those are got across in some clear form. the good news is that they *have* asked for advice and for a report, so there *is* an opening, it's not an unwelcome cold-call that we're engaging in, here. the last thing i'd like to say is this: free (libre) software developers and advocates are in an extremely... odd position of not really being fully or adequately monetarily compensated for the true level of service that they truly provide. i mention "service" because regardless of whether it's business or whether it's spare-time work just for the heck of it, we *are* acting as servants to a great many people, and in many cases those people who directly receive the benefit of our work - millions if not hundreds of people now that the linux kernel has made its way into android - have absolutely no way of being able to identify us and pay us for that service. i've never thought about giving up, but i *have* been thinking "what the hell am i doing wrong i.e. why have i only received direct donations of about $300 in *total* for all work done for the free software community since 1995 including samba and exchange 5.5 reverse-engineering and much more", up until recently when i learned some new insights that i thought it important to share, here. the insight is this: that there is a separate tally which is inviolate that keeps a *true* account of the level of service that we *truly* provide to others, of which monetary compensation is only a partial reflection [subtracted from that inviolate account, in some cases resulting in a DEBT in the inviolate and true account - which will need to be repaid - if the monetary compensation was too high or the service provided too poor]. so, for anyone reading this who has seen the shit-storm of the past few days and felt either embarrassed, or for any other reason has felt that they should quit working with free software, please don't: remember that the work itself is not necessarily the reward (although that's important too), nor that you're providing service to others and that that itself should be the reward, but that you *will* or *are* receiving true and accurate compensation: believe it, because it's true. this is all a rather round-about way to say that for those people who heard and are thinking of heeding russell's call to "be silent and to ignore me", to do so would be a significant dis-service both to yourself and to the hundreds of millions of end-users whom you are serving, if the long-term and immediate-term projects that i have embarked on are the success that i envision them to be. even with that having been said, it is, indeed, entirely your choice, that nobody but you should make. l. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/