Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Tue, 22 Oct 2002 13:38:53 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Tue, 22 Oct 2002 13:38:30 -0400 Received: from bitmover.com ([192.132.92.2]:5286 "EHLO mail.bitmover.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Tue, 22 Oct 2002 13:38:08 -0400 Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 10:44:14 -0700 From: Larry McVoy To: James Blackwell Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Larry McVoy Subject: Re: Listmaster request: Do not blacklist rms@gnu.org Message-ID: <20021022104414.L6546@work.bitmover.com> Mail-Followup-To: Larry McVoy , James Blackwell , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Larry McVoy References: <20021021182737.A23371@infradead.org> <20021022014015.GB23958@Master.Wizards> <3DB4AEC1.1060906@pobox.com> <3DB4B455.921467D3@digeo.com> <20021021193131.G20688@work.bitmover.com> <20021022080037.A1500@work.bitmover.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5.1i In-Reply-To: ; from jblack@linuxguru.net on Tue, Oct 22, 2002 at 01:24:48PM -0400 X-MailScanner: Found to be clean Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2173 Lines: 39 On Tue, Oct 22, 2002 at 01:24:48PM -0400, James Blackwell wrote: > Though I'm sure you remember what you've said, I'll summarize for those > that somehow managed to slip into this thread out of context. You write a > proprietary source code revision system by the name of bitkeeper. You > offered free licences to linux kernel developers among others. Your > motivation is that you can use linux kernel development as a showcase > example when you hunt down people that are willing to pay you. This is where we disagree. BitKeeper was started to help Linus. Pure and simple. Maybe it's not a well known thing, I thought it was, but it's true all the same. I quit my job at Cobalt, had about 4 or 5 hour design discussion with Linus, DaveM and Richard Henderson on my living room floor and got to work. The business side of BK came into being after it became clear it was a much bigger job than we had originally hoped. We either had to make BK pay for itself or drop it long before it was useable. From a free software point of view I can see where you would wish we had dropped it. But free software wasn't our goal, our goal was to off load Linus and help Linux. Yeah, it would be nice if we could have somehow done that with a free software product. When you demonstrate how to do that, I'll be happy to follow in your footsteps. Until then, the license is how it is because that's only known way that will produce enough money to support the product. Try to understand that the point is to support the kernel development process, not make RMS or you happy, and it costs a boatload of money to do what we are doing. There's another man year of work put into BitKeeper every month. I don't see you volunteering to pay for that continued development. When you do, we'll talk, until then you're just flapping your gums. -- --- Larry McVoy lm at bitmover.com http://www.bitmover.com/lm - 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/