[commit] gdb_bytize arm-tdep.c

[Jim Blandy]

On 1/15/06, Mark Kettenis <mark.kettenis@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> I know there are quite a few commercial parties with interests in gdb.
> Whenever I encounter things like this, I'd almost say they're just a
> bunch of freeloaders.  Heck, I'l just say it.  They're a bunch of evil
> capitalist freeloaders.

I'm not sure that's accurate or fair.

If a volunteer like yourself, working for their own satisfaction,
contributes a port of GDB to some processor, and then finishes school
or changes jobs or for whatever reason leaves the scene, how is that
different from a commercial interest getting a contract to do a port
but then later not allocating money to maintain the port?  Do
individuals have a moral obligation to stick around indefinitely?

I think we all agree that unmaintained ports are a burden on GDB, and
that it's in the project's interests to have policies in place for
phasing out code nobody is willing to bring up to current standards. 
But unmaintained code can come from many sources.

But let's suppose it usually does come from commercial interests.  It
could nonetheless be true that companies exhibit *more* committement
to their contributions than individuals, if companies simply
contribute more overall.  That is, even if most of our problems with
unmaintained code can be traced back to corporate contributions,
corporations could still be more committed maintainers, on a
per-contribution basis.  I don't know if that's true, but given that
Cygnus and Red Hat routinely sell support contracts as follow-ups to
port contracts, it wouldn't surprise me.

This isn't some veiled personal counter-attack; it's clear you, Mark,
are very committed to backing up your work.  But I want to consider
non-commercial contributors as a whole; treating the stars of the
category as typical representatives is unfair.

If there really is a problem here, then the steering committee is
obliged to pursue policies to correct it.  They're charged with
protecting Project GNU's interests, not making sure GDB is a suitable
money-making vehicle for private interests.  But I think overall we're
in a win-win situation, even if everyone doesn't get exactly what they
want all the time.