Dave Korn wrote: > Perhaps I've missed something here, because I'm mystified how you could > think that gcc development is conducted by an organisation with full-time > staff.
Perhaps not a formal staff, but there is a core group of developers whose incomes are closely tied to GCC development. Many of the people who work on GCC are employed or funded by corporations or institutions with Linux interests -- or these developers have companies of their own that sell services related to GCC. And that's a Good Thing, in my opinion. I've been paid on a few occassions to work on GCC, although it has usually been limited ($150 for fixing a bug critical to a friend's work, for example). If you look at past threads, requests for new features are often met with "where's the funding?" responses. That's not to say that all, or even most, GCC developers are mercenaries. There exist other motivations for working on GCC -- expanding ones skills, academic curiosity, the desire to help an ignored consituency -- yet people do have families to feed, iguanas to house, and cars to fix. And those other motivations can often be satisfied by volunteering to work on other projects. My entire immediate family works for the Red Cross, both on their payroll and as volunteers. They have a very small paid staff, funded by donations from interested parties; much of their work is carried out by volunteers, and the Red Cross tries very hard to respect, train, and thank volunteers. It's a good model. ..Scott
