On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 11:33 AM, Joseph S. Myers <jos...@codesourcery.com> wrote: > On Sun, 22 Mar 2009, Gabriel Dos Reis wrote: > >> >> So, are you now suggesting that technical decisions where not the >> >> sole domain of GCC developers? That contradicts the conventional >> >> understanding we have taken on the issue in the past. >> > >> > Then you had the wrong understanding. >> >> Well, maybe you have the wrong understanding. In the past, >> on many occasions, we have acted on the premise that >> FSF does not have to interfere with technical decisions made >> GCC developers. And you certainly never came hard asserting >> the opposite. > > My view is inbetween. I don't believe that the FSF must never interfere > with technical decisions, but neither do I believe it is completely free > to do so. I believe that the GCC Development Mission Statement binds both > the developers and the FSF equally, as part of the basis for the GCC/EGCS > reunification, so the FSF can only interfere with technical decisions > where doing so is in accordance with the Mission Statement. It could, for > example, rule that a particular change cannot be accepted because of a > risk of patent infringement (legal issues being reserved to the FSF), or
Yes, clearly patent infringement cannot be construed as a purely technical matter. It is a legal matter. > resolve a technical dispute in a way consistent with the principle that > "Patches will be considered equally based on their technical merits." and > the other "Open Development Environment" principles (and if the SC acts as > agent of the FSF this is effectively what happens if a technical dispute > is referred to the SC). I acknowledge your position, and it appears to me that in the past you've taken the view that technical issues are left to GCC developers -- unless, as you note they result in non-consensus. http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2004-07/msg00697.html -- Gaby
