>A recent discussion (``Default software in the base'') suggests using >Clang/LLVM as the system compiler in OpenBSD in the short-term future. >This discussion hasn't really gone anywhere, yet I thought I could >waste bandwidth with my thoughts as the current de-facto compiler >maintainer in OpenBSD.
Hello, I'm uncertain where I found out about this email from; I think it was from Reddit. I apologise for the intrusion, and will most likely leave after this conversation, but the topic has brought up something which I have been thinking for a while, where OpenBSD specifically, and the BSDs more generally are concerned. The first thing that I want to communicate to any members of OpenBSD's community that read this message, is that I believe that in at least technical terms, OpenBSD specifically (and to varying degrees, the other BSDs more generally) is possessed of a higher degree of integrity than I have seen anywhere else within contemporary Western society. As ridiculous as it may seem, at least in the past, mentally I have quite seriously compared Theo deRaadt with Leonidas of Sparta. I feel that in terms of computer science, Thermopylae is an extremely appropriate metaphor for the OpenBSD project. This is because I have observed that OpenBSD remains a project and a system which is set upon from all sides, by individuals who attempt to insist on compromise, and on changes which would cause a decrease in OpenBSD's integrity. Whether it be from Linux users, from Microsoft, from the hardware industry, or from the Free Software Foundation, Xerxes continues to send his emissaries. The reason why I mention this, is because I feel that it is important to understand, that any single area in which OpenBSD relies on anything or anyone from outside the project itself, that is, by definition, going to threaten the integrity of the system. Contemporary Western society, in my opinion, is almost completely degenerate; and this is just as true in the area of computer programming, as it is in any other. That is the first point. The second point is, that as someone with a decade of experience with Linux, (which has included complete source code compilations of the Linux kernel, toolchain, and userland) and probably two years with FreeBSD, I have learned that it is sadly unrealistic to expect quality code from the GNU Project in particular, in general terms. Indeed, I have never seen a single example of Linux code anywhere, in any form, that was not demonstrably inferior to that which I have seen within the BSDs. You are better than them. If I do not make any other clear statement in this email, then I want it to be that one; You are better than them. I want to encourage this community to believe that, and I want to encourage this community to never surrender to any of the changes which Linux's people have already demanded, and will most likely continue to demand, that you make. Putting it simply, in comparison with the BSDs, Linux is broken, adolescent rubbish; and I am sure that deep down, several people here know that. So yes. The project must have its' own compiler. I do not know which project that will be; whether Clang or Tendra, or perhaps even something you write for yourselves, if you are able. All I do know is, that the BSDs must, overall, limit their dependence on external sources or influences as much as possible, because for the most part, said external sources are degenerate. If there is one last thing that I must beg all of you here to do, it is to never give up, and to continue developing this operating system for as long as you have sufficient energy to do so. I have been using the Internet since 1994, and in that time, I have seen far too much compromise. I have seen a low cost, open, universally accessible network all but destroyed in the name of money and psychopathic politics, and it has gone close to breaking my heart. The BSD developers, and those of OpenBSD in particular, are among the last people left, still holding the line. I ask only that you continue to hold it. "Go tell the Spartans, passerby, that here, according to her law, we lie."
