Where is FreeBSD going?

[Rahul Siddharthan]

Mark Linimon said on Jan  7, 2004 at 00:23:04:
> > the turning point in my feelings towards FreeBSD was probably
> > the chucking-out of Matt Dillon.
> 
> OK, fair enough, but now, with all the water that's under the
> bridge, what do you suggest the FreeBSD project do about it?
>
> Matt's got his own project and his own unique interests now.

Which is a good thing.  He's probably better off as a "benevolent
dictator" (like Linus) than as part of a fractious project.

> What would you like to see happen?  I am not asking this to
> be argumentative; I think it's a fair question.

Well, Matt was just one of several things that happened back then.
The rest is ancient history too; the main other thing that bothers me
today is one I've already brought up on this list, a public,
unsupported (and almost certainly untrue) allegation by a core member
that a contributor who'd recently fought with the FreeBSD foundation
was the "troll" and had "admitted to it".  I just cannot see that as
"water under the bridge"; if it had happened to me I wouldn't be
willing to forgive and forget it.

Clearly some important people in FreeBSD are willing to hit below the
belt when there are personal disagreements; and as long as these
people remain in FreeBSD, I know there will be problems in the future
too.  But I don't foresee them being chucked out as Matt was.

So what would I like to see happen?  I don't know.  Perhaps forget it
all and take DragonFly for a spin (I already did actually, before
switching to FreeBSD 5; neither of them works flawlessly on my laptop
but I can live with either.)  And hope it avoids FreeBSD's
human-relations pains as it grows.  (I'm optimistic: a benevolent
dictator like Matt, or Linus or Guido van Rossum or Larry Wall, can
resolve conflicts more effectively than a core team without a strong
central figure.)  And hope that other people disenchanted with FreeBSD
will find something constructive to do, like Matt and others, and
unlike our friend the troll.

Rahul