Why Clang

[Chad Perrin]

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 09:24:57AM -0500, Reid Linnemann wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 11:27 PM, Chad Perrin <perrin at apotheon.com> wrote:
> > I disagree with the assessment by others that FreeBSD is in some way
> > effectively a subsidiary of its corporate users, but it does have
> > corporate users, as well as non-corporate users.  Just as it must
> > reasonably see to the needs of the individuals who use it, so must it
> > also reasonably see to the needs of those corporate users, especially
> > when some of those corporate users' employees are key developers for the
> > base system (to the significant benefit of the rest of us).  Thus, saying
> > that a particular set of conditions having an impact on commercial
> > sponsors of FreeBSD has "zero bearing on FreeBSD itself" is just . . .
> > incorrect.
> 
> And I would like to stress on this point that, when I referred to
> corporate sponsorship in an earlier post, I was thinking specifically
> about the sponsorship of employing developers that keep the system
> moving forward, not necessarily monetary donations. The foundation
> does need money, but the software is doomed if no one is gainfully
> employed to maintain and enhance it. I think there is an altruistic
> fiction that many people subscribe to that free software is merely the
> result of the generosity of developers producing code of their own
> volition and on their own spare time and "giving it away," and from
> that viewpoint the act of considering concerns of a sponsoring entity
> amounts to "selling out." The reality is much different and much more
> complex, as you well know.

Indeed.  When I contribute to an open source project, as an individual, 
much the same factors apply.  I do not do it to help someone like Michel
Talon, or even Reid Linnemann; I do it to help myself, by improving
software I like, or to help people who in turn work to improve software I
like.  I have selfish goals that are served by my support of well-
designed copyfree software, whether that support is financial in nature,
a contribution of development effort, or something less direct.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]