*BSD News Article 72088


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From: ghudson@glacier.mit.edu (Greg Hudson)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc
Subject: Re: followup from censored port-i386@Netbsd.ORG
Date: 26 Jun 1996 14:32:57 -0400
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Sender: ghudson@glacier.MIT.EDU
Message-ID: <x7dspbie7qe.fsf@glacier.MIT.EDU>
References: <DERAADT.96Jun23070919@zeus.theos.com>
	<4qpbka$bqd@siva.captech.com>
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In-reply-to: greywolf@siva.captech.com's message of 25 Jun 1996 11:36:58 -0700
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[Respecting Jordan's wishes, which I just heard about,
comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc trimmed from the newsgroups line.]

Most of your arguments are not easily refuted because they don't come
with any evidence.  I can't refute that NetBSD people are "undermining
Theo's efforts" or that they're "playing too many elitist games" or
that what they did to Theo was "unprofessional" because you've
provided no evidence that they were.  That said, here are the ones
that bear refutation:

> I've also heard some nasty rumours circulating that anyone
> developing NetBSD and OpenBSD at the same time does so at their own
> peril.

The only rumor I've heard is that Theo is closing accounts of NetBSD
developers who haven't contributed much recently, because he's afraid
of security compromises.  His prerogative, I guess.

> He's only stepped up and pointed out a misaccreditation of written
> code, the pointing out of which should not have been necessary.

I think the particular example you're talking about (a checkin by
Jonathan Stone to cpu_exec.c and elf.c) was a misunderstanding on
Theo's part.  The change from OpenBSD was credited when it was
originally applied:

	=====
	christos
	Fri Jun 14 14:16:02 EDT 1996
	Update of /a/cvsroot/src/sys/kern
	In directory pain.lcs.mit.edu:/a/tmp/cvs-serv5440

	Modified Files:
	        exec_elf.c
	Log Message:
	Merge pagedvn changes from OpenBSD and added mips defines. Also added
	ELF_MAP_PAGE_ZERO define. The entry point computation is different than
	the one OpenBSD uses.
	=====

Jonathan merely didn't credit the change when he replaced some code in
the pmax port with Christos's code.

> Interestingly enough, I notice that there are people speaking out on
> this who aren't core.

In fact, no one on core has said anything at all in this thread.

> If I let myself get really malicious, I start wondering if these
> people who AREN'T core are nothing more than tightly knit lackeys
> who are wandering out and doing core's bidding.  But that is rather
> malicious, and I intend to try to follow the axiom which advises us
> never to attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by
> ignorance, fear, or stupidity.

Neither "malice" nor "ignorance, fear, or stupidity" explains why I
would be interested in correcting people's misunderstandings on this
issue.

I do it because it's clear that a lot of the vitriol in this whole
conflict stems from misunderstandings.  Theo misunderstood which posts
were censored from port-i386 and started this whole thread by assuming
he was singled out.  Theo misunderstood when credit was given for an
OpenBSD change and you didn't realize that the matter had been cleared
up.  Theo apparently misunderstood who wanted him ejected from core,
and the backlash from that has gotten him to the point where he's no
longer welcome on the NetBSD mailing lists because he continually
brings them off-topic.

There's no point in trying to mend any fences as long as Theo prefers
to flame first and ask questions later.  But there's no reason other
people should share the same misconceptions.