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diff --git a/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2011-August/007584.html b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2011-August/007584.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..e451a7828 --- /dev/null +++ b/zarb-ml/mageia-dev/2011-August/007584.html @@ -0,0 +1,265 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> +<HTML> + <HEAD> + <TITLE> [Mageia-dev] [fedora-arm] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011 + </TITLE> + <LINK REL="Index" HREF="index.html" > + <LINK REL="made" HREF="mailto:mageia-dev%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-dev%5D%20%5Bfedora-arm%5D%20ARM%20summit%20at%20Plumbers%202011&In-Reply-To=%3CCAPweEDwkVWH%3Dr_moJj1_CKLxRUkkbBgHenZhwi8CzY9z3BO-Cw%40mail.gmail.com%3E"> + <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index,nofollow"> + <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> + <LINK REL="Previous" HREF="007583.html"> + <LINK REL="Next" HREF="008113.html"> + </HEAD> + <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> + <H1>[Mageia-dev] [fedora-arm] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011</H1> + <B>Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton</B> + <A HREF="mailto:mageia-dev%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-dev%5D%20%5Bfedora-arm%5D%20ARM%20summit%20at%20Plumbers%202011&In-Reply-To=%3CCAPweEDwkVWH%3Dr_moJj1_CKLxRUkkbBgHenZhwi8CzY9z3BO-Cw%40mail.gmail.com%3E" + TITLE="[Mageia-dev] [fedora-arm] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011">lkcl at lkcl.net + </A><BR> + <I>Wed Aug 24 15:41:36 CEST 2011</I> + <P><UL> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="007583.html">[Mageia-dev] ARM 3D support was Re: [fedora-arm] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011 +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="008113.html">[Mageia-dev] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011 +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#7584">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#7584">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#7584">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#7584">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + <HR> +<!--beginarticle--> +<PRE>On Tue, Aug 09, 2011 at 07:15:34PM +0100, Steve McIntyre wrote: +><i>Hi folks, +</I>><i> +</I>><i>Following on from the founding of the cross-distro ARM mailing list, +</I>><i>I'd like to propose an ARM summit at this year's Linux Plumbers +</I>><i>conference [1]. I'm hoping for a slot on Thursday evening, but this +</I>><i>remains to be confirmed at this point. +</I>><i> +</I>><i>We had some lively discussion about the state of ARM Linux distros at +</I>><i>the Linaro Connect [2] event in Cambridge last week. It rapidly became +</I>><i>clear that some of the topics we discussed deserve a wider audience, +</I>><i>so we're suggesting a meetup at Plumbers for that bigger +</I>><i>discussion. +</I> +ok. allow me to give some perspective and background as to why i +believe that a bigger discussion is important, and to whom that +discussion is important. + +a few years ago i read what seems like a silly book, called "The +Strategy-Focussed Organisation". sounds trite, but i was advised to +read it when i proposed some ideas and was confronted with the very +valid question "why should i [a lowly "developer"] _care_ about this +'strategy' that you are proposing?" (fortunately the person who asked +the question was the same one who advised me to read this "silly" +book). + + it's a tough one, isn't it? why should any of us - as free software +developers - _care_ about the state of ARM Linux? you're getting on +with the truly crucial task of managing the distro that you're +committed to. it's a focussed job: it's a vital role, and you should +not let anyone tell you otherwise. + +yet... and this is the bit that this silly book explained: it's just +as important to know where *your* role "fits in" with what else is +going on. linaro, for example, as you no doubt well know, is tasked +(by its subscribers who pay $1m / year) with sorting out vital +underlying infrastructure that ties what *you* are doing in with the +subscriber's ARM CPUs. you're doing the user-facing stuff; they're +doing the CPU-facing stuff. that's *their* strategic role: in +concrete terms it means sorting out gcc with ARM optimisations, and it +means seeking out and/or increasing the number of areas of shared and +refactored code across as many places as possible, in order to reduce +the software development effort required of their subscribers. linux +kernel. device tree. LSB. (and, it has to be said, _if_ the stupid, +stupid 3D GPU companies got with the picture, linaro could well take +gallium3d for example under its wing, too). + +so the key question is: if linaro is "taking care of" this aspect, +because that's linaro's role, then why _should_ any distro maintainer +care? yes they should be aware of what's happening, but there's no +real incentive to get pro-actively involved, is there? all that's +required is passive acceptance of the work filtering down from +linaro... + +and this perhaps explains the lack of response to the proposed meetup, steve. + +[the other reason is that yes, although _discussion_ can take place +about 3D GPUs, we as free software developers feel "powerless to act" +in the face of so much money. despite the fact (which personally +makes me extremely angry) that without our overall contribution these +companies simply would not have a gnu/linux distro or a linux kernel +on which to make that money]. + +so, the important question to ask, then, is what *is* good motivation +to take action? if, indeed, any action need be taken at all, which is +a perfectly reasonable conclusion to reach. not that i personally +agree with that, but i can live with it :) + +and, to answer that question, i feel it's important to take into +account some context and background. many of these things you will +already be aware of, but let me put them all together, here. + +take a deep breath... + +* with the rise of android, Matt Codon shows us an empirical glimpse +into the blatant state of GPL violations by OEMs taking place on the +Linux Kernel and more: <A HREF="http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/android_tablets/">http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/android_tablets/</A> + +* many android vendors have lost the right to use linux kernel source +code. this article is the most insightful and non-aggrandising i've +yet found into the GPL violations situation and its consequences: +<A HREF="http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/08/most-android-vendors-lost-their-linux.html">http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/08/most-android-vendors-lost-their-linux.html</A> + +* Our Linus declared in april that he was getting fed up with the +state of the ARM Linux Kernel. my take on this is that there is an +overwhelming amount of "selfishness" creeping into the Linux Kernel +development. Our Linus has also recently stated that his passion is +actually low-level device driver development. +<A HREF="http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/1114495/focus=112007">http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/1114495/focus=112007</A> + +* Russell King, the ARM maintainer, has completely lost all motivation +to work on the task of merging ARM Linux patches. with the amount of +selfishness that has been going on for so many years, i am surprised +he's tolerated it this long. +<A HREF="http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/1121096">http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/1121096</A> + +* I've seen proposed solutions and many many descriptions of the +problems caused by the rise of ARM Linux, but none of them look at +this from an "overview" perspective, which is that the core of the +problem is lack of cooperation and collaboration - precisely counter +to the whole purpose of Free Software. here, i hope and believe, is a +small insight into that, along with some references and links: +<A HREF="http://lkcl.net/linux/linux-selfish.vs.cooperation.html">http://lkcl.net/linux/linux-selfish.vs.cooperation.html</A> + +* an attempt last year to motivate people to get together to buy an +early ARM Laptop (the CT-PC89E) which would have been available at the +time in mass-volume for $102, the design of which turned out to be +sponsored by China Telecom, found more than just GPL violations on the +Linux Kernel and u-boot source code. from this chinese factory (who +were purely hardware assemblers and middle-men. girls actually) one +of the ICs responsible for keyboard and mouse was "black" - no +markings; the gnu/linux distribution "mid-linux.com" was *also* a +GPL-violating distro which may have links to China's Great Firewalled +"Red Flag" Linux; the ODM (who licensed the design from China Telecom) +was instructed to offer us nothing more than China Telecom 3G CDMA +modems (useless for Europe which needs UMTS); successful +reverse-engineering of a linux kernel onto the device encountered +evidence of "security" attempts to lock the GPL-violating kernel to +the device (which we easily replaced); when my associate presented +Debian GNU/Linux running on the device at a meeting with the ODM and +told them it had an entirely GPL-compliant and entirely Free GNU/Linux +Distro on it, which we wanted to sell across the world, they went very +very quiet. lastly, Frans, who created the Debian Installer Port for +the 20 people who bought the CT-PC89E samples, is dead. by suicide. +i leave these as facts - stated facts - and allow YOU to sift through +them and choose which ones to put together, to make your own +conclusion(s). they may OR MAY NOT be related. + +* the FreedomBox Foundation has a clearly-stated goal, to create the +software around small boxes that provide "transition" technology off +of non-free and privacy-invasive servers that are all too tempting for +corporations and governments to interfere with or peek at... yet there +is a clear disconnect and a very wide gap between stating the goal and +actually taking any action to go about creating the software, which +has clearly not been addressed. The Elephant is in the room, here... + +* the UK government was praised by China for looking into possible +censorship of the Internet: +<A HREF="http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/16/0019248/China-Praises-UK-Internet-Censorship-Plan">http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/08/16/0019248/China-Praises-UK-Internet-Censorship-Plan</A> +<A HREF="http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/22/217206/Twitter-To-Meet-With-UK-Government-About-Riots">http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/08/22/217206/Twitter-To-Meet-With-UK-Government-About-Riots</A> + +* amongst many other things, the USA continues to take illegal control +of DNS zones, destroying the trust and sovereignty of the very fabric +of the Internet. + +* nokia (who received a $EUR 0.5 billion loan from the European +Investment Bank just a few years ago) - our darlings who were using +debian as the basis for their smartphone strategy - bought the +proprietary and non-community-driven late-GPL-releasing Trolltech, and +then recently pulled out of meego _and_ the open-sourcing of Series 60 +and out of free software entirely with the famous "burning platform" +quote from their CEO. + +* HP has very wisely just fire-sold their entire tablet stock in a way +that will completely recoup their capital outlay (if it has a +resistive touchscreen then the BOM is an estimated $80 and the tablets +have sold out in a few days at $98: $18 is just enough wiggle-room for +shipping as well as possibly even a modest profit, particularly on the +32gb version @ retail $150. if it's capacitive, the BOM will have an +extra appx $30 on top, meaning they'll get all the working capital +back... just). + +* lastly and perhaps most crucially, it has to be said that this "Peak +Oil" thing, along with the "Global Warming" thing, is undeniably +taking a grip on the world, which leaves people with a choice to +*readily* face it (i.e. be prepared and better yet as well get _other +people_ prepared, as a secondary priority), or to face the upcoming +situation in a "Crisis" mode, which, if faced *as* a "Crisis" is quite +likely to result in your death. people such as joey hess clearly get +it: joey now lives entirely off-grid, and yet still has an internet +connection. in a forest. i live in a remote area of scotland, now, in +a place which has its own well, and we're growing our own food. it's +still a work-in-progress. + + +i could continue with this, and expand it with more examples, but let +me make some summary points: + +* we're intelligent people, who have achieved a great deal +* we're responsible for creating the software that underpins today's +computer technology +* governments are waltzing in and doing whatever they feel like. +* corporations are creating hardware WITHOUT taking us into account, +and are grabbing with both hands and returning nothing. + + in short: we - intelligent Free Software Developers - are having the +piss taken out of us, to put it mildly. + +so - i tell you what: i'm going to stop there, for now. i'm going to +leave it at that, for people to think, digest the above, and perhaps +come up with some answers [i have some ideas, but i want to know most +crucially if people are willing to hear them!]. and, to give you an +opportunity to think: is this my problem, at all? do i actually care? + what _is_ my role? and, if i _do_ care, what could i do if i combine +with a number of other people who also care? + +i trust that you can see that the scope of the background goes wayyy +beyond that which linaro is tasked with, so i hope - i really do - +that you feel that this really is something which you care about and +can actually feel motivated to consider that _some_ sort of action +needs to be taken, beyond the very valuable tasks and roles which you +are presently carrying out. + +if, on an individual basis, you feel that the answer is "no", it's not +my problem, then i can only apologise for having taken up your time, +and wish you good luck with the future. + +l. +</PRE> + + + +<!--endarticle--> + <HR> + <P><UL> + <!--threads--> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="007583.html">[Mageia-dev] ARM 3D support was Re: [fedora-arm] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011 +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="008113.html">[Mageia-dev] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011 +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#7584">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#7584">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#7584">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#7584">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + +<hr> +<a href="https://www.mageia.org/mailman/listinfo/mageia-dev">More information about the Mageia-dev +mailing list</a><br> +</body></html> |