> @ 2024-10-24 4:27 Serge Semin
Hello Linux-kernel community,
I am sure you have already heard the news caused by the recent Greg' commit 6e90b675cf942e ("MAINTAINERS: Remove some entries due to various compliance requirements."). As you may have noticed the change concerned some of the Ru-related developers removal from the list of the official kernel maintainers, including me.
The community members rightly noted that the _quite_ short commit log contained very vague terms with no explicit change justification. No matter how hard I tried to get more details about the reason, alas the senior maintainer I was discussing the matter with haven't given an explanation to what compliance requirements that was. I won't cite the exact emails text since it was a private messaging, but the key words are "sanctions", "sorry", "nothing I can do", "talk to your (company) lawyer"... I can't say for all the guys affected by the change, but my work for the community has been purely _volunteer_ for more than a year now (and less than half of it had been payable before that). For that reason I have no any (company) lawyer to talk to, and honestly after the way the patch has been merged in I don't really want to now. Silently, behind everyone's back, _bypassing_ the standard patch-review process, with no affected developers/subsystem notified - it's indeed the worse way to do what has been done. No gratitude, no credits to the developers for all these years of the devoted work for the community. No matter the reason of the situation but haven't we deserved more than that? Adding to the GREDITS file at least, no?..
I can't believe the kernel senior maintainers didn't consider that the patch wouldn't go unnoticed, and the situation might get out of control with unpredictable results for the community, if not straight away then in the middle or long term perspective. I am sure there have been plenty ways to solve the problem less harmfully, but they decided to take the easiest path. Alas what's done is done. A bifurcation point slightly initiated a year ago has just been fully implemented. The reason of the situation is obviously in the political ground which in this case surely shatters a basement the community has been built on in the first place. If so then God knows what might be next (who else might be sanctioned...), but the implemented move clearly sends a bad signal to the Linux community new comers, to the already working volunteers and hobbyists like me.
. . .
I also wish to say huge thanks to the community members trying to defend the kicked off maintainers and for support you expressed in these days. It means a lot.
A little bit statics of my kernel-work at the end:
Signed-off patches: 518
Reviewed and Acked patches: 253
Tested patches: 80
You might say not the greatest achievement for seven years comparing to some other developers. Perhaps. But I meant each of these tags, be sure.
I guess that's it. If you ever need some info or consultation regarding the drivers I used to maintain or the respective hardware or the Synopsys IP-cores (about which I've got quite comprehensive knowledge by this time), feel free to reach me out via this email. I am always willing to help to the community members.
Hope we'll meet someday in more pleasant circumstances and drink a couple or more beers together. But now it's time to say good bye. Sorry for a long-read text. I wish good luck on your Linux-way.
Полностью текст письма доступен тут
https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/2m53bmuzemamzc4jzk2bj7tli22ruaaqqe34a2shtdtqrd52hp@alifh66en3rj/T/#mdef37a4707eca10bf6e3a58271d28767d280c5ee