Re: [Elftoolchain-developers] [proposal] merge with LLVM?

[Joseph K. <jko...@gm...>]

jens> Has this been discussed before and what are the reasons not to merge
jens> with LLVM?

Thank you for your email.

The licensing, build systems, target platforms and project
directions differ for the two projects.  These aspects in
themselves would preclude a simple project merge.

But more importantly, the number of volunteer hours available
for coding or project management would remain the same
irrespective of the banner under which the volunteer work
happens.  It is not clear to me how a change of banner would
make a difference here.

Most open-source projects today are unsustainable for their
developers.  Please see the following study:

  Software Below the Poverty Line
  https://staltz.com/software-below-the-poverty-line.html

For some developers their open-source maintainership
responsibilities also negatively affect their employability.
This is because typical employment contracts assert complete
ownership over work by employees (even the employee's free
time work).  Between two candidates of equal merit, the one
requiring no changes to the standard employment contract would
be the easier hire.

These are some of the reasons why open-source maintainer
burnout isn't uncommon.  Please see:

  Burn out and/or quitting open source
  https://github.com/bzg/opensource-challenges

>From what I can see, long running open-source projects tend
to fall into one of a few camps:

1. Projects with a corporate core and a transient volunteer
   base.

   In these projects a handful of salaried employees maintain
   project continuity, while the unpaid contributors join,
   contribute for a few years, and then leave.

2. Projects hosted in academia (i.e. effectively tax-payer
   funded in some countries), where a steady stream of
   researchers and students keep the projects going while
   earning their degrees.

3. Projects whose maintainers willingly take the personal hit,
   in service to some higher ideology.

4. Free time (hobby) projects, where people write code because
   they like writing code.

Personally speaking, I treat *BSD work as being in category '4'.
This means that I prioritize what I personally find to be
interesting, given the limited number of volunteer hours
available.

I am not against working closely with a different project such
as LLVM - why duplicate effort after all - but I would not
want to take on commitments without also having the ability
to deliver them in a timely manner.

This means that sustainability would need to be addressed first.

Suggestions for improving project sustainability would be welcome.

Regards,
Joseph Koshy