[gentoo-project] Trying to become a Gentoo Developer again spanning 8 years...

[William L. Thomson Jr.]

This has been a long time coming. I have purposely held back such a post for 
many years. I have not been on any Gentoo related mailing list since 2008. Not 
to dredge up the past which has some what haunted me and plagued my efforts to 
return on numerous occasions over many years.

For a brief recap;

In 2008 days after stepping down as a Gentoo Foundation Trustee, due to 
harassment[1] 8/27/08. I made a post on the Gentoo -nfp mailing list and got a 
bit unruly[2] 9/2/08. Which lead to a single developer complaining to devrel 
at the time. I was banned from posting to the -nfp list, and I circumvented 
that ban with a single post[3] 9/2/08. Which about a week later lead devrel to 
decide to suspend me as a developer, prevent commits for a 1 week period of 
time[4]. I saw such as unproductive, penalization, and insulting given what 
had taken place with me stepping down as a Trustee and no respect for any 
efforts. I elected to resign against the advice of some saying remain.

This suspension/retirement went from preventing commits for 1 week, to over 8 
years. In that time Java on Gentoo has been HEAVILY neglected and needs LOTS 
of work. Far more than any one individual can do on their own. I have made 
efforts to contribute over the years not just in Java but in other areas. 
Proxy maintaining is fraught with problems, it wastes others time, it slows 
things down and is far from ideal for anything but minor contributions. Not 
for large contributions over periods of time. Even now I have open PRs on 
Github[5] and would have many more. I have lots of updates in my own overlay 
not in tree[6].

Which I have Copyright most stuff in my overlay to my business Obsidian-
Studios, Inc. per the advise of another Gentoo Developer. I rather not work in 
my own overlay, but its the only way I can work productively. But it does not 
fix the main tree, benefit others, and I have to work around issues in the main 
tree I cannot fix directly. The copyright is because in ways I feel Gentoo 
wants my work and effort but not me. Since I cannot commit directly, copyright 
is the only way I can get credit for my efforts.

There has been some effort to get Java current on Gentoo in 2015 and 2016, but 
sadly looks like it will be returning to very little happening again. It was 
mostly chewi/James Le Cuirot, and also monsieurp/Patrice Clement updating 
JDK/JRE and some packages. While chewi has been around Gentoo Java for some 
time, he does not really use any of that stuff, not for work or personal. I 
believe that is also the case with monsieurp. Therefore it is of no surprise 
that at least chewi is looking to move on to other areas of the tree like 
Games. chewi is not leaving java entirely but time and contributions have 
fallen off and likely to continue. Chewi has not stepped down as Java Team 
Lead, but that is likely coming. Who will be the replacement? Who will help 
further Gentoo Java?

It is quite frustrating to see things neglected. It is frustrating to see no 
one working on things I would be working on. It is even more frustrating to 
have others prevent my contributions and efforts spanning an ~8 year period, 
essentially just holding Gentoo back. Hoping someone someday might come along. 
But as technology is outdated, Gentoo Java packages being old, the chance of 
someone coming along to update all the old stuff diminishes every day. No one 
has come in years, and does not seem like anyone is coming. Much less actually 
getting a Java Team again and having a few active devs making commits and 
furthering things daily.

I have a paper weight on my desk with a famous quote most have heard, that I 
tend to live by.

"Do Something! Lead, follow, or get of the way!"

Over the years I have felt that devrel/comrel has just gotten in the way. They 
have not helped me return, nor made that process any better. I feel at times 
they have made the process more difficult than they do for others. My returning 
developer attempts took more time in review and other than when I first became 
a dev and knew less. That has never made any sense to me. It should take MUCH 
less to process a returning dev than a new developer. Returning developers 
should be welcomed, as anyone seeking to contribute.

Sadly Gentoo has developed a culture over the years of policing and driving 
away talent and people for the sake of the project. Which I strongly feel has 
been the biggest problem for Gentoo. Actions taken to protect Gentoo, 
development, developers, and the community, has cause great harm to Gentoo. 
Gentoo has more policies on behavior, punishment, etc than most any other 
project and/or distribution. I simply cannot find anything close to what Gentoo 
has in place. I believe it is why Gentoo has always had problems with total 
number of developers and active developers beyond normal attrition.

When it comes to Volunteer effort, I do not feel anyone should be driven away 
for any reason. I believe everyone has something to contribute on any level. I 
do not believe policing or enforcing behavior or other social policies really 
have that much benefit. In fact most of the greatest things come out of a chaos 
not harmony. People will not stop to watch a boring discussion. They will stop 
to watch a fight and maybe participate. At the moment people are not paying 
attention to Gentoo. News articles are few and far between, most companies 
seem to be moving away from Gentoo rather than to Gentoo.

Given the amount of work to be done, that there is no one doing it, and that I 
am willing to do the work. I do not appreciate people getting involved in that 
process that are not seeking to help. Fine if I cannot further Gentoo, but get 
someone else who will. If you cannot, then stop preventing me from furthering 
things either. I am not just talking Gentoo Java, though the contributions 
there would be substantial if not tremendous. I did maintain packages else 
where in Gentoo, that have not had a maintainer since I left in 2008.

Back to my saying, do something!

What bothers me even more at times, is the "gatekeepers" comrel/recruiting 
have little to no oversight in Gentoo. Sure I could have appealed to the 
council over the years, but I do not feel the council is aware of 
comrel/recruiting actions. Comrel/recruting control who can get into Gentoo, 
and there is little to no qualification to be part of comrel. Why such a team 
or project need exist I have long questioned. They tend to not contribute much 
technically and if anything drive away technical talent they are not seeking 
to replace. Not to mention comments they make such as this on my developer[7] 
bug I do not feel should be publicaly made about ANYONE. Such comments can 
effect a persons professional career and that is simply not right.

With regard to my behavior. While some can make a argument, based on 
reinforce-able facts showing my unruly behavior. What they will have a hard 
time proving, is that I get unruly when it comes to work related matters. I 
never had any issue in Gentoo with anyone I actively worked with. The only 
issues even in the past came from discussing foundation matters. Which I have 
avoided since 2008, as any on list discussion etc. I never wanted to make this 
issue bigger than it was. I just bitched on my bug, and maybe on occasion in 
some IRC channels. That is hardly enough to justify preventing me from 
becoming a Gentoo Developer again. Or preventing all the work on Gentoo Java, 
I have done, will do, and others will not and have no in years.

I think this would be like my 5th attempt to return to Gentoo as a Gentoo 
Developer since 2008. I do not know of anyone who has tried to return so many 
times. Or has been treated as I have been over the years. Which every action 
devrel/comrel has done against me was NOT according to policy. That includes 
kicking me from comrel in 2015, with logs on my bug. That goes directly 
against their policies online about warning etc. Bans put in place back in 
2008 where never removed.

Based on treatment, inability to follow their own policies and rules, the 
negative effect on Gentoo as a whole over the years. I really have little 
respect for the entire concept of comrel/devrel on Gentoo. I do not believe 
that is of any benefit to Gentoo and is 100% responsible for the demise of 
Gentoo. Not insulting any current or past efforts. But Gentoo has fallen so 
hard, it has become a very obscure distro rather than a mainstream distro.

Gentoo should play a crucial role in FOSS development as it once did. Having 
the latest and greatest of all packages, interacting with each other, 
breaking, creating patches, submitting those to upstreams, and helping move 
FOSS forward as a whole. Rather than thing in Gentoo now being behind Debian.

I will conclude with this. Everything comrel seeks to prevent with regard to 
behavior can continue to occur if someone was not a developer. I could be 
unruly just the same on IRC, mailing lists, etc. I could create new accounts 
to circumvent any policing. The whole thing is quite stupid really. Think 
about it yourself. Someone can be just as harmful to Gentoo not being a 
developer as they could being a developer. We are not talking about broken 
code, or technical issues, just social.

Gentoo is NOT a social project but a technical one. Social issues should not 
prevent or have anything to do with technical matters. One should be judged 
solely on their contributions, and the rest really does not matter. What 
Comrel/devrel did was basically screw Java on Gentoo. Drove away talent that 
was not replaced and Java has just suffered on Gentoo since 2008, as have 
other areas. I am not saying I am the end all be all to all of Gentoo's 
problems. I was NOT the only person driven away by comrel/devrel.

I would like to return and get back to work as I have been wanting to since 
2008. Is anyone willing to help me further Gentoo? Or should we just live in 
the past, say I am no good for Gentoo, and let the status quo remain? I know 
not many care about Java on Gentoo. I am not asking you to do the work. I am 
simple asking for help to get others out of my way so I can do the work. Which 
one of the main things I would be working on is getting other developers on 
the Gentoo Java Team and getting a team again. I can assure if I am able to 
become a Gentoo developer again. I will do everything I can to get others to 
become Gentoo Developers and get things moving as much as I can.

Which one thing people ignore from the past. I make things happen. Like me or 
not, I stir the pot, get stuff cooking, and attract others for good or bad. I 
believe Gentoo could benefit from all that and it will be good. Me being a part 
of Gentoo is good for Gentoo. Please do not let a minority continue to effect 
the majority. I kept silent as long as I could hoping things would change. Now 
I am trying a different approach, but I rather commit than post...

I will go try once again to reach out to comrel/recruiting and see about 
starting that process. Having done quizzes now for like the 5th time or more. 
Not sure anyone has done the quizzes as many times now as I have. Its getting 
ridiculous :)

Rather than post on list or to me, voice your opinions to comrel. Or even 
better, Council destroy comrel and recruiting and revamp that entire process. 
Comrel/recruiting should no longer be holding Gentoo back, nor the gatekeepers 
for who can get in or not.

Thank you for your time!

P.S.
I feel this is best on -dev ML as this is more development related, as in 
preventing development, holding things back. However given I know others will 
object, I posted to -project. I may cross post for more eyes, given I assume 
more follow -dev than -project.


1. https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-nfp/message/dc2f34046910b10e6ddcb8304410046b 
2. https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-nfp/message/abfb3ade0108d4452dde85bf491827b9
3. https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-nfp/message/7ef33e6807214587fdb825bebe590887
4. https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135927#c5
5. https://github.com/gentoo/gentoo/pulls/wltjr
6. https://github.com/Obsidian-StudiosInc/os-xtoo
7. https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135927#c43

-- 
William L. Thomson Jr.
Obsidian-Studios, Inc.
http://www.obsidian-studios.com