[CMake] Wee question about CMake developer etiquette

[KHMan]

Brandon Van Every wrote:
> On Feb 10, 2008 3:05 AM, Sebastien BARRE <sebastien.barre at kitware.com> wrote:
>> If, as I suspect, somebody is
>> posing as a CMake developer and acting in an unprofessional manner,
>> then you should point out the problem (and culprit) to us.
> 
> It was me.  Can't say I've ever ticked people off on a mailing list,
> been called to account by 1 person in private, resolved that with a
> degree of politeness, let the thread die, and then had that person
> follow me around the internet to other venues.  Kien-Hong Man, I don't
> speak for CMake, I speak for myself.  If I ever used the word "we," I
> meant the CMake community.  In context it was probably appropriate.
> You are showing an unwillingness to agree to disagree, and you are
> forgetting your own statement that "I mean well."  Do you mean well?

Sorry for the delay, I was off my keyboard over the weekend. I
don't wish to prolong this thread any more than anyone else, so
I'll just try to explain what needs to be explained from my side
and that's it. Brandon apologizing in the Lua list is a correct
decision on his part (thank you for doing the right thing), and
that list is getting to normal, but my query is in the context of
CMake.

Yes, obviously this can be misconstrued as petty, et cetera. I
apologize to those who think I am polluting this list. But there
are important reasons for me to seek clarification. The Lua
postings in question can probably be found at:

    http://lua-users.org/lists/lua-l/

It was important for me to seek clarification because CMake is one
of the main upcoming next-generation build systems. If I chose to
consider Qt/KDE 4 over say, wxWidgets, then I will probably have
to use CMake. Brandon's postings certainly gave me the impression
that he was partly in charge in some manner. Thus, someone who is
under the impression that a CMake lead developer did jump into a
public mailing list of another project and said the things he did,
would be extremely concerned about whether the CMake project is
led by good leaders or not. (On some lists, top or lead developers
might post and choose not to make a big deal of their status, so
such conclusions are reasonable, and the Lua list is very
diverse.) Moreover, CMake is led by a company and is a project of
which I have heard a lot of good things about so far, so this
episode is even more unusual and shocking in that sense.

So Brandon explaining his behaviour with the phrase "I mean well"
is immaterial. I accept that it part of Brandon's style. I am
seeking clarification with the CMake project whether such
behaviour exists among the lead developers, because it was not
clear to me what Brandon's position is in your system. If Brandon
is in fact a main developer, then I will need to reconsider
CMake's reputation in my list of build systems accordingly. From
looking at this list's archives and from current replies, this
list (and project) seems pretty normal to me. But the conduct of a
project's developers also includes what they do in the name of the
project outside of this list and this project's activities.

As this is a public mailing list open to anyone, I think it is
fair for me to ask for that clarification, because it concerns the
integrity of CMake, and a project is at least partly defined by
its developers.

Thank you to those who are reading this. I will do my best to
avoid posting on this thread again unless it is absolutely
necessary, so I apologize if I don't reply to some postings
regarding this matter.

-- 
Cheers,
Kein-Hong Man (esq.)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia