[[!tag debian rant]]

I disagree with pretty much everything Norbert Preining says in his blog post about Sage Sharp in response to Sharp's blog post Closing a door about leaving Linux kernel development. I think Preining mis-characterises what happens on the Linux kernel mailing list, and in Debian, in free software development in general, and what Sage Sharp has said and done.

I do not wish to participate in yet another discussion on the Debian Code of Conduct, respect, appropriate behaviour, or whether these things result in worse software. I won't spend any further of my time on debating, point-by-point, the arguments and straw-men Preining makes. Those discussions have happened often enough, without any effect on Preining and those who think like him. Likewise, despite the many times he makes the arguments, I continue to think he is wrong about everything on this topic.

I do feel it is important to make it clear to the people reading Planet Debian, where both Preining's and my blogs are published, that his opinions are not mainstream in the Debian project, and that despite what he says, Debian development continues to be fun.

Amended in 2019 to not use Sharp's old name. They changed it in 2017. Justification: if people refer to this blog post now, it'd be nice if the post didn't lead people to using the old name.