[Rd] GPL and R Community Policies (Rcpp)

[peter dalgaard]

On Dec 2, 2010, at 15:20 , Martyn Plummer wrote:

> Everybody knows that you have an acrimonious relationship with the
> current developers of Rcpp (and if they don't then a cursory look at the
> rcpp-devel archives will confirm this).  The issue of the acknowledgment
> that you are complaining about is merely a symptom of the further
> deterioration of this relationship.   Appeals to authority or public
> opinion are not going to help you obtain satisfaction.

Or, to be precise, YOU (Dominick) have offended people so deeply that they feel compelled to state that your original contributions are by now dwarfed by their own efforts. Rationally, it would have been much more sensible for them just to leave the attribution in place and let it grow old all by itself. 

Given that we are not just a Free Software community but also a scientific one, it is quite reasonable to require proper attribution when people take up someone else's earlier work, but that is as far as it goes. It is not in itself an issue that someone picks up "your" ball and runs with it. That is what I see as the rational stance on the matter.

Unfortunately, the trenches by now have been dug so deeply that any attempt of impartial mediation will be seen by both parties as siding with the other.

-- 
Peter Dalgaard
Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
Phone: (+45)38153501
Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk  Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com