I can not downplay end users' frustrations with the kernel module (kmod) package build scenario that preceded the recent flurry/hurricane of activity through which spoon-feeding, largely by the FreeBSD Project, has begun.

What irks me is, the popular assumption that the Project should have provided everything. I mean, everything, whilst the Foundation pleads politely – repeatedly – for donations. The year during which attraction of sizeable investments has astounded me, but still, we're short of target figures (and I can not assume that a colossal lump sum to plug a gap will fall daintily from the air, as it has in some past years, for the 2024 budget).

The popular assumption of absolute entitlement, when it should have been ENTIRELY possible for a few imaginative members of communities to collaborate – to provide a complementary service.

Imagine: a complementary, community-driven kmods repo for just one architecture/platform, for just one version of the OS. This would have set a good example. Excite people, positively, to do more. To do good.

Essentially: be nice.

Gain colossal #thanks (not necessarily on a Tuesday in BSD Cafe).

Imagine: a place, an extraordinary Mastodon instance perhaps, where communities overlap.

Rewind. History. Did we have hordes screaming about the Project not providing torrents? No. Simple. We have respectable torrents that are not Project-provided – and the vast majority of people are entirely happy with this somewhat unofficial arrangement.

Fast-forward. Some awkwardness.

Now, people can know why my "no particular order" at <https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/@grahamperrin/113627357280256078> was a lie with regard to the second thing there: torrents. Big #thanks to those people.

Me being #uppity here, today, does not dilute the Tuesday #thanks there.

Peace

cc @lproven @emaste @stefano @FreeBSDFoundation @TomAoki #FreeBSD #community