Daniel Robbins Resigns As Chief Gentoo Architect

bdowne01 writes "Gentoo Linux has experienced rapid growth in the past year--much to the credit of Daniel Robbins, the founder and Chief Architect of the project. Earlier today, he announced his resignation from his role on the gentoo-nfp mailing list." Tester adds "But before leaving, he has set up a non-profit foundation that will own all of the copyrights to Gentoo. The initial board of trustees will be appointed by Daniel, but next year they will be elected. The membership of the foundation will be open." Reader burnitall points out a note on the Gentoo homepage reading "... We are extremely sad to see Daniel Robbins depart, and we both wish him the best in his new endeavors and promise that the door will always be open for his return." Robbins' message also indicates he hopes to continue working on the release engineering aspect of Gentoo.

Comments

Gentoo corporation news.

[David Hume]

From OS News, Posted on 2002-05-14:

4. How is Gentoo, the company, organized? What is its member structure? Also, how one can get CVS commit access?

Daniel Robbins: At its heart, Gentoo Linux really isn't a company but a development team and user community. I do have a corporation called Gentoo Technologies, Inc. that holds the copyrights for the vast majority of our GPL code, but that's it. We aren't generating any income from Gentoo Linux (besides donations), and our development team is 100% volunteer. Generally, we have been completely supported by donations, particularly from a few of our developers. For example, our server is in a great datacenter thanks to a generous developer. As we grow, we plan to gradually wean ourselves from our dependence on donations by developing creative and "free software-friendly" ways of generating income.

Does Robbins own all of the stock in Gentoo Technologies, Inc.? If so, conversion to non-profit status may be easy (though having the IRS recognize it as non-profit for tax purposes may not.) If others own some of the stock, it conversion may prove problematic as they might have to agree. Otherwise, there might be a shareholders lawsuit for corporate waste (i.e., in this case, making a gift of corporate assets without compensation).

Why was Gentoo Technologies, Inc. initially set up as a for-profit company? It doesn't make sense. Since it was not a 501(c)(3) non-profit, donations to Gentoo Technologies, Inc. were not tax deductible. (Hell, it may have been the case that the donors were legally, albeit technically, responsible to pay gift tax on any donation over the annual limit.)