[threatofrain]

Big discussion from 3 months prior.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31886687

SQLite is like wine produced by a monastery. You don't have to follow their virtues to buy their wine.

On the flip side we might hypothetically ask whether we can have "software monasteries" which ban Muslims or gay people, because that is the prerogative which American Christian organizations currently hold over their employees and members.

[tptacek]

"Nobody is excluded from the SQLite community due to biological category or religious creed".

[threatofrain]

> The founder of SQLite and all current developers have pledged to follow the spirit of The Rule to the best of their ability.

Yes, to use the license you are not required to follow the creed. It's different to say what that means for those who are inside the monastery, where everyone has sworn themselves to this creed.

Has there ever been one exception?

[tptacek]

No, Hipp seems to have been more explicit than this, saying that nobody had been ejected from participating in the community in any capacity for those reasons. Also: the Code of Ethics doesn't have anything to do with the license to begin with.

SQLite is really not at all like a monastery.

[threatofrain]

Ah then SQLite is far more secular and progressive than I had thought. I would still ask: has there ever been a single exception to SQLite's developer makeup?

I am not sure how

> The founder of SQLite and all current developers have pledged to follow the spirit of The Rule to the best of their ability. They view The Rule as their promise to all SQLite users of how the developers are expected to behave. This is a one-way promise, or covenant. In other words, the developers are saying: "We will treat you this way regardless of how you treat us."

...would continue to stand if there were an exception. That is what makes me suspicious as to how welcoming the SQLite team would be to those who do not make the same pledge. That covenant as it stands would be broken.

I would be similarly suspicious of a company where the CEO and all members pledged themselves to a religious faith with a written statement on their unanimous covenant. The claim that there has never been any religious exclusion combined with the lack of a single exception in their history would raise suspicion in me.

[chrsig]

100x this

the rule excludes me from participating in development -- i.e., I refuse to dread Hell, or let that dread dictate my actions. I can treat others well without the threat of eternal damnation. The dread of hell only detracts from my life.

The Rule also precludes any non-christian contributors.

Charlemagne's world was much smaller and simpler than ours. It's ok to give the list a refresh.

[tptacek]

According to Hipp, the rule does no such thing.