Sourceware Survey 2025

The survey ran from Friday, 14 March to Monday, 31 March. There were 103 responses.

Names and identifying URLs were removed from "Other" responses.

Developers and/or (downstran) users of hosted projects

Users

Project	Count	Percentage
gcc user	69	67%
gdb user	65	63%
binutils user	63	61%
glibc user	63	61%
bzip2 user	45	44%
valgrind user	42	41%
elfutils user	36	35%
cygwin user	21	20%
libffi user	20	19%
newlib user	20	19%
dwarfstd user	13	13%
dwz user	13	13%
debugedit user	11	11%
libabigail user	10	10%
gnupoke user	9	9%
systemtap user	9	9%
bunsen user	7	7%
lvm2 user	7	7%
annobin user	6	6%
gnu-gabi user	3	3%
cgen user	2	2%
kawa user	2	2%
insight user	1	1%
No response	0	0%
pacme user	0	0%

Developers

Project	Count	Percentage
gcc developer	38	37%
binutils developer	26	25%
gdb developer	22	21%
glibc developer	21	20%
newlib developer	12	12%
valgrind developer	8	8%
dwarfstd developer	7	7%
elfutils developer	7	7%
systemtap developer	5	5%
gnu-gabi developer	4	4%
gnupoke developer	4	4%
libabigail developer	4	4%
libffi developer	4	4%
annobin developer	3	3%
debugedit developer	3	3%
bunsen developer	2	2%
bzip2 developer	2	2%
cgen developer	2	2%
cygwin developer	2	2%
dwz developer	2	2%
insight developer	1	1%
lvm2 developer	1	1%
pacme developer	1	1%
kawa developer	1	1%

How do you use Bugzilla?

How	Count	Percentage
With a bugzilla account through https	70	68%
I have editbugs privileges/Can edit all aspects of any bug	25	24%
No response	20	19%
Anonymous through https	18	17%
Through email	18	17%
I am bugzilla admin/Can edit product components	10	10%
Other	4	4%

Other Responses

Via XMLRPC in order to query bugs
Creating new users for gcc
Anonymous through gmane.io NNTP
Never have

How do you use Bunsen?

How	Count	Percentage
No response	84	82%
Through https://builder.sourceware.org/testruns	12	12%
Other	6	6%
Checking out git database https://sourceware.org/git/bunsendb.git	3	3%
I have an account to submit new test results	2	2%

Other Responses

Not using
I don't use it
Unused
I record test results locally in my own bunsen instance
Never have
I do not use it

How do you use Mailing Lists/Mailman?

Usage	Count	Percentage
Subscribed to one or more lists	78	76%
Post to one or more lists	60	58%
Read archives through pipermail	45	44%
No response	13	13%
I am a mailman administrator/moderator	11	11%
Other	9	9%

Other Responses

Don't use sourceware mailing lists
NNTP (public-inbox instance)
inbox (nntp)
Read archives through inbox (e.g. https://inbox.sourceware.org/)
On mastodon, someone shared an IMAP link, like imap://sourceware.org/INBOX/cygwin/cygwin/5, a nicer way to read mail, but I could not deduce a link for other lists. A notice on the mailman pages would be nice.
read archives through public inbox
inbox
Use sourceware public inbox to search and available list Atom/RSS Feeds to keep up to date
I use public-inbox to read archives

How do you use git?

How	Count	Percentage
Pushing commits through ssh	60	58%
Cloning repos through anonymous https protocol	52	50%
Cloning repos through anonymous git protocol	44	43%
Through gitweb on the website	29	28%
Through cgit on the website	21	20%
No response	12	12%
Other	6	6%
Using gitolite (cygwin/dwarfstd)	2	2%

Other Responses

Not sure if this is gitweb or cgit
Website git interface, not sure which software that is
Also browse repositories using the forge
GitHub mirror, forge
Download release tarballs only to build from source
Anonymous pulls are slow

Are you a Release Maintainer or Project Admin with SSH Account?

Account	Count	Percentage
No response	75	73%
Personal ssh shell account	23	22%
Admin ssh for a shared project account	8	8%
Other	3	3%

Other Responses

I don't use it
Lurker
Cygwin package maintainer with ssh account (ftp/git/no shell)

How do you Download Releases?

Method	Count	Percentage
https	59	57%
No response	31	30%
ftp	17	17%
Other	10	10%

Other Responses

No recent release available: Using git
Checkout the release tag
From the official FSF site
Through ports system
From a cygwin mirror
Build from git or wait for distribution packages
wget
Debian
git pull
Distro package manager or git tags

What do you use rsync for?

Usage	Count	Percentage
No response	98	95%
Other	3	3%
Old cvs repositories	1	1%
mbox archives	1	1%
svn archives	1	1%

Other Responses

I don't use it
Not used
Keep files in sync on multiple computers

Do you use the Site Local Search?

Site	Count	Percentage
No response	76	74%
GCC https://gcc.gnu.org/search.html	14	14%
Sourceware https://sourceware.org/search.html	10	10%
Cygwin https://cygwin.com/packages	10	10%
Other	5	5%

Other Responses

I don't use it
Not used
Was unaware of sourceware and gcc search
I didn't know these sites existed
Google search for GCC parameters and SystemTap docs

Do you use a Project Wiki/MoinMoin?

Wiki Usage	Count	Percentage
No response	63	61%
I have an account/I am in the EditorGroup	24	23%
Read-only	16	16%
Other	3	3%

Other Responses

Not used
SystemTap wiki
Don't

How do you use inbox.sourceware.org?

How	Count	Percentage
No response	61	59%
https	33	32%
b4	8	8%
nntp	7	7%
imap	5	5%
git	3	3%
Other	3	3%
atom	1	1%

Other Responses

I don't use it
The https://cygwin.com/mailman/listinfo/cygwin/ etc interfacer (or IMAP) are more useful
don't

How do you use patchwork.sourceware.org?

How	Count	Percentage
No response	70	68%
Browse patches anonymously	17	17%
I have an account	17	17%
I use git-pw to browse/apply/change state	10	10%
I use the website to fetch patches and apply state changes	9	9%
My project uses a bot that uses the api (e.g. a CICD trybot)	4	4%
Other	4	4%

Other Responses

I don't use it
not used
Tried using it, but was not really useful for my use case (and not sure many ppl use it for gcc)
don't

How do you use snapshots.sourceware.org?

How	Count	Percentage
No response	86	83%
binutils src	7	7%
gdb src	6	6%
glibc src, manual	6	6%
Other	6	6%
valgrind src, html, downloads	3	3%
dwarfstd draft spec	2	2%
elfutils coverage	2	2%
gnupoke src, manual	1	1%
libabigail website, manual, apis	1	1%

Other Responses

One of the FreeBSD valgrind ports is based on snapshots
I don't use it
We use the binutils and gcc snapshots in the kernel BPF CI
not used
Never used it, but maybe I should
don't

How do you use builder.sourceware.org

Response	Count	Percentage
No response	76	74%
I receive CI emails when something breaks, which I use to fix issue	17	17%
My project defined a build CI pipeline	10	10%
I use the try-bots to do pre-commit CI	7	7%
Other	7	7%
My project defined a snapshots CD pipeline	4	4%
I receive CI emails that are mostly just false positives	4	4%
I receive CI emails when something breaks, that I just ignore	1	1%

Other Responses

Regularly use try branches with builder
I don't use it
Not used
Maintain some buildbots, receive emails when buildbots break
We have some builder for gccrs, not really sure how they fit in
Maybe use for Cygwin Scallywag CI if Windows supported - was and is on Appveyor - mostly used now via Github Actions
How do you tell the difference between "I don't use it" and no answer?

How do you use builder.sourceware.org (hardware)?

Response	Count	Percentage
No response	77	75%
x86_64	21	20%
arm64	16	16%
i686	9	9%
s390x	9	9%
armhf	7	7%
ppc64le	7	7%
riscv64	7	7%
ppc64	4	4%
Other	4	4%
sparc64	3	3%

Other Responses

I don't use it
The most useful arches are definitely the unusual ones, and multilib configurations (32-bit) of the common ones
Not used
loongarch64

Which mirror services are you using or would you like to see more?

Response	Count	Percentage
No response	60	58%
Sourceware Release download mirrors	18	17%
GCC Mirror Sites	18	17%
Cygwin Mirror Sites	13	13%
archive.org wayback machine	8	8%
Sourcehut	7	7%
codeberg.org (in progress)	6	6%
Other	5	5%
Software Heritage	1	1%

Other Responses

gitea
Don't think I set up a mirror, should probably do so
Not used (no reason)
Would like to know more about others if affiliated
github - this is the most reliable for GIT mirroring

Global Cybersecurity Policy Recommendations

Response	Count	Percentage
No response	71	69%
EU Cyber Resilience Act	17	17%
US Cybersecurity Executive Orders	14	14%
US (or other national) sanctions	13	13%
Secure Software Development project policy recommendations	13	13%
NIST SP 800-218, NIST SP 800-207 or other NIST recommendations	10	10%
git repo integrity (gitsigur)	10	10%
Other	3	3%

Other Responses

N/A
Wtf is this nonsense!
CVE

New (security) initiatives

Response	Count	Percentage
No response	76	74%
Modernizing account processes	16	16%
More isolation of existing services	12	12%
Release upload process improvements	9	9%
Hardware keys for administrators, release managers and developers	7	7%
Hire a part time junior system administrator	6	6%
Other	1	1%

Other Responses

Engage individual projects to meet their requirements

The forge experiment (how do you use the forge?)

Response	Count	Percentage
No response	77	75%
I registered an account	21	20%
I maintain a personal fork on the forge	9	9%
Other	7	7%
I submit pull requests on the forge	4	4%
I review pull requests on the forge	3	3%

Other Responses

I don't use it
Add others to teams as a project admin
Learned of it only today, hope to submit requests there
I want to use it when stage4 ends
Reviewed 2 merge requests and forgot it existed
Waiting before I start using it for now, but keen to see a wider uptake
Anonymous browsing

The forge experiment (what needs to be improved for the experiment to succeed?)

Response	Count	Percentage
No response	80	78%
Other	10	10%
Connect to buildbot for testing merge requests	9	9%
Improve outgoing email	7	7%
Improve incoming email	4	4%
The web interface	3	3%
Improve API (tooling)	3	3%
Mirroring and Federation	3	3%
It is already perfect	1	1%

Other Responses

I'm not clear on what the forge experiment is
Need more developers to be able to use it fully
I strongly prefer the mailing list workflow
I don't use it
Individual project leadership needs to be engaged for it to be a success
Social aspects: encouragement, guidance, documentation
It will eventually need to allow accounts from the general public, not only people who already have write-after-approval
Strong BZ integration (unsure of status)
Don't know yet because haven't got any real usage, but am convinced it's a very good idea.
Reviewers must find it convenient

Any other services/initiatives you would like to see for Sourceware infrastructure?

I feel like I should explain how I use Sourceware since a lot of the questions didn't seem to apply. I make a tool for in-system programming micros. In order to do that, I need tool chains. So I periodically build releases of gcc and related tools for the various micros that I support and then provide the resulting releases both on my website and on sourceforge.
Resilience against AI scrapbots
More CI, but less noisy. I'm really really not interested in those build-failed-because-the-CI-failed-to-clone reports I've seen to binutils+gdb mailing lists! Maybe that's fixed, I don't remember seeing any for a couple of days.
Bot/DOS protection from external service
Please make git cloning faster. Cloning glibc takes quite a long time.
Unblock access from developing countries

Have you donated to Sourceware?

Donated	Count	Percentage
No	57	55%
No response	40	39%
Yes	4	4%
I will right now!	2	2%