Dear Friends,
my prolonged silence here probably was indication enough that something must have happened. This "something" was that my wife was afflicted with cancer, which resulted in her death last Friday. Suddenly I find myself being a single father with a school age daughter, facing an overwhelming mountain of unknown and untrained tasks and duties.
I realize that I have no chance of dedicating enough time to the U-Boot project while I have to reorganize my life - not even close enough. It appears more efficient to focus on a few really important things now, and re-add other tasks as soon as I learned to walk in this new pair of shoes.
To make the long story short: I don't have the resources to bring the pending release of U-Boot forward, and I would like the community to allow me for a sabbatical for this release, and probably for the next one, too.
Tom Rini was kind enough to agree to stand in for me as maintainer in this time. I really, really appreciate his willingness to help and to pick up this burden, which is anything but a small one. Please help Tom with this new responsibility!
I seriously hope that I will find enough nerves, time, and resources to pick up this work as soon as possible, but I beg for your understanding that I cannot tell yet when exactly his will be.
To prevent any kind of rumors: I have definitely no intentions to permanently drop U-Boot. She is one of my babies, and I like her way too much to be able to do something like that. But I also know that she is pretty mature and grown up enough to be able to walk for a while on her own feet - given sufficient help from you, the community around it. I rely on you, please treat her gently and help her to grow and prosper while I cannot take care of her myself. Thanks!
I'm looking forward to seeing you all back here, hopefully really soon.
Thanks!
Wolfgang Denk