The ecos-discuss mailing list is an open mailing list for discussion of eCos (and RedBoot): everybody can join and there's no moderation.

Core eCos developers also read the list and occasionally reply on questions. Always keep mail on the public mailing lists so that the whole community gets the benefit of solutions to problems, if posted, and so that other members of the community can offer help and gain from your experience. However, while support and advice on the list is free, there is no obligation or guarantee on the part of anyone to respond to mail sent to the list.

Mail followups sent directly to the core eCos developers that are not CC'ed to the list will be ignored, as will unsolicited email also sent directly to the eCos developers. Some developers may offer commercial support packages, and responses would only be guaranteed to their customers.

Posting to the list instead of individuals is an important point, since the list is an open forum where eCos users can help each other. There is no guarantee that your questions will be answered and if your question does go unanswered, consider purchasing a support contract.

There are quite a few questions that go unanswered. A few of the unanswered questions are good questions that nobody knows the answer to or ones that will take significant effort to reply to. However, the majority of unanswered questions stay unanswered because to the regular readers of the mailing list it is clear that the person asking the question did not bother reading the documentation, or try to find the answer on his/her own. So before you ask a question, please read through this FAQ, the mailing list archive, and do read Eric S. Raymond's article on How To Ask Questions The Smart Way. It really does make a difference!