Wolfgang Denk

[Simon Glass]

Hi Stefano,

On Fri, 21 Oct 2022 at 09:11, Stefano Babic <sbabic at denx.de> wrote:
>
> Dear U-Boot community,
>
> it is my very sad duty to inform you that Wolfgang Denk, the father of
> U-Boot, passed away last week. We have lost a great developer and a very
> good friend.
>
> I met Wolfgang the first time quite 25 years ago, when we worked for the
> same company. I was hired as consultant for a (at the time very
> frequently used) RTOS. I had no time to introduce me, because Wolfgang
> interrupted me with : "Just install Linux !". Well, of course I did. It
> was the first good suggestion he gave me. Many others followed.
>
> Wolfgang was a pioneer and strong supporter of Open Source, in the time
> when Linux for Embedded System started its first steps. In many
> occasions he had strong discussions with customers to explain the
> advantages of Open Source, and he rejected business contracts if
> customer was going against his principles. We will miss him.
>
> Rest in peace, my friend
>
> Stefano Babic
>

I am very sorry to hear this shocking news. He was indeed a pioneer
and the principles he instilled in U-Boot have stood the test of time.
Wolfgang guided many of my contributions, particularly when I was
starting out, through code reviews which explained those principles
and how they applied to the code or feature. There are of course too
many to count, but the use of FIT to implement verified boot was one
which had a big impact, as well as many admonitions re code size and
simplicity!

I met Wolfgang various times, mostly over beer at conferences. I will
miss him and I'm sure Denx and U-Boot will not be the same without
him.

May he rest in peace.

- Simon