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Dear Free Software Supporter,
After months of preparation and excitement, we finally came together
on November 21 at 10:00 EST for the global online FSF40
hackathon, ending November 23, 10:00 EST. When we decided to host
this hackathon as part of our fortieth anniversary celebrations,
we did it with the aspiration that this hackathon would put a
spotlight on the difficult and often thankless work that free software
hackers carry out, and support free software projects. Based on how
many of you dropped in over the weekend and were incredibly engaged in
the important work that is improving free software, either as a
spectator or as a participant, this goal was accomplished. And it's
all thanks to you!
Friday started a little rocky with a datacenter outage affecting most
FSF services. Participants spread out to work on six different free
software projects over forty-eight hours as our tech team worked to
restore all FSF sites with the help and support of the community. Over
three hundred folks were tuned in at a time, some to participate in
the hackathon and others to follow the progress being made. As a
community, we got a lot done over the weekend, but here are a few
especially notable accomplishments achieved:
- Work to bring "un-" archiving functionality into Org Mode;
- Verified nonfree software had been identified and removed from
packages in free GNU/Linux distros;
- Progress on developing a new UI for the Lewa project;
- Training new volunteers on how to edit the Free Software Directory;
- Numerous new contributors participated in free software projects,
including GNU Guix and Org Mode.
So many contributions on six projects (FSD, GNU Boot, GNU
Guix, Lewa, op-mattermost, and Org Mode) over one weekend is
an achievement. The progress made this weekend is worthy of
celebration itself, but at the end of the hackathon, we drew special
attention to a three special contributions with an award:
- First time contributor, given to a participant who has never
contributed to that free software package before or a team with at
least one new free software contributor. This award went to the
"un-archive" team of Org Mode.
- Most impactful contribution. This award went to Jiyu for their work
on GNU Boot.
- Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging award and certificate,
given to the participant or team member that makes the greatest
contribution(s) in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and
belonging. This award went to the Lewa project.
If you participated in the FSF40 hackathon and would like a
certificate illustrating your work, please email [email protected].
It was amazing to see so many of you take a little (or a lot of!) time
out of your busy schedules to improve free software, and we're
incredibly grateful for each and every one of you. It really energizes
us and shows us how much we can accomplish when we work together over
even just a couple days. Not only was this a fantastic sight to see
because of the work we got done, but it was also a very fitting way to
conclude our fortieth anniversary celebration events. Free software
has been and always will be a community effort, one that continues to
get better and better because of the dedicated developers,
contributors, and users who ensure its existence. Thank you for
celebrating forty years of the FSF and fighting for a freer future for
us all.
We wouldn't have had nearly as cool prizes without our sponsors.
Purism generously donated a Librem 5 phone (which runs
PureOS) that was awarded to the participant with the most impactful
contribution made during the hackathon; and ThinkPenguin kindly
donated a Free Software Wireless-N Mesh Kit (three-pack), which
was given to a team with participants who had never contributed to
that free software package before. Thank you Purism and ThinkPenguin
for your generosity.
The FSF is currently having its year-end fundraiser. If you like
participating (even if just as a spectator!) in events like the FSF40
hackathon, donate $40 USD or become an associate member
for as little as $12 USD a month. Donations and associate memberships
not only help us reach our fundraising goal of $400,000 USD, but they
also support us in putting on events like the FSF40 hackathon.
Happy hacking,
Eko K. A. Owen
Outreach & Communications Coordinator
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