*Please consider adding <[email protected]> to your address book, which will
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*Read and share online:
<[link removed]>*

Welcome to the *Free Software Supporter*, the Free Software
Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read
by you and 222,882 other activists.

## TABLE OF CONTENTS

* FSF fights to secure software freedom for future generations
* Register for LibrePlanet 2021 and help us to empower users
* Help us set high priorities for 2021: Send input by Jan. 8
* In-depth free software news: Read the fall *Bulletin* online
* IDAD 2020 sent Netflix and DRM a message
* 35 years of freedom and memories from the FSF tech team
* Freedom, memories, and campaigning for free software
* The road to software freedom is paved with licensing
* Need a last-minute gift? Gift an FSF membership!
* Share this holiday fairy tale to teach your loved ones about free software
* Replicant: A free mobile phone OS is more important than ever, and needs your help
* Update from Guix: Moving forward into 2021
* My internship with the FSF tech team and beyond
* Trying GNU Jami on laptop and phone
* Why FSF endorsing PureOS matters
* Insights on the reproducibility and future of free software with Chris Lamb
* German coronavirus tracing app available without Google services
* 2,000 parents demand major academic publisher drop Proctorio surveillance
* December GNU Emacs news
* Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
* LibrePlanet featured resource: Introducing free software
* GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: Nineteen new GNU releases!
* FSF and other free software events
* Thank GNUs!
* GNU copyright contributions
* Translations of the *Free Software Supporter*
* Take action with the FSF!

View this issue online here:
<[link removed]>

Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by
adding our subscriber widget to your Web site.

* Subscribe: <[link removed]>
* Widget: <[link removed]>

Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at
<[link removed]>.

Want to read this newsletter translated into another language? Scroll
to the end to read the *Supporter* in French, Spanish, or Portuguese.

***

### FSF fights to secure software freedom for future generations

*From December 30th*

The core mission of the Free Software Foundation is, and always will
be, to support the four freedoms of free software as embodied by the
GNU Project. In 1985, when I saw Richard Stallman attempt to undertake
the task of creating for you, users and creators of software, a wholly
free GNU operating system by himself, I thought it was a noble idea
unlikely to succeed. How wrong I was! Luckily, I made the correct
decision to pitch in and help, as have many thousands of people
since. In the thirty-five years since the FSF was established,
countless free software users and supporters around the globe have
experienced the joys that come from creating software and knowing that
you have the right to learn, to tinker, to make modifications to suit
your needs, to make your own contribution, to be heard and recognized,
to share your work, and to be appreciated by your peers.

* <[link removed]>

### Register for LibrePlanet 2021 and help us to empower users

*From December 15th*

The thirteenth edition of the Free Software Foundation's annual
conference is only a few months away. We're well into the preparations
for the event, which will be held online on March 20 and 21, 2021. You
don't have to register to watch the event, and you can participate
entirely free of charge, but your registration will help us plan, so
we've added some rewards to encourage you to register at various
tiers.

**[Register for the LibrePlanet 2021 conference
now!]([link removed])**

* <[link removed]>

### Help us set high priorities for 2021: Send input by Jan. 8

*From December 22nd*

The High Priority Free Software Projects (HPP) List is an initiative
from the Free Software Foundation. It draws attention to areas of
development of strategic importance to the goal of freedom for all
computer users, and highlights specific projects within these
areas. The HPP List helps guide volunteers, developers, funders, and
companies to projects where their skills and resources can be
utilized, whether they be in coding, graphic design, writing,
financial contributions, or activism.

**We still need your input! Please send your suggested changes for the
HPP List to <[email protected]> by January 8, 2021.**

* <[link removed]>

### In-depth free software news: Read the fall *Bulletin* online

*From December 10th*

For 35 years, the Free Software Foundation has attempted to provide
you with the best information about threats to computing freedom,
highlight the efforts of activists worldwide, and connect more people
to the struggle. One resource we produce to this end is the biannual
[*Free Software Foundation Bulletin*]([link removed]),
which is printed as well as presented online – if you’ve received
yours in the mail, we encourage you to post a picture on social media
with #fsfbulletin!

**[Read the Free Software Foundation Bulletin
online]([link removed])**

* <[link removed]>

### IDAD 2020 sent Netflix and DRM a message

*From December 16th*

December 4th was the Free Software Foundation and its [Defective by
Design
(DBD)]([link removed])
campaign's fourteenth International Day Against DRM (IDAD), and we
couldn't have done it without your help. Given that we were unable to
organize in person this year, the international response of people who
digitally stood up against Digital Restrictions Management has been
nothing short of inspiring. We were able to come together for a common
goal and voice our opposition against DRM.

* <[link removed]>
* <[link removed]>
* <[link removed]>
* <[link removed]>

### 35 years of freedom and memories from the FSF tech team

*From December 1st*

The FSF turned thirty-five years old this year, and for this fall's
fundraising appeal, we took the time to do some digging into the past
to bring you some of the key moments and fun anecdotes of the FSF's
past in three parts, one focusing on collected stories centered around
each of the three major areas of work at the FSF: tech, licensing, and
campaigns. This installment is focused on the history of what has come
to be the FSF's tech team. The FSF started in 1985, and this series of
articles is by no means an attempt to create a comprehensive linear
history. Instead, I spoke to some of the former and current FSF system
administrators and asked them for memorable moments from their time
working with the FSF.

* <[link removed]>

### Freedom, memories, and campaigning for free software

*From December 24th*

This installment in our series is focused on the history of the FSF's
campaigns team. As with our article on the tech team, it is not meant
to be a comprehensive history, but is instead a collection of some
past members of the team's favorite moments, memories, and actions
from our history of spreading the message of free software.

* <[link removed]>

### The road to software freedom is paved with licensing

*From December 9th*

The Free Software Foundation’s Licensing and Compliance Lab is the
guardian of the GNU General Public License (GPL), which has brought
software freedom to the world since 1989. As stewards of the GPL and
the rest of the GNU family of licenses, we must continue our work to
protect and extend computer user freedom, but the team needs your
help.

* <[link removed]>

### Need a last-minute gift? Gift an FSF membership!

*From December 23rd*

Do you need a last-minute gift for the techie or activist in your
life? Want something that will keep on giving for the rest of the
year? Concerned about spending money on yet another dust collector or
future regift? Is "retail therapy" actually not that therapeutic for
you? Are the myriad options generating a cloud of anxiety over your
head?

Free yourself from the consumer funk and this "paradox of choice" by
opting to give your loved one a gift that will raise their social
consciousness, create more lasting cheer, and defend
#UserFreedom. [Gift a Free Software Foundation associate
membership!]([link removed]) These also make
excellent gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, and absolutely any
occasion that would be a little more festive with a little more
freedom.

* <[link removed]>

### Share this holiday fairy tale to teach your loved ones about free software

*From December 17th*

The Free Software Foundation believes that everyone deserves this full
control over their computers and phones, and we hope this video, which
we released in 2019, helps you explain the importance of free software
to your friends and family. You can also find subtitles of
translations of the video in twelve languages in [this blog
post]([link removed])!

* <[link removed]>

### Replicant: A free mobile phone OS is more important than ever, and needs your help

*From December 23rd by Denis "GNUtoo" Carikli*

In 2020, mobile devices such as phones and tablets (which are full
computers with powerful hardware running complete operating systems,
with applications) are an increasingly important part in our
computing. Hence, they are particularly subject to freedom and
security concerns. So-called smartphones present a number of freedom,
privacy, security, ecological, and social justice issues in a
relatively small device.

Replicant addresses these issues by enabling people to run fully free
operating systems on supported mobile devices. You can read more about
the freedom, privacy, and security issues that Replicant addresses on
the Replicant Web site. The site and wiki also give further
information about Replicant, the devices it supports, installation
instructions, the latest info about its limitations, and more.

* <[link removed]>

### Update from Guix: Moving forward into 2021

*From December 28th by Maxim Cournoyer*

In the two years following the last Guix fundraising campaign, the
project has made great advances through thousands of commits and
hundreds of contributors. There are now more than 15,000 packages in
the collection, almost doubling the number reported two years ago. The
continuous integration build farm (the automatic and continuous
building of the source and binary packages in Guix for continuous
integration, testing, and analyses to make sure the system is 100%
reproducible) is also in better shape, although more work is being
done to improve its performance.

* <[link removed]>

### My internship with the FSF tech team and beyond

*From December 18th*

Hello! I'm Amin Bandali, and this is my second blog post on the FSF
sysadmin blog, concluding my internship with the FSF tech team this
year.

Throughout my internship with the tech team, I have worked mainly on
sysadmin tasks related to setting up and/or managing FSF's GNU/Linux
servers. Perhaps most significantly, I set up an instance of the
Sourcehut forge software to help evaluate it as a candidate for the
upcoming FSF forge project. I documented the installation and setup
process of Sourcehut's various components in the form of a literate
GNU Emacs Org-mode file, where source blocks are interspersed with
comments and prose explaining them. One can then progressively
evaluate and execute the source blocks, and optionally have their
results stored back in the Org file itself to help with
documentation/demonstration.

* <[link removed]>
* <[link removed]>

### Trying GNU Jami on laptop and phone

*From December 29th by Ade Malsasa Akbar*

Trisquel is a fully free computer operating system while Jami is a
complete cross platform communication app. Following the release of
the latest OS version 9 codenamed Etiona, and the latest version of
the communication app codenamed Together, now I want to explain my
experiments with Jami by using my laptop and phone altogether. The
results are it works with calls, for both usual audio and also video;
can do two ways of share screen; text chats and file sharing also
works, with some important notes. Thanks to Trisquel developers, now
using Jami is much more easier than ever. Now let's go chatting!

* <[link removed]>

### Why FSF endorsing PureOS matters

*From December 22nd by Purism*

It was three years ago today, December 21, 2017, that the Free
Software Foundation announced it had endorsed PureOS. Getting FSF
endorsement is not an easy task and involves a lot of rigorous
evaluation. Sometimes people ask us why we decided to create and
maintain PureOS instead of using an existing distribution such as
Debian (which PureOS is based on). After all, it’s a lot of extra work
to maintain your own distribution, and even more work to maintain one
that qualifies for FSF endorsement. In this article we will discuss
why we consistently choose the harder road and why PureOS being
endorsed by the FSF benefits your freedom, your privacy and your
security (in particular supply chain security).

* <[link removed]>

### Insights on the reproducibility and future of free software with Chris Lamb

*From December 21st by Vladimir Bejdo*

The Reproducible Builds project seeks to integrate a set of
development practices into software which emphasize build
reproducibility, or the ability to ensure that a given build process
will lead to verifiably integrous binaries which correspond to their
source code. Reproducibility is especially important in software that
is used for sensitive applications or even by users living in
repressive regimes under mortal danger -- repressive governments, for
example, may choose to introduce vulnerabilities into software used by
dissidents to connect to the Internet by targeting pre-compiled
binaries and build processes rather than source code. The project is
working towards making many widely used pieces of free software
reproducible, from its aims towards making (at the very least the
packages of) several widely used distributions of GNU/Linux
reproducible to achieving reproducibility for individual pieces of
critical software like Tor and Tails.

* <[link removed]>

### German coronavirus tracing app available without Google services

*From December 8th by Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)*

A handful of free software developers have achieved what official
bodies have been missing for months: they have made the German Corona
Warn App for tracing COVID-19 risk contacts available in a version
that is completely free of dependencies on Google and available in
F-Droid, the free software app store.

* <[link removed]>

### 2,000 parents demand major academic publisher drop Proctorio surveillance

*From December 21st by Edward Ongweso Jr.*

This month, digital rights group Fight for the Future unveiled an open
letter signed by 2,000 parents calling on McGraw-Hill Publishing to
end its relationship with Proctorio, one of many proctoring apps that
digital rights groups have correctly called "indistinguishable from
spyware.” As we have stated before, [no student should have to trade
their freedom for an
education]([link removed]).

* <[link removed]>

### December GNU Emacs news

*From December 30th by Sacha Chua*

In these issues: Emacs virtual Berlin meetup, Emacs from Scratch,
Favorite Emacs Packages, Semantic Clojure Formatting, and more!

* [2020-12-28]([link removed])
* [2020-12-21]([link removed])
* [2020-12-14]([link removed])
* [2020-12-07]([link removed])

### Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to
discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth
of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version
control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software
Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past
decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and
exciting free software projects.

To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place
in the #fsf channel on irc.freenode.org, and usually include a handful
of regulars as well as newcomers. Freenode is accessible from any IRC
client -- Everyone's welcome!

The next meeting is Friday, January 8th, from 12pm to 3pm EST (16:00
to 19:00 UTC). Details here:

* <[link removed]>

### LibrePlanet featured resource: Introducing free software

Every month on [the LibrePlanet
wiki]([link removed]), we highlight one
resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use
your help.

For this month, we are highlighting Introducing Free Software, which
gathers suggestions for an introductory free software site for people
who are complete newcomers to the concept. You are invited to adopt,
spread and improve this important resource.

* <[link removed]>

Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us
know at <[email protected]>.

### GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: Nineteen new GNU releases!

19 new GNU releases in the last month (as of December 30, 2020):

* [autoconf-2.70]([link removed])
* [bash-5.1]([link removed])
* [gama-2.12]([link removed])
* [gdbm-1.19]([link removed])
* [glpk-5.0]([link removed])
* [gnucobol-3.1.2]([link removed])
* [gnupg-2.2.26]([link removed])
* [jel-2.1.2]([link removed])
* [libmicrohttpd-0.9.72]([link removed])
* [linux-libre-5.10]([link removed])
* [mailutils-3.11]([link removed])
* [mtools-4.0.26]([link removed])
* [nano-5.4]([link removed])
* [parallel-20201222]([link removed])
* [pies-1.5]([link removed])
* [readline-8.1]([link removed])
* [taler-0.8.0]([link removed])
* [tramp-2.5.0]([link removed])
* [unifont-13.0.05]([link removed])

For announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu
mailing list: <[link removed]>.

To download: nearly all GNU software is available from
<[link removed]>, or preferably one of its mirrors from
<[link removed]>. You can use the URL
<[link removed]> to be automatically redirected to a
(hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.

A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a
whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see
<[link removed]> if you'd like to
help. The general page on how to help GNU is at
<[link removed]>.

If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like to
offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, see
<[link removed]>.

### FSF and other free software events

* February 6-7, 2021, online, [FOSDEM '21]([link removed])
* March 20-21, 2021, online, [LibrePlanet 2021]([link removed])

### Thank GNUs!

We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation,
and we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have
donated $500 or more in the last month.

* <[link removed]>

This month, a big Thank GNU to:

* Antonio Carzaniga
* Blair Vidakovich
* David Turner
* Dock Williams
* Dominic Walden
* Donald Craig
* Hannah Wolfman-Jones
* Iñaki Arenaza
* Jane Doe
* Jean-Francois Blavier
* Jesse Young
* Joe McLaughlin
* Keonne Rodriguez
* Marcus Marinelli
* Marcus Pemer
* Mark Boenke
* Michael Cornelius
* Michael Lewis
* Morten Lind
* Nicodemus Paradiso
* Nicolas Avrutin
* Peter Kunze
* René Genz
* Roland Pesch
* Stephen Longfield
* Steve Tuyizere
* Steve Wickert
* Svante Stenberg
* Thomas Saglio
* Yuchen Pei

You can add your name to this list by donating at
<[link removed]>.

### GNU copyright contributions

Assigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us
defend the GNU GPL and keep software free. The following individuals
have assigned their copyright to the FSF (and allowed public
appreciation) in the past month:

* Alvaro Gonzalez Sotillo (Emacs)
* Ashutosh Pandey (glibc)
* Kirill Okhotnikov (glibc)
* Levin Du (Emacs)
* OU YANG SHIH TING (Emacs)
* Pankaj Jangid (Emacs)
* Paul Fee (GCC)
* Wook Rae Kim (GDB)

Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your
copyright to the FSF.

* <[link removed]>

### Translations of the *Free Software Supporter*

El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la
versión en español haz click aqui:
<[link removed]>

**Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos
números del Supporter en español, haz click aquí:**
<[link removed]>

Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la
version française cliquez ici:
<[link removed]>

**Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines
publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici:**
<[link removed]>

O Free Software Supporter está disponível em português. Para ver a
versão em português, clique aqui:
<[link removed]>

**Para alterar as preferências do usuário e receber as próximas
edições do Supporter em português, clique aqui:**
<[link removed]>

### Take action with the FSF!

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's
work. You can contribute by joining at <[link removed]>. If
you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some
rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email
signature like:

I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom!
<[link removed]>

The FSF is always looking for volunteers
(<[link removed]>). From rabble-rousing to hacking,
from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here
for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaigns section
(<[link removed]>) and take action on software patents,
Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software adoption,
OpenDocument, and more.

###

Copyright © 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit
<[link removed]>.


--
* Follow us on Mastodon at <[link removed]>, GNU social at
<[link removed]>, Diaspora at <[link removed]>,
PeerTube at <[link removed]>, and on Twitter at
<[link removed]>.
* Read about why we use Twitter, but only with caveats at <[link removed]>.
* Subscribe to our RSS feeds at <[link removed]>.
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* Read our Privacy Policy at <[link removed]>.

Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

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United States


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