# free software Free software is software whose users have the freedom to run, study, change, copy, and distribute it, including modified versions. This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## Journées du Logiciel Libre (JDLL) DevFeed: [Journées du Logiciel Libre (JDLL)]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-05-29T01:00:00Z Content type: news Language: en Sources: [Haiku Project]() Topics: [free software](), [Development](), [Demo](), [3D]() Tags: [3d](), [developers](), [event](), [free-software](), [printing](), [speaking]() ### AI overview The 2026 Journées du Logiciel Libre (JDLL) is a French-speaking free software event in Lyon, France, held May 30-31, 2026. Haiku will have a booth, and mmu_man and PulkoMandy will present a talk about recent Haiku development. ### Source excerpt Free software booths, and a lot of talks for both the general public and developers. Also games for kids, and 3D printing and other demos by the local fablab. French speaking event. Event Dates: 2026-05-30 - 2026-05-31 Event Homepage: https://www.jdll.org/ Activities: Haiku booth. A talk by mmu_man & PulkoMandy about "What's new in Haiku?" (news from the last year in Haiku development). Location ENS site Descartes, 19 allée de Fontenay, 69007 Lyon France Event report: TODO ## Open Social: How the AT Protocol Changes Social Data DevFeed: [Open Social: How the AT Protocol Changes Social Data]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-09-26T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Dan Abramov]() Topics: [AT Protocol](), [Bluesky](), [free software](), [data](), [API](), [Web]() Tags: [api](), [data](), [free-software](), [open](), [protocol](), [social-media]() ### AI overview This opinion article argues that open social could play a role for social applications similar to the role open source plays in software. It presents Bluesky's AT Protocol as a convincing, unfinished approach and explains how it changes the relationship between users, developers, products, and social data. ### Source excerpt The protocol is the API. ## Golang and Let's Encrypt: a free software story DevFeed: [Golang and Let's Encrypt: a free software story]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-06-26T01:41:49Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Tony Finch's blog]() Topics: [let's encrypt](), [free software](), [Pull Request](), [CASE](), [Testing](), [CI/CD]() Tags: [bug](), [continuous-integration](), [free-software](), [golang](), [let-s-encrypt](), [pull-request](), [review](), [testing]() ### AI overview The author recounts fixing a Let's Encrypt Boulder bug involving mail-domain validation as a newcomer to Golang. They describe relying on Let's Encrypt's cloud test setup, submitting a small pull request, and seeing it merged into production within a few days. ### Source excerpt Here's a story from nearly 10 years ago. the bug I think it was my friend Richard Kettlewell who told me about a bug he encountered with Let's Encrypt in its early days in autumn 2015: it was failing to validate mail domains correctly. the context At the time I had previously been responsible for Cambridge University's email anti-spam system for about 10 years, and in 2014 I had been given responsibility for Cambridge University's DNS. So I knew how Let's Encrypt should validate mail domains. Let's Encrypt was about one year old. Unusually, the code that runs their operations, Boulder, is free software and open to external contributors. Boulder is written in Golang, and I had not previously written any code in Golang. But its reputation is to be easy to get to grips with. So, in principle, the bug was straightforward for me to fix. How difficult would it be as a Golang newbie? And what would Let's Encrypt's contribution process be like? the hack I cloned the Boulder repository and had a look around the code. As is pretty typical, there are a couple of stages to fixing a bug in an unfamiliar codebase: work out where the problem is try to understand if the obvious fix could be better In this case, I remember discovering a relatively substantial TODO item that intersected with the bug. I can't remember the details, but I think there were wider issues with DNS lookups in Boulder. I decided it made sense to fix the immediate problem without getting involved in things that would require discussion with Let's Encrypt staff. I faffed around with the code and pushed something that looked like it might work. A fun thing about this hack is that I never got a working Boulder test setup on my workstation (or even Golang, I think!) - I just relied on the Let's Encrypt cloud test setup. The feedback time was very slow, but it was tolerable for a simple one-off change. the fix My pull request was small, +48-14. After a couple of rounds of review and within a few days, it was merged ## Reproducible Builds mourns the passing of Lunar DevFeed: [Reproducible Builds mourns the passing of Lunar]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2024-11-14T15:00:00Z Content type: news Language: en Sources: [reproducible-builds.org]() Topics: [reproducible builds](), [free software](), [Debian](), [open-source-security]() Tags: [debian](), [free-software](), [org](), [reports](), [reproducible-builds]() ### AI overview The Reproducible Builds community announces the death of founding member Jérémy Bobbio, known as Lunar, and reflects on his contributions to Reproducible Builds, Debian, Tor, and free software security. ### Source excerpt The Reproducible Builds community sadly announces it has lost its founding member. Jérémy Bobbio aka 'Lunar' passed away on Friday November 8th in palliative care in Rennes, France. Lunar was instrumental in starting the Reproducible Builds project in 2013 as a loose initiative within the Debian project. Many of our earliest status reports were written by him and many of our key tools in use today are based on his design. Lunar was a resolute opponent of surveillance and censorship, and he possessed an unwavering energy that fueled his work on Reproducible Builds and Tor. Without Lunar's far-sightedness, drive and commitment to enabling teams around him, Reproducible Builds and free software security would not be in the position it is in today. His contributions will not be forgotten, and his high standards and drive will continue to serve as an inspiration to us as well as for the other high-impact projects he was involved in. Lunar's creativity, insight and kindness were often noted. He will be greatly missed. Other tributes: Anargeek.net [FR] LWN Debian Stefano Zacchiroli Linuxfr.org [FR] Software Heritage A history of the Reproducible Builds project ## Supporter spotlight: Kees Cook on Linux kernel security DevFeed: [Supporter spotlight: Kees Cook on Linux kernel security]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2024-09-29T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [reproducible-builds.org]() Topics: [Linux Kernel](), [Security](), [open-source-security](), [free software](), [Arm](), [Ubuntu](), [Debian](), [Fedora]() Tags: [arm](), [canonical](), [debian](), [fedora](), [free-software](), [kernel](), [linux](), [linux-kernel](), [open-source-security](), [org](), [security](), [ubuntu]() ### AI overview This supporter spotlight interviews Kees Cook, founder of the Kernel Self-Protection Project, about his work improving Linux kernel security. He discusses kernel self-protection, recruiting expertise in ARM and memory management, and his earlier security-hardening work at Canonical on Ubuntu. ### Source excerpt The Reproducible Builds project relies on several projects, supporters and sponsors for financial support, but they are also valued as ambassadors who spread the word about our project and the work that we do. This is the eighth installment in a series featuring the projects, companies and individuals who support the Reproducible Builds project. We started this series by featuring the Civil Infrastructure Platform project, and followed this up with a post about the Ford Foundation as well as recent ones about ARDC, the Google Open Source Security Team (GOSST), Bootstrappable Builds, the F-Droid project, David A. Wheeler and Simon Butler. Today, however, we will be talking with Kees Cook, founder of the Kernel Self-Protection Project. Vagrant Cascadian: Could you tell me a bit about yourself? What sort of things do you work on? Kees Cook: I'm a Free Software junkie living in Portland, Oregon, USA. I have been focusing on the upstream Linux kernel's protection of itself. There is a lot of support that the kernel provides userspace to defend itself, but when I first started focusing on this there was not as much attention given to the kernel protecting itself. As userspace got more hardened the kernel itself became a bigger target. Almost 9 years ago I formally announced the Kernel Self-Protection Project because the work necessary was way more than my time and expertise could do alone. So I just try to get people to help as much as possible; people who understand the ARM architecture, people who understand the memory management subsystem to help, people who understand how to make the kernel less buggy. Vagrant: Could you describe the path that lead you to working on this sort of thing? Kees: I have always been interested in security through the aspect of exploitable flaws. I always thought it was like a magic trick to make a computer do something that it was very much not designed to do and seeing how easy it is to subvert bugs. I wanted to improve that fragility. In ## The European Union must keep funding free software DevFeed: [The European Union must keep funding free software]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Mobian team Published: 2024-08-01T23:17:30Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Mobian's Blog]() Topics: [free software](), [Software](), [Internet](), [Programming]() Tags: [free-software](), [internet](), [open](), [software]() ### AI overview An open letter urges the European Commission to continue funding Next Generation Internet programmes, arguing that they effectively support free software, digital commons and European software infrastructure. It notes that NGI is absent from the 2025 Horizon Europe working draft and highlights its support for more than 500 projects. ### Source excerpt Multiple Linux mobile related projects (such as e.g. postmarketOS or phosh) have benefited from the NGI funding. The following is an open letter initially published in French by the Petites Singularités association. An english translation is provided by OW2. To co-sign it, please publish it on your website in your preferred language, then add yourself to this table. Open Letter to the European Commission Since 2020, Next Generation Internet (NGI) programmes, part of European Commission's Horizon programme, fund free software in Europe using a cascade funding mechanism (see for example NLnet's calls). This year, according to the Horizon Europe working draft detailing funding programmes for 2025, we notice that Next Generation Internet is not mentioned any more as part of Cluster 4. NGI programmes have shown their strength and importance to supporting the European software infrastructure, as a generic funding instrument to fund digital commons and ensure their long-term sustainability. We find this transformation incomprehensible, moreover when NGI has proven efficient and economical to support free software as a whole, from the smallest to the most established initiatives. This ecosystem diversity backs the strength of European technological innovation, and maintaining the NGI initiative to provide structural support to software projects at the heart of worldwide innovation is key to enforce the sovereignty of a European infrastructure. Contrary to common perception, technical innovations often originate from European rather than North American programming communities, and are mostly initiated by small-scaled organizations. Previous Cluster 4 allocated 27 million euros to: "Human centric Internet aligned with values and principles commonly shared in Europe" ; "A flourishing internet, based on common building blocks created within NGI, that enables better control of our digital life" ; "A structured ecosystem of talented contributors driving the creation of new intern ## Intellectual Property Guideline DevFeed: [Intellectual Property Guideline]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2020-02-23T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Front Page on ReactOS Website]() Topics: [ReactOS](), [Windows](), [Development](), [Microsoft](), [free software]() Tags: [copyright](), [developers](), [free](), [intellectual-property](), [legal](), [microsoft](), [open-source](), [os](), [policy](), [react](), [reactos](), [win32](), [winapi](), [windows]() ### AI overview The ReactOS Project's intellectual property guideline explains copyright, patent, trademark, and related legal issues relevant to project development. It provides definitions and policy guidance for developers and potential contributors, while stating that it is not legal advice. ### Source excerpt Preface The ReactOS™ Project is an international group of developers whose goal is to create a work-alike version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. In light of recent activity in the free software world relating to copyright and patent concerns, the administrators of the ReactOS Project feel that a general guideline would be helpful for developers and potential contributors. For questions regarding this guideline, please e-mail Colin Finck. Please note that none of this should be construed as legal advice, as any sort of warranty regarding the project's products, or anything else save a statement of policy on the part of the project. ## ReactOS Hackfest 2017 and FrOSCon17! DevFeed: [ReactOS Hackfest 2017 and FrOSCon17!]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2017-07-07T00:00:00Z Content type: news Language: en Sources: [Front Page on ReactOS Website]() Topics: [ReactOS](), [Open Source](), [free software](), [Software]() Tags: [2017](), [event](), [free](), [germany](), [open-source](), [os](), [react](), [reactos](), [talks](), [win32](), [winapi](), [workshops]() ### AI overview The ReactOS team announces its participation in FrOSCon 2017 in Germany and outlines the ReactOS Hackfest planned in Cologne from August 14 to 18. Developers will work on issues including migration from SVN to Git, SDK restructuring, self-hosting, USB driver testing, test-suite improvements, and the ReactOS Apps Manager. ### Source excerpt The ReactOS Team is proud to announce that ReactOS has been selected to be present in the FrOSCon17 event. FrOSCon 2017 FrOSCon is a free software and open source event organized by the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (Germany) full of talks, workshops and booths. Entry is absolutely free so there is no excuse not to meet the ReactOS team live. This event takes place on 19th and 20th August so feel free to book your flights or plan a nice weekend to visit our booth there. ## Free software vs. open source: What's the difference? DevFeed: [Free software vs. open source: What's the difference?]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2015-07-06T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Radek Pazdera]() Topics: [free software](), [Open Source](), [Software](), [GNU General Public License]() Tags: [copyright](), [free-software](), [open-source](), [software]() ### AI overview This article explains the distinction between free software and open source. It describes the user freedoms associated with free software, including running, studying, redistributing, and improving programs, and explains copyleft and how licenses such as the GNU General Public License preserve those freedoms. ### Source excerpt Hairy hippies and evil corporations ## What a visit from Reddit looks like DevFeed: [What a visit from Reddit looks like]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Graham King Published: 2014-11-04T04:58:30Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Graham King]() Topics: [Reddit](), [nginx](), [WordPress](), [free software](), [Linode](), [Open Source](), [cpu](), [MySQL](), [Network](), [PHP](), [C]() Tags: [c](), [cpu](), [ipv4](), [ipv6](), [linode](), [mysql](), [nginx](), [open-source](), [performance](), [reddit](), [society](), [wordpress]() ### AI overview The article describes how a credit card generator handled a surge of traffic after appearing on Reddit's front page. It attributes the site's responsiveness to a stack including WordPress, Apache, nginx, MySQL, PHP, Linode hosting, and custom C software, while noting that the traffic produced few returning users. ### Source excerpt Surviving the Reddit hug of death: A tech tale of triumph. ## Intellectual Property: Ideology vs Practicality DevFeed: [Intellectual Property: Ideology vs Practicality]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2013-12-14T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Front Page on ReactOS Website]() Topics: [GNU General Public License](), [free software](), [Code](), [Software]() Tags: [apache](), [cost](), [free](), [free-software](), [intellectual-property](), [open-source](), [os](), [react](), [reactos](), [reuse](), [source](), [win32](), [winapi]() ### AI overview The article argues that the GPL's ideological goal of preserving users' rights to modify and extend software also creates obligations for developers who reuse GPL-licensed code. It contends that the resulting source-disclosure burden can make developing a separate solution or choosing a more permissive license such as Apache or BSD more practical. ### Source excerpt The thing that people need to keep in mind when discussing the GPL is that it was created to achieve an ideological and political goal, namely that users of software should have the right to modify and extend the software as they see fit. To achieve this goal, the GPL seeks to ensure that the source code is always available and that reusing the source code in question comes without any restrictions save for what the GPL itself imposes in order to ensure this " ## Intellectual Property: Fundamentals DevFeed: [Intellectual Property: Fundamentals]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2013-11-15T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Front Page on ReactOS Website]() Topics: [GNU General Public License](), [free software](), [Open Source](), [ReactOS]() Tags: [free](), [free-software](), [intellectual-property](), [open-source](), [opinion](), [os](), [react](), [reactos](), [win32](), [winapi]() ### AI overview The article explains common misunderstandings about intellectual property, focusing on how the GNU General Public License applies to free software and open-source projects. It discusses source-code access, GPLv2 and GPLv3 provisions, relicensing, and when software constitutes a derived work, with ReactOS as context. ### Source excerpt Intellectual property is something way too many people like to talk about without actually understanding the nuances of the laws supporting them. While I could easily go on and on about these misconceptions, I'll focus primarily on those that relate to free software and open source, of which there are plenty. Some of the more prominent ones include incorrectly claiming what is and what is not a GNU Public License (GPL) violation and the notion that companies should " ## Licensing Your Software DevFeed: [Licensing Your Software]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2011-07-01T00:00:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Radek Pazdera]() Topics: [Software](), [Open Source](), [free software](), [coding]() Tags: [copyright](), [free-software](), [open-source](), [software](), [software-license]() ### AI overview A practical overview of software licensing options, including public domain, open source licenses, and free software licenses. It explains how these approaches affect users' rights to use, modify, copy, redistribute, and publish changes to software. ### Source excerpt I build software products and write on the Internet. ## Emacs and PostgreSQL DevFeed: [Emacs and PostgreSQL]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2010-07-22T07:30:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [PostgreSQL](), [Open Source](), [free software](), [Code review]() Tags: [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [free-software](), [open-source](), [postgresql](), [stored-procedures]() ### AI overview An opinion piece compares Emacs and PostgreSQL, highlighting their documentation, extensibility, and ability to be modified while running. It also introduces an Emacs linum-mode extension for displaying PostgreSQL-calculated line numbers in PL/pgSQL files. ### Source excerpt Those are my two all times favorite Open Source Software. Or Free Software in the GNU sense of the world, as both the BSD and the GPL are labeled free there. Even if I prefer the The Debian Free Software Guidelines as a global definition and the WTFPL license. But that's a digression. I think that Emacs and PostgreSQL do share a lot in common. I'd begin with the documentation, which quality is amazing for both projects. Then of course the extensibility with Emacs Lisp on the one hand and catalog-driven operations on the other hand. Whether you're extending Emacs or PostgreSQL you'll find that it's pretty easy to tweak the system while it's running. The other comparison points are less important, like the fact the both the systems get about the same uptime on my laptop (currently 13 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, 10 seconds). ## ReactOS Enters Les Trophees du Libre and Announces Developer Changes DevFeed: [ReactOS Enters Les Trophees du Libre and Announces Developer Changes]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2007-10-22T00:00:00Z Content type: news Language: en Sources: [Front Page on ReactOS Website]() Topics: [ReactOS](), [Software](), [free software]() Tags: [architecture](), [competition](), [compilation](), [configure](), [developers](), [free](), [free-software](), [open-source](), [os](), [projects](), [react](), [reactos](), [software](), [win32](), [winapi]() ### AI overview ReactOS enters the Les Trophees du Libre free-software contest in the science category, while the newsletter announces a returning developer and two new contributors working on drivers, svchost, the memory manager, and the rbuild build system. ### Source excerpt Les Trophees du Libre Les Trophees du Libre is a contest for free software, divided into six categories. ReactOS has entered the contest, in the science category. At first glance that might seem odd, but LinuxBIOS is also in that category. However, it's not LinuxBIOS we should be worried about. The competition from the other projects is going to be rough. We're facing mathematical libraries, pattern recognition, even bioinformatics. Still, with a grand prize of 3000 euros, it's definitely worth a shot. ## Timestream: Where does the time go ? DevFeed: [Timestream: Where does the time go ?]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Graham King Published: 2006-04-10T21:08:47Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Graham King]() Topics: [Software](), [Web](), [free software](), [GNU General Public License]() Tags: [behaviour](), [free-software](), [software](), [summary](), [web]() ### AI overview The article presents Timestream, a free web-based tool for recording daily tasks and reviewing how time is spent. It states that the software is licensed under the GPL and notes that the service was closed as of February 2008. ### Source excerpt Closed