Free Software Supporter -- Issue 205, May 2025

May FSF40 challenge: Attend a LibreLocal meetup

Every month during our fortieth anniversary year, we're inviting free software supporters everywhere to join us in celebrating #FSF40. For this month's challenge, we're encouraging you to participate in LibreLocal month by attending a meetup near you (even if it's just you and one other person). If you can't take part in this #FSF40Challenge, fear not -- we've got seven more coming.

If you feel comfortable disclosing which meetup you're attending, tag #FSF40 on social media and let us know!

Have an idea for a challenge? Send us a message at campaigns@fsf.org!

Instead of hosting a single LibrePlanet conference, we're making 2025 a libre year! Check back often for more details about what we're doing to honor forty years of fighting for user freedom.

The FSF is looking for summer interns

The application period for summer interns at the FSF is now open! If you are a student and interested in supporting #FreeSoftware, consider applying for an FSF internship by the May 15th deadline: https://u.fsf.org/internships.

More than fifteen free software socials to be held globally

From April 15

In January, the FSF launched a call to organize local community meetups and claimed the month of May as LibreLocal Month. Since the publication of this article, a total of seventeen LibreLocal events have been announced with more forthcoming. These events will be held in multiple countries with the help of the FSF, with the majority happening in May. Everyone interested in free (libre) software is invited to participate, regardless of prior experience with free software. LibreLocal Month is one of the organization's initiatives for the free software community to participate in celebrating its fortieth anniversary.

• https://www.fsf.org/news/fifteen-librelocal-meetups-announced

FSF to hold free software hackathon in honor of its fortieth anniversary

From April 29

Since announcing festivities for its fortieth celebration, the FSF has hinted at hosting a hackathon. These plans have now been confirmed and the FSF is looking for projects to participate in the online November hackathon! As of now, GNU Guix, GNU Boot, MediaGoblin, and the Free Software Directory have announced that they will submit a project. The hackathon is open to everyone, regardless of programming skill level, and is focused on making small but measurable improvements to free software. If you're interested in participating, review the hackathon guidelines and submit your project through the web form in the article below.

• https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf40-hackathon

Free Software Foundation completes its board member review

From April 30

At the most recent FSF board meeting, the FSF board completed the review and re-confirmation of five sitting board members. This latest governance improvement milestone puts the FSF very close to fulfilling its promises made to the free software community four years ago. Read on for more information on this most recent part of the board process.

• https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-board-member-review-completed

US Social Security Administration reverses freedom-impeding identity verification policy

From April 17

In mid-March, the US Social Security Administration (SSA) announced an end to completing any processes that require proof of identity over the phone. Had this policy rolled out as originally planned, it would have forced people eligible for social security to choose between traveling to a possibly distant SSA office or running nonfree JavaScript. Everyone eligible for social security ought to be able to claim the benefits that belong to them in freedom, and they deserve to claim these benefits with ease. If you'd like to advocate for claiming social security benefits in freedom, check out and modify our script to the SSA.

• https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/us-social-security-administration-reverses-freedom-impeding-id-policy

Interview with Mia Bajić

From April 10

In the FSF's most recent edition of its Working Together series, program manager Miriam Bastian interviewed Mia Bajić, a software engineer with a passion for building communities. Mia is mainly active in the European Python community. In the interview, Mia talked about her experience organizing events for the Python community in Prague and in the European Union as a whole. You can learn more about Mia's role in organizing the Python community and advice she has for other community organizers below.

• https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/interview-with-mia-bajic

Restrictions on our freedom to study software: A legal case study from Poland

From April 7 by Free Software Foundation Europe

Software is a major component of modern life, not just in the computers we use for work and hobbies but also in our transportation machines. With software that runs in our cars and trains, the ability to control that technology becomes not only a matter of justice, but also public safety. While the need for free software in transportation is quite clear to free software advocates, it is less so in many legal systems, some of which even work against user freedom. Below you can read about a recent court case in Poland which highlights how the law can work against both user freedom and public safety.

• https://fsfe.org/news/2025/news-20250407-01.en.html

Google will stop supporting early Nest thermostats on October 25

From April 25 by Ryan Whitwam

An expiration date for a loaf of bread is expected (and appreciated), but what about an expiration date for a device that's still working perfectly? Beginning October 25, 2025, Google will cease support for devices built and sold prior to Google ownership of Nest thermostat in the Nest and Home apps, effectively transforming them into regular dumb thermostats. When a device relies on proprietary software to run, there is no guarantee that the software provider may decide at some point to stop maintaining the software or even sell it to another organization, as was the case for Nest Labs Inc. in 2014. If free software had been used in Nest devices, users could write updates themselves (or ask someone else to). You can learn more about what the lack of freedom and control over older Nest thermostats means in the article below.

• https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/google-ending-support-for-older-nest-thermostats-will-stop-selling-nests-in-europe/
• https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2024/fall/what-abandonware-teaches-us-about-the-importance-of-software-freedom

Microsoft Copilot shows up even when it's not wanted

From April 18 by Thomas Claburn

Vampires aren't just found in movies but also in proprietary software. According to recent reports, Microsoft's Copilot keeps rising from the dead, no matter how many times some users have tried to turn off the program. This issue of being unable to turn off a machine learning program (and keep it from using your work and information without your consent) is alarming. It is also but one of many freedom-related problems with proprietary operating systems like Windows. Microsoft claims this is a bug (which it very well could be), but the simple fact remains that a computer with Windows installed cannot be controlled by its user. If you or someone you know has Windows installed and is frustrated by the blatant disrespect shown by Microsoft for its users and freedom, now might be a good time to look into a free operating system.

• https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/18/microsoft_copilot_not_wanted/
  
• https://www.fsf.org/windows/upgrade-from-windows

The European Commission wants a backdoor for end-to-end encryption for law enforcement

From April 2 by Ellen Jennings-Trace

At the very end of March, the European Commission unveiled a security strategy (ProtectEU) that would involve leaving open a backdoor to encrypted data for law enforcement. While it can't be said how accurate the EU Commission's claims of "guarantee[ed] security for its citizens," we can say with adequate certainty that it will rip away freedom from millions and likely put individual security and privacy in danger as well. No level of security, even a guarantee, is worth trading for freedom. This policy, which would mostly affect EU residents, is a dangerous precedent for democratic nations. We recommend staying informed about EU Commission steps around this prospective policy.

• https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/the-european-commission-wants-a-backdoor-for-end-to-end-encryptions-for-law-enforcement
• https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_920

April GNU Emacs news

From April 30 by Sacha Chua

In these issues: configuring language servers dynamically, maintaining Emacs histories, and more!

• 2025-04-28
  
• 2025-04-21
  
• 2025-04-14
  
• 2025-04-07
  

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 Libera.Chat and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Libera.Chat is accessible from any IRC client -- Everyone's welcome!

The next meeting is Friday, May 2 from 12:00 to 15:00 EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC). Details here: https://www.fsf.org/events/fsd-2025-05-02

• https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page

LibrePlanet featured resource: Making money as a libre software programmer

Every month on the LibrePlanet wiki, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.

For this month, we are highlighting the making money as a libre software programmer page. This page covers some ways that you can make money while respecting user freedom, including case studies that exemplify each business model. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.

• https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Making_money_as_a_libre_software_programmer

Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at campaigns@fsf.org.

April GNU Spotlight with Amin Bandali: Twenty-one new GNU releases!

Twenty-one new GNU releases in the last month (as of April 30, 2025):

• bash-5.3-rc1
• chess-6.2.11
• coreutils-9.7
• datamash-1.9
• diffutils-3.12
• electric-9.08
• gawk-5.3.2
• gcc-15.1.0
• gcl-2.7.1
• gdb-16.3
• gnunet-0.24.1
• gperf-3.3
• grep-3.12
• gzip-1.14
• libsigsegv-2.15
• nano-8.4
• parallel-20250422
• r-4.5.0
• readline-8.3-rc1
• shepherd-1.0.4
• unifont-16.0.03

For a full list with descriptions, please see: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/2025-april-gnu-spotlight-with-amin-bandali

For announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu.

To download: nearly all GNU software is available most reliably from https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/. Optionally, you may find faster download speeds at a mirror located geographically closer to you by choosing from the list of mirrors published at https://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html, or you may use https://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ 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 https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html.

If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like to offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, see https://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html.

As always, please feel free to write to me, bandali@gnu.org, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.

FSF and other free software events

• May, 2025 in-person worldwide and online, LibreLocal month
  
• May 1, 2025, META SPACE Coffee & Bar, Beijing, China Community meetup
  
• May 1, 2025, Chennai, India Community meetup
  
• May 1, 2025, J a Cafe, Shanghai, China Community meetup
• May 2, 2025, Artisan's Asylum, Boston, Massachusetts Community meetup
• May 3, 2025, Carnegie Public Library, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Community meetup
• May 3, 2025, Tunis, Tunisia Community meetup
• May 4, 2025, Lviv, Ukraine Community meetup
• May 5, 2025, Online, Turkey Community meetup
  
• May 7, 2025, Witzenhausen, Germany Community meetup
• May 8-9, 2025, Shiraz, Iran Community meetup
  
• May 10, 2025, Livermore Public Library, Livermore, California Community meetup
  
• May 10, 2025, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain Community meetup
• May 12, 2025, Victory Cafe, Toronto, Canada Community meetup
  
• May 17, 2025, Le Blanc, France Community meetup
  
• May 17, 2025, Hellenic IT Museum, Athens, Greece Community meetup
• May 17, 2025, Bitwäscherei, Zurich, Switzerland Community meetup
  
• May 23, 2025, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece Community meetup
  
• May 29, 2025, Warsaw, Poland Community meetup
• June 5-8, 2025, Vienna House by Wyndham Andel's Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Flock to Fedora
  
• June 11-13, 2025, Deusto University: Bilbao Campus, Bilbao, Spain SECRYPT
  
• June 13-15, 2025, Sheraton Charlotte Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina SouthEast LinuxFest
  
• June 20-22, 2025, Lloyd Center Mall, Portland, Oregon Teardown
  
• June 23-25, 2025, Denver, Colorado OSSNA
  
• August 4-September 7, 2025, online FSF Free Software Every Day photo contest (details to be announced)
  
• August 15-17, 2025, Queens, New York HOPE
  
• November, 2025, FSF hackathon (details to be announced)
  
• October 3-4, 2025, University of Texas, Austin, Texas Texus Linux Festival
• October 4, 2025, FSF40 celebration (details to be announced)
  
• October 4, 2025, FSF40 trivia night (details to be announced)
  
• October 4, 2025, Harbin, China Community meetup
  

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.

• https://www.gnu.org/thankgnus/2025supporters.html

This month, a big Thank GNU to:

• Edward Flick
  
• Joseph Pingenot
  
• Katherine Brady
• Meng Guang
  
• Pedro Bueno
  
• Raffael Stocker
  
• Szymon Ruta
  

You can add your name to this list by donating at https://donate.fsf.org/.

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:

• Jacinto Roi Martin Pequeño (GNU emacs)

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

• https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#dev

Translations of the Free Software Supporter

El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aquí: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2025/mayo

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Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la version française cliquez ici: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2025/mai

Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici: https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?reset=1&gid=34&id={contact.contact_id}&{contact.checksum}

If you no longer wish to receive the Free Software Supporter in English (but still receive other communications in English), you can opt out here.

Take action with the FSF!

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I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! https://my.fsf.org/join

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Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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