Org Mode, GNU Guix, Mattermost, and more projects to participate in the FSF's hackathon
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Having campaigned for software freedom for forty years now, the FSF is celebrating its anniversary with different festivities throughout 2025. One of these events is a virtual hackathon to help improve important libre software projects.
Hackathons are fun events that bring together people with different levels of expertise to work on project contributions, solve a specific problem, or work towards a particular milestone. While hackathons evolved in programming spaces, the term "hacking" is much broader than just programming and can describe playful and clever exploration and problem-solving in any field.
The FSF40 hackathon will be centered around important GNU software like Org Mode, GNU Guix, and GNU Boot, with plenty of tasks for both developers and non-programmers. This hackathon will also feature some less-known but remarkable projects, like an interactive platform to learn African writing systems called Lewa, and Don't track bugs: track valuable discussions, a tool for helping contributors track bugs, patches, feature requests, and other valuable discussions shared on mailing lists.
Participating projects
Here is the list of projects so far that have declared that they will participate in the FSF40 hackathon:
- Don't track bugs: track valuable discussions, a tool to help
contributors track bugs, patches, featured requests, and other
valuable discussions shared on mailing lists;
- The Free Software Directory, the FSF's free software catalog;
- GNU Boot, a boot software distribution that can replace nonfree boot software like BIOS or UEFI on specific computers;
- GNU Guix, a reproducible package manager;
- Lewa, an interactive platform to learn African writing systems;
- LibreVR, a project working on ethical replacements for nonfree VR games;
- op-mattermost, OpenProject integration for Mattermost; and
- Org Mode, the notes management and organizer for GNU Emacs.
The FSF's executive director, Zoë Kooyman, is pleased to see important free software projects participate in the hackathon. She said when asked about the submissions: "We would like to thank all the maintainers who keep these projects running, oftentimes by committing a large portion of their free time to the development of these programs. We look forward to working on these projects together during the hackathon." Greg Farough, the FSF's campaigns manager, added: "With this hackathon, we want to spotlight the indispensable and hard work free software hackers are carrying out in the background, often without being seen and valued enough."
Program manager Miriam Bastian emphasized that hackathon participants do not need to be developers, since there will be tasks for all kinds of interests and every experience level. In addition to advancing the participating projects, the goal of this hackathon is also for participants to learn from each other, acquire skills, and sharpen them. Adding entries to the Free Software Directory, for example, is a dedicated exercise to deepen the understanding of licenses and how to codify software freedom. GNU Boot and op-mattermost are actively looking for non-developers to help write and improve documentation that can be understood by anyone. Bastian concluded: "We hope to draw in a wide range of people including non-programmers, experienced hackers, seasoned free software advocates, and proprietary software developers who want to get involved in libre software."
If you have any of the following skills, your experience could be very
helpful for the following hackathon projects:
- Basic knowledge of JavaScript, Node.js, Mocka, Chai, and Sinon is
ideal for op-mattermost;
- Basic Python and web development skills for Lewa;
- Emacs Lisp hacking experience for Org Mode; and
- Understanding of DIY hardware, which is welcome but not necessary for LibreVR.
Participation
Today, the FSF also opened general registration for hackathon attendees. You can register here to participate in the virtual FSF40 hackathon.
Attendees may participate either as individuals in the hackathon or as
teams consisting of up to four members. To team up, people can state
in the Libera.chat IRC channel #fsf-hackathon that they are looking
for fellow members to work on one of the projects together.
Upon registration, attendees will be asked to share their preference whether they would rather participate as individuals or with a team, and to specify one or two projects they would like to contribute to during the hackathon.
Registration is gratis, but donations are encouraged and will support the FSF's work as well as the GNU operating system, which the FSF sponsors. You can also choose to donate to GNU Guix through the FSF's Working Together for Free Software Fund.
There will be prizes awarded to participants who have not contributed to a free software package before and a team that includes at least one new free software contributor, as well as for diverse and inclusive teams. On top of these prizes, a jury will award a prize for the most impactful contribution made during the hackathon.
The FSF also announced that it will hand out certificates that acknowledge the work of each hacker during the hackathon. These certificates can serve as a valuable reference for job applications.
The FSF encourages contributions to free software projects any time but points out in the hackathon terms and conditions that only work accomplished between November 21, 10:00 EST (15:00 UTC) and November 23, 10:00 EST (15:00 UTC) will be considered for the awards. Those who will need to work on submissions in shifted timezones can request an exception upon registration.
Any code that is part of a hackathon contribution must be free software and may only be produced with free software.
Sponsoring
Companies and organizations can raise their profile among hackathon participants and present their brand to the more than two million annual unique web visitors on fsf.org by sponsoring the event. Sponsorship and underwriting opportunities can be found in the FSF40 sponsorship prospectus or in the informational flyer.
Volunteering
The FSF is looking for volunteers who will moderate the hackathon channels. Those interested can email resources@fsf.org.
Share the word
You can share the word about the FSF40 hackathon using #HackFSF40 on your favorite microblogging platform. Invite your friends and family to join you for the event.
FSF40
The hackathon is just one of many initiatives around the fortieth anniversary of the FSF. Learn what else is happening during the anniversary year on fsf.org/fsf40.
About the Free Software Foundation
The FSF, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software — particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants — and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its websites, located at https://www.fsf.org and https://www.gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org; the organization is currently running its spring campaign to raise funds. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
MEDIA CONTACT
Miriam Bastian
Program Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org
"Hackers at Junction 2015" © 2015 by Vmuru. This image is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
