In Ubuntu 25.10 will Canonical die grundlegenden Kommandozeilenwerkzeuge wie „ls“ oder „cp“ gegen eine Neuimplementierung in Rust austauschen.

In Ubuntu 25.10 will Canonical die grundlegenden Kommandozeilenwerkzeuge wie „ls“ oder „cp“ gegen eine Neuimplementierung in Rust austauschen.

Einrichtung eines Tor Relays auf einem Debian VPS.

FSFE-Fachtag: Public Money? Public Code! in der Praxis

Freie Software ist für Behörden unverzichtbar, um Abhängigkeiten zu überwinden und technologische Souveränität zu erreichen. Das Gebot der Stunde heißt daher „Public Money? Public Code!“ Der Fachtag der Free Software Foundation Europe in Essen am 08.04.2025 eröffnet praktische Perspektiven, wie Verwaltungen in Deutschland in diese Richtung vorangehen können.

Gemeinsam mit Vertreterinnen und Vertretern aus Politik, öffentlicher Verwaltung, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Zivilgesellschaft wollen wir diskutieren, welche Vorteile Freie Software für öffentliche Institutionen auf Kommunal-, Landes- und Bundesebene bringt und welche Herausforderungen sich auf diesem Weg stellen. Der Schwerpunkt wird dabei auf dem Einsatz Freier Software in Kommunen liegen: Wo gibt es schon heute Best Practices, und was lässt sich daraus lernen? Wie kann kommunale Free-Software-Governance aussehen? Welche Möglichkeiten der Kollaboration eröffnen sich durch Freie Software? Was ist bei der Vergabe zu beachten?

Der Fachtag „Public Money? Public Code! in der Praxis“ ist ein Angebot der Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). Er richtet sich vorwiegend an Entscheidungsträgerinnen, Beschaffer und Multiplikatorinnen aus öffentlichen Verwaltungen in Deutschland sowie an Menschen, die in ihrem Arbeitsalltag mit Verwaltungsdigitalisierung befasst sind.

Die Veranstaltung findet in deutscher Sprache statt. Die Teilnahme ist kostenlos, eine Online-Anmeldung ist jedoch erforderlich (Anmeldeschluss 23.03.2025). Die Zahl der Teilnehmenden ist begrenzt, eine Teilnahmebestätigung verschicken wir bis zum 25.03.2025. Es gilt der Code of Conduct der FSFE.

Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Anmeldung!

Veranstaltungsdaten und Anmeldung

Datum: 08 April 2025 Einlass: 10:00 Uhr Fachtag: 11:00 - 16:00 Uhr Ort: Unperfekthaus, Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 18-20, 45127 Essen Online-Anmeldung: https://registration.fsfe.org/publiccode-fachtag

Programm

10:00 – Anmeldung und Kennenlernen

11:00 –Begrüßung Johannes Näder / Alexander Sander (FSFE)

11:10 – Digitale Souveränität als Staatsaufgabe Jutta Horstmann (Zentrum Digitale Souveränität, ZenDiS)

11:40 – Eine Stadt gestaltet den Wandel: “Public Money? Public Code!” in der Praxis Christian Nähle (Do-FOSS)

12:00 – Freie-Software-Governance in Kommunen Marc Groß (KGSt)

12:20 – Gute Freie-Software-Beschaffung durch klare Kriterien Bianca Kastl (Stadt Frankfurt am Main)

12:40 – Freie Software erfolgreich beschaffen: Stolpersteine vermeiden, Chancen nutzen! Panel: Johanna Gramlich (FITKO), Jutta Horstmann, Bianca KastlModeration: Alexander Sander (FSFE)

13:15 – Mittagspause

14:15 – Freie Software in der Verwaltung: Was braucht es für den Erfolg? N.N.

14:35 – openCode – die Infrastruktur für digitale Souveränität Leonhard Kugler (ZenDiS)

14:55 – Verwaltung, Zivilgesellschaft, Community: Kollaboration als ErfolgsmodellSimon Strohmenger (CONSUL)

15:15 – Öffentlicher Code braucht öffentliches Geld: Tech-Souveränität nachhaltig sichern Panel: N.N., Lea Beiermann (ZenDiS), Christian Nähle, Simon StrohmengerModeration: Johannes Näder (FSFE)

16:00 – Kaffee und Networking

17:00 – Veranstaltungsende

Free Software and "Public Money? Public Code!"

Freie Software gibt allen das Recht, Programme für jeden Zweck zu verwenden, zu verstehen, zu verbreiten und zu verbessern. Durch diese Freiheiten müssen ähnliche Programme nicht komplett neu programmiert werden und dank transparenter Prozesse muss das Rad nicht ständig neu erfunden werden. Bei großen Projekten können Expertise und Kosten geteilt werden und Anwendungen stehen allen zur Verfügung. So wird Innovation gefördert und mittel- bis langfristig Steuergeld gespart. Abhängigkeiten von einzelnen Anbieterinnen werden minimiert und Sicherheitslücken können leichter geschlossen werden. Die Free Software Foundation Europe fordert daher mit über 200 Organisation und Verwaltungen „Public Money? Public Code!“ - Wenn es sich um öffentliche Gelder handelt, sollte auch der Code öffentlich sein! Mehr Informationen zur Initiative sind auf der „Public Money? Public Code!" Website zu finden.

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DMA & Free Software: what Free Software organisations need to know

On 24 March the FSFE will conduct an online Q&A session about the Digital Markets Act and its importance for representatives of Free Software organisations. The DMA was designed to limit the power of the "gatekeepers" and boost fairer digital markets. But what does its enforcement mean for Free Software? Join us for this strategic discussion.

Understanding the DMA’s impact on Free Software

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is the European Union’s regulation to promote fair competition in the digital markets. The law applies to large tech companies exercising “gatekeeper control” in the EU. The DMA imposes on such companies several obligations, like allowing the right to install and uninstall software in devices, prohibition of non-removable pre-installed software, enabling third-party app stores, and access rights via interoperability with software and hardware functions.

This event is specifically designed for members and representatives of Free Software organizations to discuss the opportunities the DMA creates for Free Software, such as enabling alternative app stores, side-loading of applications, and improved interoperability policies.

Additionally, the event will serve as a platform for discussing FSFE’s legal efforts, specifically regarding its litigation against Apple at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with FSFE experts, ask questions, and explore how their organizations can support and benefit from the DMA’s implementation.

Speakers:

• Lucas Lasota, FSFE Legal Programme Manager
• Jithendra Palepu, Independent Researcher. Volunteer in the FSFE’s legal area

Details:

• When: 24 March 2025, 17:30 (CET)
• Where: FSFE’s online instance

To attend this online event, registration is required. Please fill this form out to register.

Device Neutrality

Although digital devices are ubiquitous today, the number of devices on which users cannot run Free Software is exponentially increasing. The consequence is a growing loss of control over users' technology. Device Neutrality aims to enable end-users to bypass gatekeepers to have a non-discriminatory use of Free Software on their devices.

In 2022, several components, part of the Device Neutrality concept, were included in the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Union's largest initiative to regulate gatekeepers in digital markets. Although the law contains the principles for making Device Neutrality a reality, its regulations concern only very large platforms. The DMA establishes obligations for gatekeepers - “dos” and “don'ts” they must comply with - and prescribes fines and penalties for infringements. The DMA encompasses several rules concerning Device Neutrality, including safeguarding the right to uninstall pre-installed software and several measures for preventing lock-in, as well as fostering interoperability and end-user control over personal data.

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Legal Corner+++ FOSDEM recap+++ Ada movie in Spanish

In the last few weeks we published our first Legal Corner article and the recordings of our talks at FOSDEM. We were happy to see pictures from the I Love Free Software Day celebrations and can't wait to meet you at CLT 2025! We are organising an online Q&A session about the DMA and Free Software. The Ada movie is finally available in Spanish!

Table of contents

• Quote of the Month
• Digital Markets Act and Free Software: FOSDEM keynote, Software Freedom podcast and online Q&A session
• Public Money, Public Code! symposium
• Legal Corner: MIA or Dead Contributors - Does It Matter For Your Software Project?
• From Ada’s Workshop: The Latest on Ada & Zangemann
• I Love Free Software Day 2025 celebrations
• FOSDEM 2025: Check out the videos from our talks and listen to our new podcast episode
• Chemnitzer Linux-Tage 2025: we will be there!
• Edulife partnership: one more year teaching Italian students about Free Software
• From our community!
• Contribute to our Newsletter

Quote of the Month

“In Volkswagen Group Spain Distribution we are committed to the development of STEM careers for the new generations. Diversity is especially important because it will ensure that the development of software has a more inclusive perspective and in this regard, "Ada & Zangemann" is a very inspirational book because it is completely aligned with the purpose of our company”

Ricardo Bacchini, People & Organization Director from Volkswagen Group Spain

Digital Markets Act and Free Software: FOSDEM keynote, Software Freedom podcast and online Q&A session

On 24 March 2025, the FSFE is organizing the ‘Online Q&A session – Digital Markets Act and Free Software: everything the Free Software community needs to know’. There we will present our efforts to ensure effective enforcement of the Digital Markets Act, with space for questions from the Free Software community. More info will be published soon, stay tuned!

Meanwhile, you can watch our colleague Lucas Lasota's keynote speech on this topic at FOSDEM 2025 under the title “How we are defending Software Freedom against Apple at the EU's highest court”. Apple is attempting to avoid obligations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and in this talk, we explained why this case is pivotal for Free Software in Europe and why we should all care.

If you want to know more about Free Software and the DMA, we suggest that you listen to episode 30 of our Software Freedom Podcast, where Bonnie Mehring talks with Marc Prud'hommeaux about the App Fair Project: an alternative iOS marketplace that exclusively distributes Free Software applications. The project's goal is to promote a more accessible and inclusive Free Software ecosystem in iOS.

Public Money, Public Code! symposium

On 8 April 2025, the FSFE is hosting a symposium on ‘Public Money? Public Code' in the practical work of public administrations. One focus will be on the use of Free Software in municipalities: What can best practices look like and where are local administrations already leading the way? What opportunities for collaboration are opened up by Free Software? What challenges arise when awarding contracts? What opportunities does the use of Free Software bring for public administrations?

The event will take place in Essen.

Legal Corner: MIA or Dead Contributors - Does It Matter For Your Software Project?

If your software project has multiple contributions, and a contributor becomes uncontactable or passes away, this can become an issue in certain situations. Here we discuss when a missing or deceased contributor affects your software project, and what options you have.

Check out our article on this topic!

This is the first article in a new series, "Legal Corner".

From Ada’s Workshop: The Latest on Ada & Zangemann

The movie Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream is now available in Spanish! Thanks to our donors, and especially Volkswagen Spain, you can now organize screenings of this inspiring animated story in your community also in Spanish. Help us to spread the word about the movie so in the future young people have the opportunity to tinker, experiment, and code with Free Software as the default.

Prefer a reading instead? The Spanish version of the story is also available in our Git repository.

I Love Free Software Day 2025 celebrations

Hidden projects was the topic of I Love Free Software Day 2025, a day to say thank you to Free Software contributors but also to celebrate, together, our awesome community and appreciate the work of developers, system administrators, translators, community moderators…

This year we had 19 meetings around Europe in our local communities in Albania, Austria, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK! Check out some pictures of the different events!

The hashtag #ilovefs was also a trend on the Fediverse! Thanks to everyone who participated in this day and also those who sent messages thanking Free Software projects!

FOSDEM 2025: Check out the videos from our talks and listen to our new podcast episode

Some occasions are too special to miss, like our February trip to FOSDEM, where we connected with the Free Software community. Even when things didn’t go as planned, it was an energizing boost against the winter blues. Thanks to everyone who joined our DevRooms, attended our talks including our keynote on the Apple litigation, came to our women breakfast, and stopped at the booth.

In our 31st episode of the Software Freedom Podcast, Alexander Sander and Bonnie Mehring discuss the highlights of the two Devrooms that the FSFE co-organized during FOSDEM 2025: the 'Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom' and the 'Funding the FOSS Ecosystem DevRoom'. Find out more about the topics discussed there and tips about what to re-watch.

Chemnitzer Linux-Tage 2025: we will be there!

Once again, we are participating in the Chemnitzer Linux - Tage that will take place on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March.

On Saturday at 12:00h., the FSFE's Technical Advisor Florian Snow will talk about "Open system, closed doors: Freedom in Banking" (room V5). At 15:00h., Tobias Diekershoff (FSFE System Administrator, Friendica developer) will explore the non-textual areas of the Fediverse (V5). On Sunday at 11:00h., Johannes Näder (FSFE Senior Policy Project Manager) will shed a light on openwashing, the practice of misleading consumers and public authorities by disguising proprietary software products as Free Software (V7)."Ada & Zangemann", the story about the girl Ada who loves to tinker and bravely stands up to the mighty inventor Zangemann, will play a prominent role at this year's CLT: The new animated film will be shown on Saturday and Sunday at 14:00 (W1), and a reading will take place on Saturday at 11:00 (Kinderparadies).We will also host a community meeting at the FSFE booth on Saturday at 12:30. If you're attending the CLT, be sure to stop by to learn about FSFE's current activities, get your copy of the Ada & Zangemann book, or get a new hoodie or shirt!

Edulife partnership: one more year teaching Italian students about Free Software

As part of the FSFE partnership with the Edulife Foundation, Italian students in the ITS Academy LAST project had the opportunity to learn about Free Software. During January and February the FSFE provided educational content covering legal aspects, policy, and public awareness, helping students gain a deeper understanding of Free Software and its significance.

Known as the “IT Free Software Knowledge Project”, this two-year partnership started in November 2023. As part of this academic program, the FSFE delivered educational content about Free Software, with a focus on Free Software legal issues, policy aspects and public awareness in the form of lectures. Besides, the students attended Free Software conferences, such as the SFSCon.

From our community

• There is no cloud, just other people's computers. The Dutch parliament realized this last year and expressed concern over the reliance on foreign IT services. In a recent report the Court of Audit concluded that the Dutch central government started using cloud services without thoroughly considering the implications and risks. The Netherlands local team, who contributed to the discussion participating in several meetings as a stakeholder, is closely following this topic

Contribute to our Newsletter

We would love to hear from you. If you have any thoughts, pictures, or news to share, please send them to us at newsletter@fsfe.org. You can also support us, contribute to our work, and join our community. We would like to thank our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible, with a special mention to our translators who make it possible for you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.

Your editor, Ana

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"I Love Free Software Day" 2025: Hidden Projects

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the I Love Free Software Day 2025. This year we marked this special day with 19 events in 11 different European countries. Even more, hundreds of people and many organisations joined us in the Fediverse - with a special "Thank you!" note for Free Software projects and contributors. To all who joined us this time: "Thank you" for participating in this 15th edition of the "I Love Free Software Day" ❤️❤️❤️!

In 2025 the FSFE and its local groups focused on hidden Free Software projects for the "I Love Free Software Day". Together with our local groups we wanted to raise awareness of all the hidden Free Software Projects that power our daily infrastructure. Free Software is everywhere and often it is the small projects that become a vital part of our lives - therefore we dedicated this "I Love Free Software Day" to all those projects that are not that prominent, so to shed some light on them ❤️

"I Love Free Software Day" Thank you message by Dario

I Love Free Software Day celebrations 2025

For this year the FSFE's local groups planned several events across Europe. There was a great variety of activities at the different events, also depending on the size of the gathering - there were events from around 10 people to nearly 200 people.

To help the FSFE's local groups with organising all the different events we created a toolkit. The toolkit includes hands on tips and tricks for organising and sharing your event, some presentations on Free Software and the 'I Love Free Software Day' as well as fun games to fill the evening. The kit was a great resource for the organisers to use the available material or to take it as an inspiration for their own material. With this preparation our local groups could get started with organising all the amazing events across Europe ❤️.

Clockwise, picture of Ada & Zangemann postcard" (CC-BY Marta), picture of 'I Love Free Software Day' celebration by FSFE local group Zurich (CC-BY-SA 4.0 FSFE-local-group-Zurich), picture of FSFE staffers playing SuperTuxKart together (CC-BY Matthias Kirschner), Sharepicture of Ana Galan with 'Thank you' message ( CC BY 4.0 Lisa Schmidt)"

New events and new local groups

Tiranë, Albania

For the first time "I Love Free Software Day 2025" was organised in Albania. This event kicked off with several presentations about different Free Software projects and ended with some snacks and drinks. It was a cosy get-together and a great start of 'I Love Free Software Day' celebrations in Albania.

"'I Love Free Software Day' celebration by Tiranë, Albania, CC BY-NC-SA-LibreLabs"

Poland - a local movement started

For several years our local group in Poland has not been active. But as the turn of 2025 approached, this changed. No fewer than three new local groups began celebrating ‘I Love Free Software Day’ in several Polish cities. Those celebrations and gatherings are the foundation of the new activity in the Polish local groups.

"'I Love Free Software Day' celebration by Poznań, Poland, CC0"

Nuremberg celebrations

Among our newest event locations also the FSFE people in Nuremberg started to plan a get together. Nuremberg has very strong Free and Open Source businesses. While SUSE was originally founded in the neighboring city of Fürth, there are now several other Free Software companies based in Nuremberg. Together the local FSFE people, NETWAYs, SUSE, openSUSE, the Geeko Foundation, OpenCloud and the useful check_systemd tool organised a great meeting. During the meeting all the local projects shared their ideas in different talks and it was a great chance to start networking with each other about Free Software. The celebrations were a great way to get in contact with each other and to form new alliances.

Italy and the local Linux User Groups

In 2024 we had a great event in the Italian town Bergamo, which was organised by the FSFE together with the local Linux user group, BGlug. For 2025 we had a re-launch of this event and also several new events across the country. From Bozen-Bolzano to Este, and including one event in Sicilia, which was attended by 180 students. All of those events were possible by the great support of the local Linux User groups and the local FSFE groups.

"'I Love Free Software Day' celebration by BGLug, Bergamo, Biblioteca Tiraboschi CC-BY Marta"

Luxembourg Ville

For the first time there was a local celebration in Luxembourg with Free Software enthusiasts. They shared some knowledge about Free Software, the 'I Love Free Software Day' and many more interesting topics. Through out the celebrations people connected and fortified their local Free Software movement.

"'I Love Free Software Day' celebration Barcelona, Spain, CC-BY Albert Astals Cid"

Next, to all our new events also several ones from the previous years were relaunched and it was a great pleasure to see the people again gathering in Potteries (UK), Nijmegen (Netherlands), Zurich (CH), Barcelona and Madrid in Spain, and the German local groups in Frankfurt and Berlin.

"'I Love Free Software Day' celebration by FSFE local group Zurich CC-BY-SA 4.0 FSFE-local-group-Zurich" "'I Love Free Software Day' celebration by FSFE Netherlands CC0"

Reaching out to the people behind Free Software: Thank you

Again, even though hundreds more non-Free Software enthusiasts have joined the Fediverse in recent years, the #ilovefs made it to the top most used hashtags on the 14th of February. For this, we want to say 'Thank you'! Thank you to all of you who shared their appreciation for Free Software and their gratitude to all free software contributors. There where a lot of great ways that people, projects and organisations took up to share their 'I Love Free Software Day' message in the Fediverse, highlighting some of the infrastructure Free Software projects, like the Internet archive. Even more, this year there were some several creative ways to share the love for Free Software. Take a look at this amazing song done by Musiqueando for the 'I Love Free Software Day: 2025'.

"@Musiqueando singing for the 'I Love Free Software Day'"

For the first time the German based Chaos Computer Club took part in the celebrations and shared a post (DE only) by Bonnie Mehring and Constanze Kurz on their famous CCC webpage. This lent a great visibility to the local groups celebrations. It is amazing to see how much this collaboration highlighted the importance of the day while reaching out to new people.

Brewster Kahle, founder of the Inter archive, and Matthias Kirschner, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, CC-BY Beatrice Murch

Additionally, for this ‘I Love Free Software Day’ Matthias Kirschner shared a notable recognition of Bram Moolenaar, creator of the Vim text editor. Vim, is a widely recognised and esteemed editor, which is used on countless systems. The work of Bram Moolenaar has played a crucial role in the software freedom movement. Following his passing in 2023, the continued development of Vim by the community ensures that his legacy remains influential – Thank you to all contributors.

"I Love Free Software Day" Thank you message by Matthias to Vim editor, CC-BY-SA 4.0 NOI

Software Freedom Podcast episode with Marc Prud'hommeaux

Of course also for the 2025 celebrations the FSFE recorded a new Software Freedom Podcast episode. For our 30th episode Bonnie Mehring sat down with Marc Prud'hommeaux and discussed the The App Fair Project. Together at FOSDEM they searched and found a quite area to sit down and have a chat about the project, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and how to further level the playing field for Free Software. Take a few moments and listen to our Software Freedom Podcast episode.

Thank you for joining this year's “I Love Free Software” celebrations ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

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SFP#31: Policy and EU: FOSDEM recap

In our 31st episode of the Software Freedom Podcast, Alexander Sander and Bonnie Mehring discuss the highlights of the two Devrooms that the FSFE co-organized during FOSDEM 2025: the 'Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom' and the 'Funding the FOSS Ecosystem DevRoom'. Find out more about the topics discussed there and tips about what to re-watch.

FOSDEM is always a great experience and it is amazing to see how the hard work in organising talks, panels and discussions pays off. Once again the FSFE team, including Alex and Bonnie, had a fantastic time at what continues to be a place to be.

The Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom focuses on current EU and US legislation, and this year with a strong focused on the implementation of the Cyber Resiliance Act. This dedicated DevRoom provided the chance to discuss the worries and thoughts that are raised in the community. It was amazing to see how the DevRoom turned once again into a networking space and provided a source of feedback loop to get in touch with the local Free Software communities and advocates.

On the other hand the Funding the FOSS Ecosystem DevRoom started a new network for all people involved in funding of FOSS projects to connect and share resources. This turn out is really inspiring and a great way to get new discussions started, to learn from each other and to share knowledge - just what Free Software is at is core a great community with four freedoms, to use, study, share and improve. ❤️

This is the perfect episode for everybody who missed FOSDEM or wants to keep the spirit of networking and staying in touch alive for a few more moments!

Show notes

• Recordings from the Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom
• Recording from Funding the FOSS Ecosystem DevRoom
• Get in touch with Alexander Sander
• The FSFE calls for broader interoperability by Apple under the DMA
• Stay up-to-date and join our Newsletter
• Support our work for Free Software

If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for software freedom, please help us with a donation.

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FOSDEM: Celebrating 25 years of community and Free Software

Some ocassions are too special to miss, like the FSFE February trip to FOSDEM, where we connected with the Free Software community. Even when things don’t go as planned, it was an energizing boost against the winter blues. Thanks to everyone who joined our DevRooms, attended our talks including our keynote on the Apple litigation, came to our women's breakfast, and stopped at the booth. Your support means a lot!

This year, we didn’t start FOSDEM on the right foot, as all our merchandise and info materials got lost. But once again, FOSDEM didn’t disappoint! It was great to see you, listen to inspiring talks, engage in discussions around our booth, and spend time together in the evenings.

For FOSDEM 2025, we had a packed agenda: beyond attending many interesting talks, we organized two DevRooms, hosted several talks and a workshop, and were present in many other DevRooms around FOSDEM. We even arranged an informal women’s breakfast. Not to mention our booth, where our staff and volunteers spent two days explaining our work and answering your questions. Unfortunately, we couldn’t show you our great merchandise in person, but you can check it out and order online!

The Legal & Policy Issues DevRoom, which we’ve co-organized for the past five years, took place on Saturday, this time spanning a full day. As always, it was a popular DevRoom, and we’re happy to report that the room was packed throughout the day. Thank you for attending and showing such strong interest in these crucial topics! We look forward to seeing you and our co-organizers again next year for the 14th edition of this very important DevRoom.

If you don’t have time to watch all our DevRoom talks but are interested in the Digital Markets Act (DMA), we highly recommend watching the talk on the App Fair project’s perspective on the DMA, as well as the panel discussion that followed. This session explored the current status of the DMA implementation in Europe and featured the participation of European Commission representatives.

A session not to be missed was led by Tobias Diekershoff, FSFE’s System Hacker and a core developer of the Friendica project, alongside Michael Vogel, another core member of the Friendica development team. They provided a concise introduction to Friendica. Together they highlighted its unique features and how it differs from other systems.

After a packed first day, we kicked off Sunday "on the right bite" with our women’s breakfast. Over the past 25 years of FOSDEM, we’ve seen our community grow increasingly diverse (👏), fostering a more inclusive and welcoming space for everyone! Our breakfast offered a dedicated moment for women* to connect and network away from the bustling conference corridors. Thanks to everyone who attended, and if you’re interested, remember that you can join our FSFE Women group.

FOSDEM is also a great place to tinker and learn new skills. On Sunday morning, our former working student—now volunteer—Darragh Elliot organized the “FSFE Upcycling Android Workshop” with assistance from our volunteer Max Schlüter and System Hacker Tobias Diekershoff.

If you love to tinker and are between 14 and 18 years old, check out Bonnie Mehring’s talk about Youth Hacking 4 Freedom. The fourth edition of this competition is now open for registration, inviting European teenagers to showcase their creativity and programming skills. Participants will have the opportunity to bring their project ideas to life.

The past 25 editions of FOSDEM have shown us that Free Software thrives thanks to a strong community and the dedication of developers and maintainers. However, ensuring the longevity and security of FOSS projects requires sustainable funding models. That’s why the FSFE helped organize the Funding the FOSS Ecosystem devroom, a track that debuted this year on Sunday.

We closed our FOSDEM 2025 participation in style with a keynote by Lucas Lasota on “How we are defending Software Freedom against Apple at the EU's highest court”. Apple is attempting to avoid obligations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and in this talk, we explained why this case is pivotal for Free Software in Europe and why we should all care.

As we wrap up another unforgettable FOSDEM, remember that you can watch all the talks on the FOSDEM website. From engaging discussions and interesting talks to valuable networking moments, FOSDEM 2025 was a weekend to remember and to share the strength and passion of our movement. Thank you to everyone who joined us! We can’t wait to see you again next year for another inspiring edition!

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Legal Corner: MIA or Dead Contributors - Does It Matter For Your Software Project?

If your software project operates on multiple contributions, and a contributor becomes uncontactable or passes away, this can become an issue in certain situations. Here we’ll discuss when a missing or deceased contributor affects your software project, and what options you have.

Which contributions are copyrightable?

Before anything, when is a contribution copyrightable in the first place? Commonly, software projects that are hosted on popular hosting websites, such as GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket etc, often encompass contributions by multiple contributors. Nevertheless, as only “creative works” can be copyrighted, the extent to which the contribution can be regarded as a “creative work” can be a bit tricky to ascertain. The length of the contribution does not matter because short contributions can also be creative.

Primarily, anything that is accepted as a change into the source code, and modifies the source code can constitute a creative work that is copyrightable. This is the case even if they are minor or small changes; even single line bug fixes with a creative scope is a contribution that falls into this category.

On the other hand, non-source code contributions, such as translations, documentation, or configuration files can be commonly made available in the public domain, or even regarded as insignificant changes outside of the scope of the applicable Free Software license. Nevertheless, to err on the side of caution, the safest approach is to assume whenever in doubt that a contribution is a copyrightable contribution, and act accordingly.

When do you need to get in contact with a contributor?

Generally, you would need to get in touch with a contributor to your project whenever you wish to enact some kind of major change to the overall project. The most common situation for this would be where a project runner intends to re-license the project.

If you need to make such a change, your first step should be to compile a list of all contributions that are copyrightable, as well as their respective contributors. You should then obtain consent for all copyrightable contributions, including those of deceased or otherwise uncontactable contributors.

The reason that you need to do this is that software enjoys copyright protection from the instant that is created. This means that a contributor by default has copyright over their contribution, and does not need any additional steps to protect their work under copyright. There are of course exceptions to this, most notably when the contributor has effectively transferred their copyrights over the contribution to you or your project, making you or your project the copyright holder.

What happens if the contributor has passed away?

Generally, copyright law provides that ownership of the copyright remains with the contributor even after death. In most EU jurisdictions, this means that copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the author, or in the case of joint authorship, after the death of the the last surviving author. Once this 70-year term expires, the work will enter into the public domain, where others may use the work for commercial purposes without requesting any authorization or license.

Copyright is considered to be personal property, and therefore copyright ownership can be included in a will, and passed on to another person upon the copyright holder’s death. Accordingly, you should inquire with the deceased contributor's estate to see who the copyright has passed onto and seek their consent before making any changes to the project that require the consent of all contributors. In the event that there is no specific provision for who takes ownership of the copyright of software contributions in the will, the rights will be passed along in accordance with the national laws of intestacy where the contributor was residing in.

Regardless of whether or not the ownership of the deceased’s copyright in the project was covered in a will, the new copyright owner(s) would now be the people that you have to obtain your consent from. Nevertheless, please remember when doing so to always be respectful and sensitive in such communications. Losing a loved one is a difficult enough thing to go through, and many relatives will not want to be contacted too soon after the death of their loved one with questions about contributions.

Looking for help with established platforms or software foundations

If your project is hosted online on a popular code repository hosting platform, you should check to see if they have any policies for deceased or absentee contributors. As an example, GitHub has a Deceased User Policy. This policy is written primarily to allow GitHub to work with authorized persons in the deceased's estate to determine what to do with the deceased’s GitHub account. It is also useful for next of kin, pre-designated successors, or other authorized individuals (which could include a collaborator or business partner) of a deceased user, to be able to gain control over a deceased user’s account. It could also be useful to send a request to other popular foundations such as the Apache Software Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, or the Linux Foundation inquiring about the status of the deceased developer's account, as some developers have adopted the practice of willing contributions to Free Software foundations.

What happens if you can’t contact a contributor or their heirs?

If obtaining the consent of a contributor or their estate has turned out to be impossible, one practical recourse would be to fork the project repository, while moving the contribution(s) of the missing contributor(s) to stay under the original. A good practice when taking this course of action would be to credit previous contributors who have created the original program from which the fork is carved out. Therefore, if all efforts fail to trace and contact the missing contributor(s), you can at least point to some form of attribution to mitigate any potential complications down the line.

Another practical option that many project runners frequently take would be to ignore the deceased and/or missing contributor(s) and their contributions altogether. While this is not strictly the correct legal approach, it is nonetheless a practical one that allows projects to move forward with their plans. Software project that go down this route do so after a thorough risk assessment, more specifically, after analyzing (1) the significance of the contribution in question; (2) the likelihood of the contributor or their estate contesting the decisions of the project, based on their ownership of the copyright over the contributions; and (3) the likelihood of success of any such contestation.

In many cases, project runners may come to the conclusion that the risk of the missing/deceased contributor showing up to assert the rights of their ownership of the contribution is small enough, such that moving forward without the explicit consent of that particular contributor or their estate is worth the risk.

We hope that this has been useful for your understanding of managing this particular legal issue within a software project.

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SFP#30: The App Fair Project with Marc Prud'hommeaux

At FOSDEM, Bonnie Mehring and Marc Prud'hommeaux met to talk about Marc's Free Software initiative, The App Fair Project. This project is a marketplace for all devices and especially also for iOS devices that only distributes Free Software applications. Its goal is to foster a more accessible and inclusive Free Software ecosystem.

For this year's I Love Free Software Day Marc and Bonnie talk about The App Fair Project, which enables iOS users to access Free Software applications. Together, they unravel how the Digital Markets Act (DMA) helped to level the playing field - although a lot of work is still ahead to truly enable Free Software and foster fair competition.

Listen to our 30th episode and find out what The App Fair Project is, how it is related to the DMA and what the next steps are to make Free Software more accessible to everyone.

This is the perfect episode for anyone still searching for Free Software on iOS!

Show notes

• The App Fair Project
• Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom: A Free Software App Store for iOS, The App Fair Project's perspective on the DMA
• The App Fair's github project
• Digital Markets Act (DMA)
• DMA: Litigation against Apple
• The FSFE calls for broader interoperability by Apple under the DMA
• Stay up-to-date and join our Newsletter
• Support our work for Free Software

If you liked this episode and want to support our continuous work for software freedom, please help us with a donation.

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German elections+++ I Love FS Day+++ DMA, Ada, Router Freedom

February started with FOSDEM! It was great to meet some of you there before we meet again for “I Love Free Software Day”! In recent weeks, we shared our demands for the coming German elections, great news about Router Freedom, and an update about DMA. Moreover, the Ada movie is now available in French and we published two podcast episodes.

Table of contents

• Quote of the Month
• German Elections 2025: We demand public code, secure funding for Free Software, and transparent measurement of progress!
• I Love Free Software Day”: celebrate it with us!
• Router Freedom in Germany: A victory for consumers!
• The FSFE calls for broader interoperability by Apple under the DMA
• The FSFE launches 'Ada & Zangemann' movie in French as Open Educational Resource
• The FSFE supports Dutch call to adopt social media platforms that respect public values
• Software Freedom Podcast! Find out how South Tyrol is taking a step in the direction of software freedom
• From our community!
• Contribute to our Newsletter

Quote of the Month

“Creating a community for Free Software and sharing our appreciation for all Free Software contributors is a task that needs our commitment throughout the year. And all this work can be highlighted on I Love Free Software Day! It is amazing how many people come together and celebrate their favourite type of software together <3”

Albert Astals Cid, co-organizer of 'I Love FS Day' Barcelona since 2019

German Elections 2025: We demand public code, secure funding for Free Software, and transparent measurement of progress!

The next German government must finally push for the controllability, security, and sovereignty of the public digital infrastructure. As Free Software is a prerequisite for this, the FSFE is making 4 key demands: "Public Money? Public Code!", securing long-term funding for Free Software, deepening Free Software knowledge in administrations, and monitoring progress.

“I Love Free Software Day”: celebrate it with us!

Ready for I Love Free Software Day 2025? We are celebrating this day, to say thank you to Free Software projects, with different events across Europe.

Join us to celebrate this day in Villach in Carinthia (Austria); Nuremberg, Berlin or Frankfurt (Germany); Bozen-Bolzano, Sicilia, Este or Bergamo (Italy); Luxembourg; Nijmegen (Netherlands); Warsaw, Poznań or Wrocław (Poland); Barcelona or Madrid (Spain); Zurich (Switzerland); and Staffordshire (United Kingdom). Find all the information about the events on ilovefs.org.

You can also get involved and celebrate this day by: crafting a personalized thank you message using our redesigned template from the Sharepic Generator or record a short thank you message to your favourite Free Software project, and share it on your social media channels using the hashtag #ilovefs; send a postcard to your favourite Free Software project; and share your knowledge about Free Software. Let us spread the word about the four freedoms – come and join us for this year’s I Love Free Software Day <3

Router Freedom in Germany: A victory for consumers!

After a failed attempt by internet providers to exclude Router Freedom from fiber networks, the German regulator BNetzA has confirmed Router Freedom in the country. The FSFE, which has been pushing for this since 2013, will continue to monitor implementation and compliance.

The FSFE calls for broader interoperability by Apple under the DMA

The Free Software Foundation Europe, alongside civil society organizations, developers, and researchers, submitted its position to the European Commission’s public consultation on measures requiring Apple to ensure compliance with the Digital Markets Act’s interoperability provisions. The FSFE stressed the urgent need for Apple to provide effective, free-of-charge interoperability.

Furthermore, on February 6, the FSFE participated in the "DMA and Beyond Conference" organised by the Knight-Georgetown Institute and Yale University in Washington, D.C. There, our volunteer Jithendra Palepu presented a comprehensive study, elaborated upon by Lucas Lasota, FSFE's Legal Programme Manager, on Apple's restrictive interoperability policies and their harm to Free Software in the context of the DMA.

Check out our participation here!

The FSFE launches 'Ada & Zangemann' movie in French as Open Educational Resource

The Free Software Foundation Europe is releasing the animated film ‘Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream’ in French as an Open Educational Resource. Originally a highly successful illustrated book, now available in 10 languages and counting, the story has been adapted into a film that can be freely used in schools.

The FSFE supports Dutch call to adopt social media platforms that respect public values

Last week six Dutch civic organisations launched the campaign ‘Make Socials Social Again’. They call upon public organisations to adopt social media platforms that respect public values and thus are the real ‘social’ platforms. The FSFE joins this campaign to encourage a public debate on this. As stressed in the FediGov campaign by the Swiss FSFE local team. It is important that platforms used by public bodies enable independent and self-determined use of technology.

Software Freedom Podcast! Find out how South Tyrol is taking a step in the direction of software freedom

In our latest Software Freedom Podcast, Marta Andreoli, FSFE's Italian deputy coordinator, talks to Paolo Dongilli, technical inspector of the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano - South Tyrol, about the FUSS project. Together they unravel how FUSS is helping the schools in South Tyrol take a step towards software freedom.

Also, we continued our series of episodes about Policy and the EU. Last month, we talked about the two DevRooms that the FSFE organized at FOSDEM 25.

From our community!

• Ada & Zangemann themed mini game on the Luanti gaming platform: thanks to Marco Amato -Zughy-, FSFE Italy volunteer and his team A.E.S., you can now pass your ice cream cone to someone else before it melts in your hand. Try it out!
• A volunteer, who recently moved to South Spain, organized a reading and tinkering “Ada & Zangemann session” at an art center in Granada. More than 20 children were able to tinker and play with technology as well as learn about the story of Ada!

Contribute to our Newsletter

We would love to hear from you. If you have any thoughts, pictures, or news to share, please send them to us at newsletter@fsfe.org. You can also support us, contribute to our work, and join our community. We would like to thank our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible, with a special mention to our translators who make it possible for you to read this newsletter in your mother tongue.

Your editor, Ana

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Bundestagswahl 2025: Wir fordern öffentlichen Code, sichere Finanzierung für Freie Software und transparente Statistiken!

Die nächste deutsche Bundesregierung muss endlich die Kontrollierbarkeit, Sicherheit und Souveränität öffentlicher digitaler Infrastrukturen vorantreiben. Dazu braucht sie Freie Software. Die FSFE stellt deswegen vier Kernforderungen: „Public Money? Public Code!“, eine sichere, langfristig Finanzierung für Freie Software, Kompetenzaufbau und Statistiken zum Fortschrittsmonitoring.

Öffentliche Verwaltungen und demokratische Institutionen sind wie unsere gesamte Gesellschaft auf verlässliche digitale Infrastrukturen angewiesen. Die heutige Abhängigkeit dieser Infrastrukturen von proprietärer Software birgt erhebliche Risiken für Deutschland und Europa. Freie Software hingegen fördert Zusammenarbeit und Innovation und stärkt die technologische Souveränität Deutschlands. Die Gestaltbarkeit und Kontrollierbarkeit der digitalen Infrastruktur unserer Demokratie muss ein zentrales Projekt der nächsten Bundesregierung sein. Der konsequente Einsatz Freier Software (auch bekannt als Open Source) ist dafür unerlässlich.

Die Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) fordert deswegen die neue Bundesregierung auf, entschieden auf Freie Software für Deutschlands öffentliche Verwaltungen zu setzen, und dabei folgende vier Maßnahmen umzusetzen:

1. Public Money? Public Code! Mit öffentlichen Geldern für öffentliche Verwaltungen entwickelte Software muss unter Freie-Software-Lizenzen veröffentlicht werden. Dieses als „Public Money? Public Code!“ bekannte Prinzip muss die neue Bundesregierung gesetzlich verankern und umsetzen. Nur so kann die Abhängigkeit öffentlicher Verwaltungen von proprietärer Software und ihren Herstellern gelöst und technologische Souveränität erreicht werden.
2. Freie Software langfristig finanziell absichern! Statt Milliarden in proprietäre Lizenzen zu investieren und damit bestehende Abhängigkeiten zu zementieren, muss die Bundesregierung die Finanzierung Freier Software für den öffentlichen Sektor langfristig sichern, sowohl in der öffentlichen Vergabe als auch durch gezielte Förderung zentraler Infrastruktur. Das Zentrum für Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS) spielt eine wichtige Rolle beim Einsatz für Freie Software in Deutschland. Das ZenDiS braucht daher ein langfristiges, stabiles Budget, um öffentliche Verwaltungen weiterhin auf dem Weg zu technologischer Souveränität durch Freie Software zu unterstützen.
3. Kompetenzen der Verwaltung stärken, Zivilgesellschaft einbeziehen! In vielen Verwaltungen und in der Zivilgesellschaft gibt es bereits heute Kompetenz zu Beschaffung und Einsatz Freier Software. Die Bundesregierung muss diese Ressourcen für die Breite der öffentlichen Verwaltung nutzbar machen. Vorhandene Kompetenzen in Freie-Software-Communities und in der Zivilgesellschaft müssen dabei strategisch einbezogen werden.
4. Fortschritt messbar machen! In öffentlichen Verwaltungen müssen Daten zur Beschaffung, Nutzung und dem Anteil Freier Software erhoben und veröffentlicht werden. Diese Statistiken ermöglichen ein effektives Fortschrittsmonitoring bei der Erhöhung des Anteils Freier Software im öffentlichen Sektor.

Seit die FSFE die Initiative „Public Money? Public Code!“ ins Leben gerufen hat, setzt sich bei den demokratischen Parteien im Deutschen Bundestag zunehmend die Überzeugung durch, dass technologisch souveräne öffentliche Verwaltungen Freie Software brauchen. „Public Money? Public Code!“ findet sich bereits heute in Parteitagsbeschlüssen und Wahlprogrammen wieder. Auch wenn die vergangene Bundesregierung ihr vielversprechenden Vorhaben aus dem Koalitionsvertrag nicht umgesetzt hat, zeigte sich zuletzt im Dezember 2024 in einer öffentlichen Anhörung im Digitalausschuss des Deutschen Bundestags: Das Ziel, durch Freie Software Deutschlands technologische Souveränität zu stärken, ist unter den demokratischen Fraktionen im Bundestag unstrittig. Es ist die Aufgabe der nächsten Bundesregierung, dieses Ziel nun endlich anzugehen und umzusetzen, um unsere digitalen Infrastrukturen kontrollierbar und zukunftssicher zu machen.

Freie Software und „Public Money? Public Code!”

Freie Software gibt allen das Recht, Programme für jeden Zweck zu verwenden, zu verstehen, zu verbreiten und zu verbessern. Durch diese Freiheiten müssen ähnliche Programme nicht komplett neu programmiert werden und dank transparenter Prozesse muss das Rad nicht ständig neu erfunden werden. Bei großen Projekten können Expertise und Kosten geteilt werden und Anwendungen stehen allen zur Verfügung. So wird Innovation gefördert und mittel- bis langfristig Steuergeld gespart. Abhängigkeiten von einzelnen Anbieterinnen werden minimiert und Sicherheitslücken können leichter geschlossen werden. Die Free Software Foundation Europe fordert daher mit über 200 Organisation und Verwaltungen „Public Money? Public Code!“ - Wenn es sich um öffentliche Gelder handelt, sollte auch der Code öffentlich sein! Mehr Informationen zur Initiative sind auf der „Public Money? Public Code!”-Website zu finden.

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In diesem Artikel geht es um meine Reise von Windows zu Linux auf meinem beruflich genutzten Desktop.

Adobe hat unter dem Namen „Adobe Content Authenticity App“ ein Tool veröffentlicht, dass es möglich macht, Bilddateien Copyright-Vermerke beizufügen, auch wenn die Bilder nicht mit…

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KDE Plasma Gestures und künstliche Intelligenz auf FPGAs – das sind nur zwei von insgesamt 42 Open-Source-Projekten, die der NGI Zero Commons Fund der NLnet Foundation in der kommenden Zeit…

LLW 2025, “unperfect” discussions around Free Software in a legal environment

The Free Software Legal & Licensing Workshop convened once again, this time in Essen, bringing together over 100 legal and compliance professionals, technologists, and policy experts from across the globe. The 2025 edition delved into the evolving legal landscapes impacting Free Software, with a particular focus on Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity.

Some member of the FSFE team during LLW25

The FSFE’s Free Software Legal & Licensing Workshop (LLW), is a a two and a half day conference for members of the Legal Network community to meet face-to-face and share legal expertise. Once again, this conference emphasized the importance of fostering a collaborative environment where professionals can share insights, debate complex issues, and build a cohesive understanding of the legal landscape affecting Free Software.​

Set in the creative and collaborative atmosphere of Unperfekthaus, a vibrant cultural hub in the heart of Essen (Germany), participants engaged in in-depth discussions on current topics in the Free Software sphere. These conversations extended beyond traditional legal and licensing concerns to include the broader policy landscape, where emerging regulations increasingly shape the way Free Software is developed, distributed, and maintained.

For instance, the intersection between law and policy proved especially relevant in sessions addressing pressing issues such as the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and the licensing of AI technologies.

Participants discussed the impact of interoperability policies imposed by large corporations like Apple on smaller Free Software developers and how this relates to the litigation efforts conducted by the FSFE.

With the CRA being one of the most impactful laws on Free Software these days, there were also several discussions dedicated to understanding compliance,legal enforcement, and further policy development of the law.

Topics concerning export control, licensing for hardware and software, tools for compliance automation and community governance were also debated in detail.

AI remains a topic of interest, and the participants engaged in discussion related to the definition of Free Software AI, the relevance of data for licensing, as well as challenges for the enforcement of the AI Act.

Continuing its commitment to nurturing emerging legal talent, this year the LLW also organized a mentorship program, which started with a breakfast meetup before the official kick off of the conference, so that experienced legal professionals acting as mentors were able to meet with newcomers to the industry and the conference in an informal environment, before the talks stated. The mentorship program is aimed at new members of the Legal Network.

Feedback from attendees was positive, with many highlighting the value of face-to-face interactions and the depth of knowledge shared during the sessions. One participant noted, "The LLW remains an unparalleled forum for tackling the pressing legal questions of our time in the Free Software domain."​

The FSFE extends its gratitude to all participants and sponsors, whose support made LLW 2025 possible: Red Hat, Amazon, Microsoft, Siemens Bosch, Ericsson, GitHub, Intel, Eclipse Foundation Heuking, Liferay, Open Invention Network, and The Linux Foundation.

The Legal Network

The Legal Network is a neutral, non-partisan group of experts in different fields involved in Free Software legal issues. Currently the Legal Network has over 400 participants from different legal systems, academic backgrounds and affiliations.

The aim of the Legal Network is to promote discussion and foster better knowledge of the legal constructs that back Free Software. The conversations on the Legal Network are intended to be dynamic, thought-provoking, and up to speed with the most recent developments.

The Legal Network serves as an open platform to promote legal knowledge about Free Software so that companies can make strategic decisions about Free Software development based on an understanding of how Free Software licensing and other related legal issues work. This allows Free Software developers and legal professionals who work within larger companies to continue to contribute to software freedom.

Admission to the Legal Network is restricted, and the discussions held there are confidential. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the content of the mailing list is contained away from the larger Free Software community. The Chatham House Rule applies to all discussions on the Legal Network mailing list and at Legal Network events, which enables members to use the information received, but not to reveal the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker or any of the participants involved in the discussion.

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X11 ist auf dem Rückzug, Wayland übernimmt. Das soll mit Fedora 43 im Herbst durch die endgültige Entfernung des X11-Codes zementiert werden.

Quelle

Kubernetes 1.33 Octarine bringt neue Stable-, Beta- und Alpha-Funktionen. Diese Version umfasst 64 Verbesserungen.

Falls du schon mit Tmux vertraut bist, erkläre ich in diesem Artikel wie man tmux mit Plugins erweitern kann​ und diese auch anschliessend nutzt.

Zum Ende des Windows-10-Supports sind das brandneue Free95 oder das 20 Jahre alte ReactOS spannende Projekte - aber noch keine Alternativen. (Windows 11, Microsoft)