Issue 25 Bulletin November 2014

Contents Free software needs your vote Free software needs your 1 by John Sullivan vote Executive Director What would a free 3 t the Free Software Foundation, software world look like? Awe want to empower all computer GNU Guix and GNU’s 4 users everywhere to do everything they 31st Birthday might need or want to do on any com- Appropriate legal 5 puter, using only free software, with- notices out having to ask permission. Free tools for the FSF 6 By definition, proprietary software Common misconceptions 7 does not empower users in this way. in licensing It places limits on what they can do, Volunteer opportunities 9 such as preventing sharing of the soft- at the FSF ware, or looking at its code to see how See you at LibrePlanet 10 it works. 2015! Proprietary software enables users Around the world in (a 11 to pursue everything they might need hundred and) eighty or want to do, only as long as the soft- days ware distributor approves. The four freedoms that define free software — to run the program (0), to study and modify it (1), to share it (2), and to share modifications (3) — are meant for everyone, in their inter- actions with any program. Free soft- ware is a means to protect the individ- ual freedom of computer users. But why would someone who has Register for LibrePlanet at u.fsf.org/14w. no intention of ever reading the source code of programs running on their computer, much less in modifying it, care about Freedom 1, or Freedom 3? Why do they need or want the freedom to do things they might never need or want to do?

1 One reason is that any computer general, the right to vote can be a pow- user can ask someone else to do those erful check on government behavior. things for them. Like the freedom The four freedoms for software can to take your car to any mechanic, or work in a similar way. We don’t need to evaluate multiple contractors for an everyone actively modifying software improvement on your home and then to deter bad behavior by software com- go with the one you like the best, in a panies. free software world, people can request But we do need everyone to have or commission changes to the way their the right to modify software; we need software works. everyone to have that potential. The In the proprietary world, this hap- fact that any given person around the pens only in a very limited and con- world could step up and make a mod- tingent way. You can’t pay Micro- ification to a program to make it act soft or anyone else to make changes differently — such as removing a back to Windows, or anyone — not even door installed by some company — is Apple — to change something in the a powerful check against unethical con- iPhone’s operating system. In the free trol of individuals through software. world, anyone can make modifications It can’t be entirely mere poten- to any program, and can even be paid tial. If nobody ever votes, the right for their time spent doing so. to vote loses its impact. This is a good This is an example of a tangible reason to request the source code for way in which everyone benefits from any device you purchase that has GNU the four freedoms, whether they work GPL-covered software on it, whether on software themselves or not — but it you have plans to do something with is not the only benefit. it or not. But regardless, the num- The mere existence of the option ber of software developers, hobbyists, for people to inspect, modify, and and tinkerers, who can effectively mod- share the software they use has an im- ify and redistribute software, is much portant effect which, if it became the more than zero. norm, would cause a dramatic change We do still need to encourage peo- in the behavior of software companies, ple to learn more about how their com- and the character of software. puters work, enough to be able to make To understand why, think about basic changes for themselves, but we the right to vote. Everyone does not also need to explain that these free- have to vote in every election in order doms are important for anyone regard- for voting rights to have an impact on less of whether they intend to ever the behavior of elected officials. Politi- write a line of code in their lives. We cians know that there is the potential need to encourage people to use only for all eligible people to vote one way software that respects everyone’s free- or the other, and they have to act ac- doms. cordingly. To succeed at this, we need to make Of course, many countries (such as it easier for people to identify free soft- the United States) have voting systems ware, and to care about it. Identifying that are less than ideal, with various whether something is free software or obstacles and distortions dulling the not can be a complex process. Sev- importance of individual votes. But in eral aspects need to be looked at by a

2 knowledgeable person — the copyright What would a free soft- license, any End User Licensing Agree- ment, related trademark licenses, and ware world look like? by Zak Rogoff possibly relevant patent claims. Campaigns Manager That’s a lot to ask of someone who ree software activism is a struggle is just trying to buy a computer or de- Fwith short and long term goals. We vice that comes with some software, or try to stay focused on moving forward is considering downloading a program the world around us and not getting they found online. hung up on perfectionism or fantasies. We know we need to make this eas- But from time to time it’s good to ier, and we are working on a number pause and envision the goal state we’re of efforts in this area. One of the most working towards. Different free soft- important is our Respects Your Free- ware activists have different goals — dom hardware certification program.1 at the FSF we advocate for an end to Another is a simple label that can be proprietary software and a 100% free put on programs to indicate that they software world, so that’s what I’ll write have been verified as free (such as be- about here. ing listed in our Free Software Direc- Inherently, there are a lot of as- tory).2 sumptions I’m making for this thought As one milestone along our path experiment, and there’s no way for to the elimination of proprietary soft- the predictions to be actually accu- ware, we can aim to have free software rate. With that said, let’s step through achieve what the organic food and tex- the door of imagination into a different tiles movement has achieved. What- world . . . a world of all free software. ever you think about the importance One of the first things we notice is or irrelevance of organic products, they that people think about software dif- are now available and clearly marked in ferently. Thinking of it less as a black- many stores around the world, as well box product to buy, people understand as in online shops. Imagine if it were that it is a living, evolving tool that re- just as easy to identify and support free flects the efforts of the people that de- software. velop and use it. Though not everyone Please do exercise your freedom to is a programmer, many more people read and modify software. But even have at least basic programming skills if you don’t, insist on having the op- and an understanding of how comput- tion. By doing so, you help create a ers work. world where software is a tool for true People are legally able to explore empowerment instead of control. and customize any program that they 1fsf.org/ryf have the hardware to run, so they are 2 directory.fsf.org familiar with a more diverse array of software. Compatibility between pro- grams and protocols is less of an issue, because they are all designed to work with as many other systems as possi- ble, and programmers can add compat- ibility that the original authors over-

3 looked. People are more often able to goal are most important to us. I’d love use the best software solution available to hear your thoughts on these ideas. for the problem at hand. Because so Email me at [email protected] if you want many people in so many different cir- to share them. I can’t guarantee that cumstances have created custom soft- I’ll respond to every message, but I’ll ware solutions for their needs, there read them. are programs available to help a wider range of people in different cultures and economies. Powerful organizations also use software differently. Independent re- view of the software that runs impor- tant systems in government and cor- porations is commonplace, and these organizations see it as a great em- barrassment for vulnerabilities to be found in the code, so they hire hack- ers to fix them in the open. Censor- ship and surveillance is considerably harder, though not impossible. Tools Learn how to encrypt your email in over for circumventing them are widespread eleven languages! Visit u.fsf.org/esd. and under constant development to stay one step ahead. Governments spend less money on software. Hope- fully they spend it on other things GNU Guix and GNU’s that are good instead, but maybe they 31st Birthday spend it on something worse. by Dave Thompson Perhaps most importantly, people Web Developer are a little less accepting of being pushed around in general. Free soft- What is Guix? ware doesn’t exist in a cultural vac- uum, and having the expectation of GNU Guix (pronounced like “geeks”) control over their software conditions is a purely functional package people to expect control over other manager and a GNU/Linux distribu- aspects of their lives. Democracy is tion (officially called the GNU Guix stronger, and people are more comfort- distribution of GNU/Linux) that re- able working out their differences and spects the freedom of computer users. coming to solutions together. Guix is written in GNU Guile Scheme, Back to the real world ... the official extension language of the We may or may not see an all free GNU System. In addition to stan- software world in our lifetimes, but I dard package management features, think that it’s worth conceptualizing Guix supports transactional upgrades it, both to inspire us in our work and and roll-backs, unprivileged package to help us prioritize different efforts management, per-user profiles, and within the scope of free software ac- garbage collection. tivism, based on which parts of the

4 Guix hackathon on GNU’s 31st In order to provide a distribution that birthday is useful for all computer users, your help is needed! The Guix project There’s no better way to celebrate the needs volunteers to test out installa- GNU Project’s birthday than to hack tion images and give feedback, package on GNU software with free software useful software, keep packages up-to- advocates from around the world. To date, add additional system services, continue the theme set by last year’s fix bugs, and spread the word about GNU30 hackathon at MIT, an online Guix and the GNU Project. For source hackathon was held in the #guix IRC code, documentation, and contact in- channel on Freenode on September 27 formation, visit the GNU Guix home- and 28, 2014 to celebrate GNU’s 31st 3 page. Happy hacking! birthday. During that time, contribu- tors worked on KDE, Hurd, and Ruby support, fixing bugs in existing pack- ages, a PyPI package importer, pack- The Free Software age ‘linters’, and made improvements Supporter to the ‘guix.el’ Emacs user interface. That’s a lot of birthday presents! Receive our monthly email newsletter: fsf.org/fss

Appropriate legal Try GNU Guix today! notices by Joshua Gay Guix’s role in the GNU System Licensing and Compliance Manager Guix is currently the only GNU/Linux he GNU General Public License distribution that is an official GNU T(GPL) is intended to guarantee project. In addition to building a fully the freedom to share and change all free operating system, the Guix proj- versions of a program—to make sure it ect intends to improve the integration remains free software for all its users. and consistency of GNU software, as When you receive a program that is well as improve the workflow among licensed under the terms of the GPL, GNU hackers and users. Guix aims to you should receive (or be offered) the maximize build determinism and secu- corresponding source code along with rity by providing reproducible package a copy of the GPL itself. recipes and not trusting a single binary However, the way people download provider. and install software these days, it is often the case that certain “details,” Towards the future such as the license of the software or Guix is alpha software that currently offers of source, will go unnoticed by has approximately a thousand pack- users. So if a user doesn’t look at the ages available in its default repository. 3https://gnu.org/software/guix

5 license or read the page where they are ested to know what others think. You downloading it from carefully, how else can help me collect good examples or will they know that the program is li- ideas by either emailing licensing@ censed under the terms of the GPL, fsf.org with your suggestions or by and what that means? adding them directly to our Libre- One answer is: Appropriate Legal Planet wiki page at: u.fsf.org/14t. Notices. In version 3 of the GPL, it states that if a program has an inter- active user interface, then it must dis- play Appropriate Legal Notices, which Free tools for the FSF the GPL defines as: by William Theaker “An interactive user interface dis- Outreach and Communications plays ‘Appropriate Legal Notices’ to Coordinator the extent that it includes a conve- Dave Thompson nient and prominently visible feature Web Developer that (1) displays an appropriate copy- he Free Software Foundation draws right notice, and (2) tells the user that Tour strength and support from our there is no warranty for the work (ex- members and supporters around the cept to the extent that warranties are world. We use CiviCRM, a free con- provided), that licensees may convey tact management system, to run our the work under this License, and how campaigns, collect donations, and send to view a copy of this License. If the emails to our database of nearly eight interface presents a list of user com- hundred thousand contacts. We’re mands or options, such as a menu, a not alone in this, top organizations prominent item in the list meets this like Creative Commons and Wikime- criterion.” dia Foundation also use CiviCRM to So when creating and distributing stay in contact with their members your own free software programs, con- and organize against threats to free sider incorporating Appropriate Legal knowledge. Before switching to Civi- Notices into your UI (such as in a menu CRM, we relied on a custom member- item or elsewhere). But don’t just fol- ship tool to handle the complexities low the letter of the GPL, consider of FSF membership, particularly perks the spirit of it as well. After all, our like email forwarding. By the time this goal isn’t to hide our legal notices as article reaches you, we will have com- many proprietary programs do in fine pleted the final steps of our migration print and complicated language with to CiviCRM for membership manage- the hope users will not notice or un- ment. Although CiviCRM is a power- derstand it. In fact, we want to do ful set of tools, the default membership just the opposite! Let users know that dashboard was missing some features they have the freedom to make, use, essential for our needs. Since CiviCRM improve, and share improvements to is free software licensed under the AG- the program. PLv3, we have been able to modify it You may be asking how exactly to suit our needs. should you word your legal notice so it FSF web developer Dave Thomp- does all this. Well, I’m not sure there is son has been working hard over the last any one best answer. I would be inter- few months on building an extension

6 tributions amd events to include the most relevant information. Since FSF members can create email forwarding addresses, our extension adds a new database table and user interface for managing them. The biggest new fea- ture is that our extension displays a to CiviCRM to finally unify our mem- special CiviCRM profile that allows bership management system with the members to update their own contact rest of FSF-provided services. Now, information. the same account you use to log in to Since the FSF first called for non- the Free Software Directory or Libre- profits to switch to CiviCRM in 2010, Planet wiki will allow you to update the project has seen a remarkable rate your email and postal mailing prefer- of adoption and improvement, with ences, view attendence at past events feature development outpacing that of like LibrePlanet, and soon will even al- many proprietary donor management low you to get in touch with free soft- systems. If you volunteer with or do- ware activists in your area. This cus- nate to an organization that’s still us- tom membership dashboard currently ing a proprietary system, like a lo- depends on some Drupal-specific fea- cal animal shelter or prisoner support tures, but we’re working on getting the group, let them know that CiviCRM is core parts of the new dashboard into a suitable replacement and offer to help upstream CiviCRM so everyone can them migrate if you have the technical benefit from the work we’ve done and skills. contribute changes. We have hopes Meanwhile, you can check out the that this extension will become plat- new dashboard by joining the FSF or form agnostic and also support Joomla renewing your membership. Let us and WordPress instances of CiviCRM. know what you think at [email protected]. To keep our work reusable, the new As always, patches are encouraged! member dashboard is implemented as a CiviCRM extension. By creating an extension, we can add features to Common misconceptions CiviCRM without modifying the core source code. We decided to create a in licensing by Donald Robertson, III new extension because CiviCRM’s de- Copyright and Licensing fault contact dashboard doesn’t dis- Associate play all of the information that we art of our work in the Licensing would like our members to see and has Pand Compliance Lab involves an- no knowledge of our domain-specific swering questions from the community member information. For example, we about licensing. exposed the option to choose whether While the most common misun- to receive plain text or HTML email derstanding revolves around whether directly on the dashboard for conve- you can charge for copies of freely li- nience. censed works (hint: you can!), there Additionally, we tweaked the columns are other aspects of licensing that fre- that are displayed in tables for con-

7 quently cause confusion. We have a for a copy of the binary. While we very robust FAQ that covers a wide va- can encourage distributors to make the riety of questions related to licensing, source available to all, the license only but I just wanted to highlight a few requires that they provide the source to common mistakes.4 those who receive the binary. If a dis- tributor chooses to only provide source Source required even for ver- to their direct customers, users who re- batim copies ceive the source code with the binary should share that source code with oth- One of the most common misconcep- ers. tions that leads to compliance failures is the idea that one can distribute a The LGPL is not not a per- verbatim copy of a GPLed work with- missive license out providing source. Sometimes peo- ple will fail to provide source at all, The LGPL is a copyleft license. In while others will think that pointing fact, it is actually the GPL with ad- users upstream to the original author ditional permissions. These additional satisfies the source requirement. While permissions allow users to link to the there are some circumstances where work without adhering to all the con- users can pass-on a written offer from ditions of the GPL, but the LGPL an upstream distributor, all versions of still places some conditions on users, the GPL require that the distributor in order to ensure that they can still themselves provide access to source. use, modify, and distribute the library. Even though a work that links to an No requirement to ‘publish’ LGPLed library need not be licensed source code under the LGPL, it still needs to be under terms that maintain the user’s Good community members will always rights to the library. At minimum, the want to share code widely, but a part of user is going to need a copy of the li- software freedom is choosing whether cense, so that they know what those to distribute the software at all. Copy- rights are. There are even situations left licenses like the GPL ensure that where a distributor will need to pro- when someone chooses to distribute vide source code for the library, even if software, their users receive the same they do not need to provide the same freedoms in the software, for which for their own work. they’ll need access to source code in order to fully enjoy. But when some- one chooses to not distribute the soft- Free Software Jobs ware, or to only distribute it to par- ticular persons, community members Looking for employment in sometimes cry foul. In particular, peo- the world of free software? ple are often distressed that they can Visit fsf.org/jobs only get a copy of the source code for a particular GPLed work by paying

4gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq

8 Create 3D Objects You can assist the FSF sysadmins in creating 3D objects on the Lulzbot TAZ 3 model by Aleph Objects. This 3D printer was certified by the Re- spects Your Freedom program.7 Cur- rently, the FSF sysadmins are creating objects for use in our server racks with Computer Automated Design (CAD). Such objects include 2.5” to 3.5” hard- drive adapters, long-term cable storage clips and couplers, as well as an assort- ment of other useful objects. Using a 3D printer to create these objects saves Visit u.fsf.org/internships to apply. the FSF money by reducing shipping Volunteer opportunities costs. at the FSF Contribute to the free software by Chrissie Himes movement Operations Assistant ou can support the free software Help grow the free software movement Ymovement by getting involved in by submitting code to programs on the 8 myriad volunteer opportunities. High Priority Project list, writing free manuals and other documentation, im- Volunteer at LibrePlanet 2015! proving access to free software, becom- ing a GNU webmaster,9 and by con- There are many ways to participate at 5 tributing to the Free Software Direc- our annual conference. In the past, tory.10 volunteers have: carried out outreach GNU webmasters help maintain before the conference, built the con- existing pages, respond to user in- ference Web site, welcomed people at quiries, and organize major site up- the registration desk, managed video grades. Email webmasters@gnu.org streams, edited videos post-conference, to get started. You can also get in- escorted speakers, sold merchandise, volved with the Free Software Direc- and organized social gatherings during tory by attending our Friday meetings the conference. in #fsf on Freenode. Visit fsf.org/ Perks include: one admission ticket blogs/directory for the latest meet- into LibrePlanet, 40% discount at the ing information. The Directory pro- shop, lunch provided at LibrePlanet, vides a comprehensive database of free and one gratis commemorative Libre- 7 Planet t-shirt. fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/ aleph-objects Please fill out the volunteer form 8 6 fsf.org/campaigns/ with your specific interests. priority-projects/ 9gnu.org/server/standards/ 5libreplanet.org/2015 6 webmaster-quiz libreplanet.org/2015/volunteer 10directory.fsf.org

9 software projects and is maintained by some of its heroes with the Free Soft- a group of dedicated volunteers. ware Awards. The energy and inspiration is pal- Assist with general office tasks pable at LibrePlanet. Whether it’s rubbing elbows with a maintainer you If you live in the Boston-area and are admire, learning about a new tool that free during the daytime, just email can help you with your work, or getting [email protected] with your availability. down to brass tacks in the fight against Tasks include stuffing envelopes, creat- proprietary software, I’m telling you, ing shipments, and loading USB cards you want to be in Cambridge, MA on with Trisquel. These tasks are vital in March 21-22, 2015 for LibrePlanet. connecting the Free Software Founda- And here’s the good news: if you’re tion with our supporters. getting this bulletin in the mail, you’re probably an active member of the Free Software Foundation, and attending Get 10% off! LibrePlanet at no cost is one of your member benefits. So what are you waiting for: cash in your frequent flyer Purchasing books, shirts, miles and make plans to be at Libre- and other merchandise from Planet 2015! GNU Press is another way This year, the theme of LibrePlanet to support the Free is “Free Software Everywhere.” Talks Software Foundation. Visit at this year’s conference will touch on shop.fsf.org and use coupon the many places and ways that free code BulletinNov2014 until software is used around the world, as the end of January 2015. well as ways to make free software ubiquitous. Think “where” in the broadest sense of the word. What See you at LibrePlanet are some contexts where free software is thriving, and some others where 2015! it needs a push? How have people by Libby Reinish worked to gain a foothold for free soft- Campaigns Manager ware in their companies and commu- The LibrePlanet conference has al- nities? And what about free software ways been a special event among on all of the myriad pieces of hard- free software conferences. Last year’s ware we use, including laptops, phones, conference blew us away, with over tablets, and even coffee makers? At Li- 350 attendees, speakers from thirty- brePlanet 2015, we’re taking software nine different organizations, and a new freedom around the world, to outer partnership with the Student Infor- space, and through all kinds of in- mation Processing Board at MIT. We dustries, governments, organizations, strategized about how to use free soft- fields of study, and communities. ware to make the world a better place, We want to see your smiling face at conspired to make our own movement LibrePlanet, and we also want to see more welcoming for everyone, and cel- the smiling faces of people who can’t ebrated the movement’s victories and afford a plane ticket, or need childcare

10 or ASL interpretation in order to at- issues for Web sites,” giving an on- tend. You can help us ensure that Li- stage interview and taking questions brePlanet 2015 welcomes all people by from the audience at Indie Tech, in making a contribution to the confer- Brighton. In France, he shared his ence’s scholarship fund. We run this message on how to resist surveillance event on a shoestring budget; Libre- at the Tails Hackfest, gave one of the planet is not a money-maker for us; keynote speeches at the Libre Software we do it simply to help the movement Meeting, and spoke on “free software: for free software grow. Please consider human rights in your computer” at the making a donation today.11 Fˆete de l’Humanit´e. He rounded out We hope to see you at the next the summer by speaking at a number LibrePlanet on March 21-22, 2015 in of universities and free software confer- Cambridge, MA. ences in Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, and Italy. Please write to rms-assist@gnu. Around the world in org with any photographs or record- (a hundred and) eighty ings you would like to share or to extend an invitation for him to days come speak. See u.fsf.org/zi for by Jeanne Rasata a list of his confirmed speeches or Assistant to the President audio-video.gnu.org for the speech MS once again went all the way recordings we have. Raround the world in a hundred and eighty days this past semester, giving thirty-nine speeches in thirty-one cities across thirteen countries. In Geneva last spring, he gave a TEDx talk on free software, a pithy introduction to convince even the most skeptical hold- outs of the importance of computer- user freedom.12 In the US, Taiwan, China, and Austria, he spoke at a number of institutions of higher learn- ing, and at GNOME Asia, in Bei- jing, and the Central European Bit- coin Expo, in Vienna. His speaking tour through Romania and Moldova was organized by the local teams of Fundatia Ceata, a Romanian founda- tion promoting free software and free culture and whose launch RMS at- Replicant stickers now available at shop. tended last year as a guest of honor. fsf.org. At the OWASP AppSec Europe con- ference, he spoke about the “freedom

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11 If you recently joined as a member, your mailing includes a USB flash drive membership card preloaded with a full live distribution of Trisquel. You can download source code for the distribu- tion at fsf.org/associate/source/. If you would like us to send you the source code on two DVDs for five dol- lars, please write to [email protected] or at the address above.

How to Contribute Donate to the FSF with Bitcoin.

Copyright c 2014 Free Software Associate Membership: Foundation, Inc. Become an associate member of The articles in this bulletin are indi- the FSF. Members will receive vidually licensed under the Creative a bootable USB card, e-mail for- Commons Attribution No Deriva- warding and an account on the tive Works 3.0 United States Li- FSF’s Jabber/XMPP server. To cense. To view a copy of this license, sign-up or get more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/ visit member.fsf.org or write to licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/ or send a [email protected]. letter to Creative Commons, 171 Sec- Online ond Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, : Use your credit card, California, 94105, USA. PayPal account or Bitcoin to make a donation at donate.fsf. org or contact [email protected] for more information on support- ing the FSF. Jobs: List your job offers on our Published twice yearly by the Free jobs page. See fsf.org/jobs for Software Foundation, 51 Franklin Street, details. 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, (617) 542-5942, [email protected], fsf. Free Software Directory: org Browse and download from thou- sands of different free software projects! directory.fsf.org Volunteer: To learn more, visit fsf.org/volunteer. LibrePlanet: Find local groups in your area or start your own at libreplanet.org!

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