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7<title>Internship with the FSF tech team &mdash; bandali</title>
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41<h1>Internship with the FSF tech team</h1>
42<p>by <a href="https://bndl.org"><b>bandali</b></a>
43on May 29, 2020 <small>(also
44in <a href="fsf-internship-intro.txt">plain text</a>)</small></p>
45
46<p class="box">Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's
47sysadmin blog:<br />
48<a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team">Introducing
49Amin Bandali, intern with the FSF tech team</a></p>
50
51<p>Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just <code>bandali</code> on the
52interwebs. I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer,
53webmaster, and Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending
54that to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF
55tech team for spring 2020.</p>
56
57<p>Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering
58and programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in
59tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into
60contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years. My first introduction to
61the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend
62kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred to
63as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free
64software, and helped me see
65<a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">why
66"open source" misses the point of free software</a>. After learning
67about and absorbing the ideas and ideals of free software, I have
68since become a free software activist. As a computer scientist who
69enjoys studying and hacking on various programs and sometimes writing
70my own, I have made a point of releasing all I can under strong
71copyleft licenses, particularly the
72<a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html">GNU AGPL</a>
73license.</p>
74
75<p>My involvement with the <a href="https://www.gnu.org">GNU
76Project</a> started in 2016, first as a volunteer webmaster, and later
77as one of the maintainers of
78<a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/">GNUzilla and
79IceCat</a> late last year. Also around the same time, I led a group
80of volunteers in organizing and holding
81<a href="https://emacsconf.org/2019">EmacsConf 2019</a> as a
82completely online conference, using only free software tools, much
83like the excellent
84<a href="https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020">LibrePlanet
852020</a>. I love <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">GNU
86Emacs</a>, and use it more than any other program. GNU Emacs helps me
87do a wide variety of tasks such as programming, reading and composing
88emails, and chatting via IRC.</p>
89
90<p>More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I
91have been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the
92<a href="https://savannah.gnu.org">GNU Savannah</a> infrastructure
93with help from veteran Savannah hacker Bob Proulx, gradually learning
94and picking up tasks helping with the administration and maintenance
95of Savannah. I am also a member of the Systems Committee of my
96university's computer science club, overseeing and maintaining a large
97fleet of GNU/Linux servers for our club members.</p>
98
99<p>For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be
100working with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping
101with
102the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration">free
103software forge</a> project, as well as various improvements for
104gnu.org. I look forward to learning many new things and picking up
105valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional tech
106team, who do <em>so much</em> for the GNU project and the wider free
107software community.</p>
108
109<hr />
110<details id="copy">
111<summary>Copyright &copy; 2020 bandali</summary>
112<p>Copying and distribution of this file, with or without
113modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the
114copyright notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered
115as-is, without any warranty.</p>
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