| 1 | Internship with the FSF tech team |
| 2 | --------------------------------- |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's sysadmin |
| 5 | blog: |
| 6 | https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just `bandali' on the interwebs. |
| 9 | I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer, webmaster, and |
| 10 | Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending that to the Free |
| 11 | Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF tech team for |
| 12 | spring 2020. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering and |
| 15 | programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in |
| 16 | tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into |
| 17 | contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years. My first introduction to |
| 18 | the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend |
| 19 | kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred to |
| 20 | as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free |
| 21 | software, and helped me see why "open source" misses the point of free |
| 22 | software[1]. After learning about and absorbing the ideas and ideals |
| 23 | of free software, I have since become a free software activist. As a |
| 24 | computer scientist who enjoys studying and hacking on various programs |
| 25 | and sometimes writing my own, I have made a point of releasing all I |
| 26 | can under strong copyleft licenses, particularly the GNU AGPL[2] |
| 27 | license. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [1] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html |
| 30 | [2] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html |
| 31 | |
| 32 | My involvement with the GNU Project[3] started in 2016, first as a |
| 33 | volunteer webmaster, and later as one of the maintainers of GNUzilla |
| 34 | and IceCat[4] late last year. Also around the same time, I led a |
| 35 | group of volunteers in organizing and holding EmacsConf 2019[5] as a |
| 36 | completely online conference, using only free software tools, much |
| 37 | like the excellent LibrePlanet 2020[6]. I love GNU Emacs[7], and use |
| 38 | it more than any other program. GNU Emacs helps me do a wide variety |
| 39 | of tasks such as programming, reading and composing emails, and |
| 40 | chatting via IRC. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [3] https://www.gnu.org |
| 43 | [4] https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/ |
| 44 | [5] https://emacsconf.org/2019 |
| 45 | [6] https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020 |
| 46 | [7] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ |
| 47 | |
| 48 | More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I have |
| 49 | been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the GNU Savannah[8] |
| 50 | infrastructure with help from veteran Savannah hacker Bob Proulx, |
| 51 | gradually learning and picking up tasks helping with the |
| 52 | administration and maintenance of Savannah. I am also a member of the |
| 53 | Systems Committee of my university's computer science club, overseeing |
| 54 | and maintaining a large fleet of GNU/Linux servers for our club |
| 55 | members. |
| 56 | |
| 57 | [8] https://savannah.gnu.org |
| 58 | |
| 59 | For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be working |
| 60 | with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping with |
| 61 | the free software forge[9] project, as well as various improvements |
| 62 | for gnu.org. I look forward to learning many new things and picking |
| 63 | up valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional |
| 64 | tech team, who do *so much* for the GNU project and the wider free |
| 65 | software community. |
| 66 | |
| 67 | [9] https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration |
| 68 | |
| 69 | |
| 70 | -*- |
| 71 | |
| 72 | Copyright (c) 2020 bandali |
| 73 | |
| 74 | Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, |
| 75 | are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright |
| 76 | notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is, |
| 77 | without any warranty. |
| 78 | |
| 79 | plain text: https://bndl.org/fsf-internship-intro.txt |