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1 | Internship with the FSF tech team |
2 | by bandali on May 29, 2020 (2020-05-29) | |
3 | ||
4 | ||
5 | Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's sysadmin | |
6 | blog: | |
7 | https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team | |
8 | ||
9 | Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just `bandali' on the interwebs. | |
10 | I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer, webmaster, and | |
11 | Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending that to the Free | |
12 | Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF tech team for | |
13 | spring 2020. | |
14 | ||
15 | Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering and | |
16 | programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in | |
17 | tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into | |
18 | contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years. My first introduction to | |
19 | the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend | |
20 | kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred to | |
21 | as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free | |
22 | software, and helped me see why "open source" misses the point of free | |
23 | software[1]. After learning about and absorbing the ideas and ideals | |
24 | of free software, I have since become a free software activist. As a | |
25 | computer scientist who enjoys studying and hacking on various programs | |
26 | and sometimes writing my own, I have made a point of releasing all I | |
27 | can under strong copyleft licenses, particularly the GNU AGPL[2] | |
28 | license. | |
29 | ||
30 | [1] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html | |
31 | [2] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html | |
32 | ||
33 | My involvement with the GNU Project[3] started in 2016, first as a | |
34 | volunteer webmaster, and later as one of the maintainers of GNUzilla | |
35 | and IceCat[4] late last year. Also around the same time, I led a | |
36 | group of volunteers in organizing and holding EmacsConf 2019[5] as a | |
37 | completely online conference, using only free software tools, much | |
38 | like the excellent LibrePlanet 2020[6]. I love GNU Emacs[7], and use | |
39 | it more than any other program. GNU Emacs helps me do a wide variety | |
40 | of tasks such as programming, reading and composing emails, and | |
41 | chatting via IRC. | |
42 | ||
43 | [3] https://www.gnu.org | |
44 | [4] https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/ | |
45 | [5] https://emacsconf.org/2019 | |
46 | [6] https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020 | |
47 | [7] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ | |
48 | ||
49 | More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I have | |
50 | been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the GNU Savannah[8] | |
51 | infrastructure with help from veteran Savannah hacker Bob Proulx, | |
52 | gradually learning and picking up tasks helping with the | |
53 | administration and maintenance of Savannah. I am also a member of the | |
54 | Systems Committee of my university's computer science club, overseeing | |
55 | and maintaining a large fleet of GNU/Linux servers for our club | |
56 | members. | |
57 | ||
58 | [8] https://savannah.gnu.org | |
59 | ||
60 | For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be working | |
61 | with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping with | |
62 | the free software forge[9] project, as well as various improvements | |
63 | for gnu.org. I look forward to learning many new things and picking | |
64 | up valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional | |
65 | tech team, who do *so much* for the GNU project and the wider free | |
66 | software community. | |
67 | ||
68 | [9] https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration | |
69 | ||
70 | ||
71 | -*- | |
72 | ||
73 | Copyright (c) 2020 bandali | |
74 | ||
75 | Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, | |
76 | are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright | |
77 | notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is, | |
78 | without any warranty. | |
79 | ||
80 | this file: https://bndl.org/fsf-internship-intro.txt |