X-Git-Url: https://git.shemshak.org/gitweb.cgi/~bandali/bndl.org/blobdiff_plain/e915c456018596d72e595f8d7efd3b291d8a13f0..47fc2c71cb87898f1ddc55d57389fa1cf660cc8b:/fsf-internship-intro.txt diff --git a/fsf-internship-intro.txt b/fsf-internship-intro.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c9658d --- /dev/null +++ b/fsf-internship-intro.txt @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +Internship with the FSF tech team +by bandali on May 29, 2020 (2020-05-29) + + + Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's sysadmin + blog: + https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team + +Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just `bandali' on the interwebs. +I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer, webmaster, and +Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending that to the Free +Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF tech team for +spring 2020. + +Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering and +programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in +tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into +contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years. My first introduction to +the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend +kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred to +as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free +software, and helped me see why "open source" misses the point of free +software[1]. After learning about and absorbing the ideas and ideals +of free software, I have since become a free software activist. As a +computer scientist who enjoys studying and hacking on various programs +and sometimes writing my own, I have made a point of releasing all I +can under strong copyleft licenses, particularly the GNU AGPL[2] +license. + +[1] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html +[2] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html + +My involvement with the GNU Project[3] started in 2016, first as a +volunteer webmaster, and later as one of the maintainers of GNUzilla +and IceCat[4] late last year. Also around the same time, I led a +group of volunteers in organizing and holding EmacsConf 2019[5] as a +completely online conference, using only free software tools, much +like the excellent LibrePlanet 2020[6]. I love GNU Emacs[7], and use +it more than any other program. GNU Emacs helps me do a wide variety +of tasks such as programming, reading and composing emails, and +chatting via IRC. + +[3] https://www.gnu.org +[4] https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/ +[5] https://emacsconf.org/2019 +[6] https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020 +[7] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ + +More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I have +been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the GNU Savannah[8] +infrastructure with help from veteran Savannah hacker Bob Proulx, +gradually learning and picking up tasks helping with the +administration and maintenance of Savannah. I am also a member of the +Systems Committee of my university's computer science club, overseeing +and maintaining a large fleet of GNU/Linux servers for our club +members. + +[8] https://savannah.gnu.org + +For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be working +with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping with +the free software forge[9] project, as well as various improvements +for gnu.org. I look forward to learning many new things and picking +up valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional +tech team, who do *so much* for the GNU project and the wider free +software community. + +[9] https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration + + + -*- + +Copyright (c) 2020 bandali + +Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, +are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright +notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is, +without any warranty. + +this file: https://bndl.org/fsf-internship-intro.txt