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[~bandali/bndl.org] / 2020 / 05 / 29 / fsf-internship-intro.txt

Internship with the FSF tech team
---------------------------------

    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.

published: 2020-05-29
this file: https://bndl.org/2020/05/29/fsf-internship-intro.txt