by bandali -on May 29, 2020 (also -in plain text)
- -Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's
-sysadmin blog:
-Introducing
-Amin 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. 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 -license.
- -My involvement with the GNU -Project started in 2016, first as a volunteer webmaster, and later -as one of the maintainers of -GNUzilla and -IceCat late last year. Also around the same time, I led a group -of volunteers in organizing and holding -EmacsConf 2019 as a -completely online conference, using only free software tools, much -like the excellent -LibrePlanet -2020. I love GNU -Emacs, 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.
- -More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I -have been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the -GNU Savannah 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.
- -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 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.
- -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.
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