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You are here: Home › Free Software Supporter › 2014 › Free Software Supporter - Issue 78, September 2014

Free Software Supporter - Issue 78, September 2014

by wtheaker Contributions — Published on Sep 30, 2014 05:00 PM
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 83,090 other activists. That's 653 more than last month!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Free Software Foundation statement on the GNU Bash "shellshock" vulnerability
  • Install libreCMC, an FSF-endorsed GNU/Linux distribution, on your wireless router today!
  • FSF and Debian join forces to help free software users find the hardware they need
  • Free Software Foundation statement on the new iPhone, Apple Pay, and Apple Watch
  • ThinkPenguin wireless router now FSF-certified to respect your freedom
  • LibrePlanet is coming March 21-22, 2015: Propose a session!
  • IPA Font license added to license list
  • Bring the FSF to your campus!
  • Tor Challenge hits it out of the park
  • Interview with GNU remotecontrol
  • Interview with Bitcoin Armory
  • Happy Software Freedom Day!
  • Italy: High Court shoots down Windows tax
  • GNU MediaGoblin 0.7.1 released
  • Recaps of September's Free Software Directory meetings
  • Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory
  • LibrePlanet featured resource: GNU Guix wishlist
  • GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 14 new GNU releases!
  • GNU Toolchain update
  • Richard Stallman's speaking schedule
  • Thank GNUs!
  • GNU copyright contributions
  • Take action with the FSF

Free Software Foundation statement on the GNU Bash "shellshock" vulnerability

From September 25th

A major security vulnerability has been discovered in the free software shell GNU Bash. The most serious issues have already been fixed and GNU/Linux distributions are working quickly to release updated packages for their users. All Bash users should upgrade immediately, and audit the list of remote network services running on their systems.

Although bugs happen no matter how the software is licensed, when a bug is discovered in free software, everyone has the permission, rights, and source code to expose and fix the problem.

Install libreCMC, an FSF-endorsed GNU/Linux distribution, on your wireless router today!

From September 4th

This month we added libreCMC, an embedded GNU/Linux project, to our list of recommended distributions. The wireless network router is a ubiquitous device found in almost every home or business. Virtually all routers on the market today ship with proprietary operating systems. With libreCMC, users can now replace the proprietary operating system on many routers with a 100% free software operating system.

Press release:

FSF and Debian join forces to help free software users find the hardware they need

From September 8th

The FSF and the Debian Project have announced cooperation to expand and enhance h-node, a database to help users learn and share information about computers that work with free software operating systems.

Free Software Foundation statement on the new iPhone, Apple Pay, and Apple Watch

From September 9th

In response to Apple's new iPhone models, watch, and payment service, FSF executive director John Sullivan made a statement encouraging users to avoid all Apple products, in the interest of their own freedom and the freedom of those around them.

Defective by Design has also made a shareable graphic listing a few of the many ways Apple products restrict your freedoms.

ThinkPenguin wireless router now FSF-certified to respect your freedom

From September 12th

The FSF has awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the ThinkPenguin Wireless N-Broadband Router (TPE-NWIFIROUTER). The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. This is the first router to receive RYF certification from the FSF.

LibrePlanet is coming March 21-22, 2015: Propose a session!

From September 16th

LibrePlanet 2015 is coming! We're excited to announce that next year's conference will be held March 21-22, 2015 in Cambridge, MA. The Free Software Foundation is teaming up with the Student Information Processing Board at MIT once again to bring you a conference you won't want to miss.

Blog post:

Press release:

IPA Font license added to license list

From September 15th

We recently updated our list of various licenses and comments about them to include the IPA Font license. It is a copyleft free software license for fonts, incompatible with the GPL. The IPA Font is one of the few freely licensed high quality TrueType fonts available for Japanese characters, so verifying that the license is actually free is an important step for Japanese hackers.

Bring the FSF to your campus!

From September 5th

The Free Software Foundation is going back to school. We're planning a campus speaking tour and would love to come to your college or university.

Tor Challenge hits it out of the park

From September 23rd

If you need to be anonymous online, or evade digital censorship and surveillance, the Tor network has your back. And it's more than a little bit stronger now than it was this spring, thanks to the Tor Challenge.

Interview with GNU remotecontrol

From September 5th

As part of our interview series with developers who choose GNU licenses, we talked to Stephen H. Dawson and the rest of the GNU remotecontrol project, a web application for managing building automation devices. GNU remotecontrol is licensed under the terms of GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or (at your option) any later version.

Interview with Bitcoin Armory

From September 26th

As part of our interview series with developers who choose GNU licenses, we talked to Alan Reiner, core developer of Bitcoin Armory, a bitcoin wallet focused on security. Bitcoin Armory is licensed under the terms of GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or (at your option) any later version.

Happy Software Freedom Day!

From September 18th

This is the eleventh year of Software Freedom Day, with people holding events in almost one hundred countries.

Italy: High Court shoots down Windows tax

By FSF Europe, from September 12th

Italy's High Court has struck a blow to the practice of forcing non-free software on buyers of PCs and laptops. According to La Repubblica, the court ruled on Thursday that a laptop buyer was entitled to receive a refund for the price of the Microsoft Windows license on their computer.

GNU MediaGoblin 0.7.1 released

By Chris Webber, from September 22nd

GNU MediaGoblin 0.7.1 has been relased, fixing bugs in GNU MediaGoblin 0.7.0.

Recaps of September's Free Software Directory meetings

Each Friday the free software community comes together to update the Free Software Directory. Here's what happened during September's meetings:

September 5:

September 12:

September 26:

Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory

From September 29th

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.

To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.gnu.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Everyone's welcome.

The next meeting is Friday, October 3 from 2pm to 5pm EDT (18:00 to 21:00 UTC). Details here:

After this meeting, you can check https://www.fsf.org/events to see the rest of October's weekly meetings as they are scheduled.

LibrePlanet featured resource: GNU Guix wishlist

Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.

For this month, we are highlighting the GNU Guix wishlist, which catalogues packages for GNU Guix (pronounced like "geeks"), a package manager for the GNU system. Try your hand at packaging some software or add a program to the wishlist.

Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at campaigns@fsf.org.

GNU Spotlight with Karl Berry: 14 new GNU releases!

14 new GNU releases in the last month (as of September 25, 2014)

To get announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu. Nearly all GNU software is available from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, or preferably one of its mirrors (http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html). You can use the url http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror.

This month, we welcome Nik Nyby as a new co-maintainer of GNU librejs.

A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html. To submit new packages to the GNU operating system, see http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html.

As always, please feel free to write to me, karl@gnu.org, with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments.

GNU Toolchain update

From September 29th

The GNU toolchain refers to the part of the GNU system which is used for building programs. These components of GNU are together often on other systems and for compiling programs for other platforms.

This month features improvements to GCC and coreutils.

Richard Stallman's speaking schedule

For event details, as well as to sign-up to be notified for future events in your area, please visit https://www.fsf.org/events.

So far, Richard Stallman has the following events this month:

Thank GNUs!

We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, but we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month.

This month, a big Thank GNU to:

  • Minoru Sekine
  • Harley Gorrell
  • Ian McLean
  • Nathan Chan
  • Nicklas Nidhögg
  • Taylor Gunnoe

You can add your name to this list by donating at https://donate.fsf.org.

GNU copyright contributions

Assigning your copyright to the Free Software Foundation helps us defend the GPL and keep software free. The following individuals (and twenty-six others) have assigned their copyright to the FSF in the past month:

  • Joshua Pettus (XBoard/WinBoard)
  • Katherine Wasserman (GNU Awk)
  • Friedrich Beckmann (PSPP)
  • Perry E. Metzger (GNU Emacs)
  • Stefan Oltmanns (glibc)
  • Philip Sainty (GNU Emacs)
  • Marco Wahl (GNU Emacs)

Want to see your name on this list? Contribute to GNU and assign your copyright to the FSF.

https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#dev

Take action with the FSF

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://www.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like:

I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! https://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442

The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (https://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA, and more.

Copyright © 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

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