At SCALE 23x, we had the opportunity to speak with Harlan Stenn, President and Board Chair of the Network Time Foundation.

Harlan shared how he began using FreeBSD in the early days, testing it alongside other systems, and ultimately chose to run it on all his machines because it was stable, reliable, and simply worked.

It’s always powerful to hear from long-time contributors who have seen FreeBSD evolve over decades and still trust it today.

#FreeBSD #SCALE23x #OpenSource #NTP #Community

I have an #opensource dilemma. There’s a small python library I use a lot called word_cloud. It’s on GitHub, PyPI, etc. I think it’s a bit neglected. There are like 30+ pull requests open, the owner is not really doing much with it. I want to fork it, accept some of the PRs into my fork and start using my forked version. Here are my questions:

1. I use a self-hosted gitea for my code. It allows GitHub auth, so it would be easy to allow collaborators. But I worry about discovery. People looking for the old one on GitHub won’t find the new one off GitHub. I don’t want AI PRs and AI bots pestering me. I don’t want my fork/my work hosted on GitHub. Any gotchas around using a #selfhosted git and collaborating?

2. Should I maintain it as a fork with the same name, or should I create a new name? I guess if I want to register it at PyPI and such, it needs a distinct name.

3. It uses old pip and setup.py and stuff. I want to use uv for modern package management. If I totally rejigger the project, it is a “hard fork”. There will be minimal code sharing between my version and the original. Should I care? Should I consider keeping my changes localised so some stuff might get backported? I’m leaning toward leaving the old behind and just doing new. It’s not like it’s a big thriving project with a huge community.

If I do this, it will be the first open source package where I’m the maintainer. So I don’t have a lot of experience to draw on. Just asking for tips from experienced maintainers. Especially if they #selfhost a repo.

https://codeberg.org/NerdNextDoor/evi

#evi #vim #ai #opensource

Is #AI killing #opensource software?: https://thenewstack.io/is-ai-killing-open-source-software/ via @TheNewStack & @sjvn

No, but it's certainly changing its fundamental assumptions.

😲…I just realized #FediCon is in the *same* venue as #FOSSY just *3* days before FOSSY starts!

I'm sad we weren't all in touch as maybe together we coulda gotten a better venue deal, but I hope #Fediverse folks going to event will be able stay in Vancouver for FOSSY!

Also, I suspect #SFC would welcome a Fediverse track at FOSSY…
https://sfconservancy.org/fossy/community-tracks/
…maybe as a B-sides event for overflow talks?

Cc: @reiver @evan @ossguy @karen

#ActivityPub #FOSS #OpenSource #Mastodon

Episode 7 of Dark Blue Weekly released

https://darkblueraven.com/sites/news/dbw-e7.php

#darkblueweekly #darkblueproject #opensource #freesoftware #linux #linuxfromscratch #grapheneos #budgiedesktop #cinnamondesktop #linuxmint #libvirt

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/116189938186518281

Great! 👍 But look, guys, even if you maybe don't want to directly badmouth Microsoft, you don't have to keep pretending that most people prefer it.

Yes, there'll be minor switching abrasion; familiarity is a strong motivator - but I assure you, the number of users who *want to* work in MS Office or Windows is well witin a single-digit percentage.

- which also means feel free to improve on the experience. "We're not Big Tech" is not your only selling point.

#privacy #OpenSource #QuitBigTech

New on #blog: "Money isn’t going to solve the #burnout problem"

"""
The xz-utils backdoor situation brought the problem of FLOSS maintained burnout into the daylight. This in turn lead to numerous discussion on how to solve the problem, and the recurring theme was funding maintenance work.

While I’m definitely not opposed to giving people money for their FLOSS work, if you think that throwing some bucks will actually solve the problem, and especially if you think that you can just throw them once and then forget, I have bad news for you: it won’t. Surely, money is a big part of the problem, but it’s not the only reason people are getting burned out. It’s a systemic problem, and it’s in need of systemic solution, and that’s involves a lot of hard work undo everything that’s happened in the last, say, 20 years.

But let’s start at the beginning and ask the important question: why do people make free software?
"""

https://blogs.gentoo.org/mgorny/2026/03/07/money-isnt-going-to-solve-the-burnout-problem/

#FreeSoftware #OpenSource #AI #NoAI #LLM #NoLLM #Gentoo

We spoke with a new FreeBSD user who shared how he’s exploring the system and learning more about features like jails while working through the book Absolute FreeBSD. He also mentioned that he stopped by the booth after seeing on our website that FreeBSD would be at SCALE.

If you're new to FreeBSD and looking for a place to start, we’ve put together resources to help guide you:
https://freebsdfoundation.org/freebsd/new-to-freebsd/

What helped you most when you first started using FreeBSD?

#FreeBSD #SCALE23x #OpenSource

There is a silver lining to the whole #python #chardet debacle. If it is legal to throw a pile of code at an LLM, and tell it to write a new version of that code that is not a derivative then that gives us a lot of options too.

GPL compatible #ZFS? no problem! #ReactOS from the leaked NT/2k sources? No problem!

Maybe this is a golden age for the collapse of proprietary software after all. If they can do an end run around the #GPL we can do an end run around the #EULA.

#opensource

Maintaining open source projects is mostly a thankless task, but very occasionally a very kind soul drops their appreciation and thanks, and it really does make your day 🥰

▶️ Take a moment sometimes to thank the maintainers of open source projects you value!

#OpenSource #OSS #Positivity #Appreciation #Tech

With my #FOSDEM, #ConfConf, and many other hats on:

We will be organizing another https://ConfConf.org ! An (un)conference about organizing conferences.

6th and 7th of June in #Sofia, #Bulgaria

Same as last year, we will be focusing on #OpenSource and #Community conferences. We will either remain invite -only or closely review all registrations to make sure it's community people.

1/n

Yooooo, this is exciting. I've always written off #arm #chomebook as un-saveable since they can't be jailbroken with MrChomebox.

I just got like 50 of these Asus C100P arm chromebooks that are "expired". Digging around, it looks like #postmarketOS will run on this!

Still stuff to figure out but DAMN this is promising. Being able to save even ARM chromebooks is epic. Dammit I love #linux and #openSource

Alt...

Asus Chromebook booting up to Postmarket OS

In our latest blog post, we explain our motivation for engaging in standards, reflect on conversations with maintainers, and outline the reasoning behind our current survey. The survey is still open and we encourage you to contribute your perspective.

➡️ Read our blog post: https://www.sovereign.tech/news/open-standards

➡️ Participate in the survey (runs until March, 9th): https://survey.sovereigntechfund.de/999999

#OpenStandards #OpenSource #TechStandards #Interoperability #FOSS

(2/2)

This week the European Commission published the draft for a guidance document for the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). It is 70 pages, but contains some helpful examples and flowcharts, like this one, making it accessible even to Open Source folks with limited time.

Here: Quick guidance for the question if your FOSS component is in scope for the CRA, and if so, wether you're deemed a steward or manufacturer in regards of the component.

#opensource #cra

Alt...

A flowchart illustrating if your FOSS component is in scope of the CRA, and if you're deemed to be a manufacturer or steward.

An update on GNOME Calendar: Georges livestreamed himself reviewing and merging parts of merge request !598, making the month view easier than ever to navigate with a keyboard!

This merge request introduces a coordinate-aware navigation system in the month view, which computes the coordinates of relevant event widgets and finds the nearest widget relative to the one in focus when using arrow keys. When tabbing, focus moves chronologically, meaning focus continues to move down until there are no event widgets overlaying that specific cell, which then moves focus to the topmost event widget found in the next cells or rows; tabbing backwards goes in the opposite direction.

To illustrate the sheer complexity of navigation in a calendaring app, here is Georges's live reaction:

"Wow, congratulations, this is looking INSANE, Hari... The hell is going on here"

— Georges, maintainer of GNOME Calendar - https://youtu.be/smofXzVwNwQ?t=1h24m6s

#GNOMECalendar #GNOME #GTK4 #libadwaita #accessibility #a11y #FOSS #OpenSource #Linux

Everyone, rejoice 🙌

Georges livestreamed himself reviewing and merging accessibility contributions in GNOME Calendar again, specifically the entirety of merge request !564 — introducing keyboard-navigable month cells.

This means, as of GNOME 50, GNOME Calendar's month view will be 100% navigable with a keyboard for the first time in its history! The only thing that needs to be done now is interfacing with assistive technologies such as screen readers properly.

Do note that the screen recording attached won't have any alt text, to avoid redundancy. Everything written below is a detailed explanation of the experience, and the recording is essentially a visual demonstration:

- When tabbing between events, focus moves chronologically, meaning focus continues to move down until there are no event widgets overlaying that specific cell, which then moves focus to the topmost event widget found in the next cells or rows; tabbing backwards with Shift+Tab goes in the opposite direction.
- On the last event widget, pressing Tab moves focus to the adjacent month cell. Conversely, Ctrl+Tab on any event widget does the same thing.
- Pressing an activation button (such as Enter or Space) displays the popover for creating event. Additionally, pressing and holding Shift while pressing arrow keys selects every cell between the start and end positions, until the Shift key is released, which displays the popover with the selected range.

Both merge requests !564 and !598 have taken almost an entire year to explore various approaches and finally settle on an approach that works the best for our use case. All of this was done voluntarily, without any financial backing from any entity apart from donors and people sharing these posts to others — something that keyboard navigation in the vast majority, if not all, of views in (proprietary) calendaring apps developed by trillion-dollar companies have not even managed to reach feature parity. If it is not too much trouble, please consider funding my accessibility work on GNOME, thank you ♥️

#GNOMECalendar #GNOME #Accessibility #a11y #Calendar #GTK #libadwaita #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #FOSS #OSS #Linux

My first peer-reviewed paper! "Queer(ing) Epistemology through Intersectional Data Science: Relational Knowledge and Affective Queries with TMI-WEB", co-authored with Dr Jess Parris Westbrook, was accepted by the Design Research Society!

The paper will be published in open access format later this year, and is being presented at the DRS conference in Edinburgh in June. You can register at https://drs2026.thedrs.org/home.

#EthicalSource #OpenSource #OpenScience #Queering

"A win for ethical source in open science: TMI-WEB awarded grant by the Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA)"

https://ethicalsource.dev/blog/tmi-web-grant/

#EthicalSource #opensource #OpenScience #Design #socialccience

Many, many years ago, I played Escape Velocity on a friend's Mac. It was fun: a top-down 2D game with Elite-like mechanics.

When I got my own Mac (still in the distant past, but about 8 years later), I looked it up and saw that the latest instalment in the series was EV Nova, which improved the graphics and had more story.

A year or two ago, I decided to see if it worked on a new Mac and discovered that there was no x86 version (PowerPC only), so no chance of getting it to work on Apple's Arm cores. Apparently you can run the Windows version under WINE under Rosetta2 but that seemed like way too much effort.

So I was incredibly happy to discover Endless Sky, an open-source game inspired by (but not directly copying) the Escape Velocity series. It has everything I remember enjoying in Escape Velocity. It has wasted quite a lot of hours of my evenings / weekends over the last couple of weeks (but in a good way). And they're constantly adding new bits to the universe, new story lines, and so on. I thought I'd finished it, only to discover that the part of the galaxy I'd explored was only 50% of the whole thing.

#EscapeVelocity #EndlessSky #Games #GamesNostalgia #OpenSource

The Ghost project promptly merged a PR I made make find-replace safer by default. That response prompted me to contribute more, this time by making find-replace to be even safer by default, now by saving a new "post revision" by default.

(I heard @cathy was interested in this feature)

https://github.com/TryGhost/gctools/pull/694

https://github.com/TryGhost/gctools/issues/697

#ghost #opensource

The ultimate guide to #OpenSource #Observability in 2026: From silos to stacks https://clickhouse.com/resources/engineering/best-open-source-observability-solutions

Is anyone working on an open data standard/protocol for moving context and history between AI platforms? Is this a path to more data autonomy?

This could be something for FOSS institutions to get behind as a practical contribution to the field. We don't need better definitions, we need that freedom you've been talking about all these years.

#ai #opensource #ethicalsource