Participate in supporting the FSD by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the #fsf channel on freenode.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the FSD contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained volunteers.

While the FSD has been and continues to be a great resource to the world over the past decade, it has the potential of being a resource of even greater value. But it needs your help!

This week we're having a focus on reaching out to maintainers of packages to help keep their entries up to date. Plenty of maintainers like to add their package to the directory in order to take advantage of all the extra publicity it can bring to a project. But keeping things up to date will have the most impact, letting users know that the package is still under active development. So this week we'll be reaching out to maintainers to help get their directory entry looking the best it can.

If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today! There are also weekly FSD Meetings pages that everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each meeting.

Every week free software activists from around the world come together in #fsf on irc.freenode.org to help improve the Free Software Directory. This recaps the work we accomplished on the Friday, November 11th, 2016 meeting.

Last week was a live meeting at the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference. Iankelling and donaldr3 were joined by helpful attendees in checking whether their favorite free software packages were already included in the directory. While the directory is very robust these days, most packages suggested were actually already included, there were a few new entries added. It was just a great opportunity to meet with people who weren't already involved in the directory and to help them get involved by learning about the project.

On the channel, there was also a long discussion about updating the requirements for the directory. The channel discussed two different scenarios which we have name 'bait and surrender' and 'freedom betrayed'. In 'bait and surrender', a developer offers an inferior free software version of their work in attempt to get users to surrender their freedom and switch to a more fully featured proprietary version. In 'freedom betrayed', a formerly free software project changes to a proprietary license. In both cases, we want to make clear to users that while there may be a free software version available that they have to be wary of the project, and understand that there are proprietary versions. The channel came up with a proposal to tag these different situations, which is now being discussed on the mailing list.

The meeting concluded with deciding that the next meeting should focus on contacting maintainers to help them include their packages on the directory or keep their entries up to date.

If you would like to help update the directory, meet with us every Friday in #fsf on irc.freenode.org from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST (18:00 to 20:00 UTC).

Participate in supporting the FSD by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the #fsf channel on freenode.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the FSD contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained volunteers.

While the FSD has been and continues to be a great resource to the world over the past decade, it has the potential of being a resource of even greater value. But it needs your help!

This week we're having an in person meeting at the Seattle GNU/Linux conference. If you are going to be at the conference (attendance is gratis!) join Iankelling and donaldr3 in the expo hall at the usual meeting time (10:00 a.m. PST) for a directory hackfest. If you can't make it to the conference, we'll still be working in the #fsf channel, so make sure to join us their as well.

If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today! There are also weekly FSD Meetings pages that everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each meeting.

Every week free software activists from around the world come together in #fsf on irc.freenode.org to help improve the Free Software Directory. This recaps the work we accomplished on the Friday, November 4th, 2016 meeting.

Last week was a free for all meeting where we worked on a variety of projects. Iankelling worked through a huge chunk of the approval backlog, approving tons of new entries for the directory. beloved had some suggestions for updating the home page of the directory, such as linking to the meeting announcements there, which we were able to implement. They also had some suggestions about the requirements, which they're putting to the mailing list for further discussion. There's more work to be done in refining the requirements to ensure the directory is a great resource for finding only freedom respecting packages, and we will be discussing that more at the next meeting. The upcoming meeting will have a live component as well as we have some space at the upcoming Seattle GNU/Linux conference to work as a group. We hope to see more of you there!

If you would like to help update the directory, meet with us every Friday in #fsf on irc.freenode.org from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST (18:00 to 20:00 UTC).

The GNU Project is built by volunteers from all around the globe. For many packages, sharing your code involves assigning copyright on your changes to the Free Software Foundation (FSF). This enables us to enforce the terms of the license on packages like the GNU Compiler Collection and the GNU C Library to ensure that the software always remains free. In 2010, we wrote that contributors from 66 different countries had assigned their copyright to the FSF. At that time, and for about 30 years prior, each assignment required sending paper documents via the international post, not always an easy or inexpensive process.

In 2012, the FSF announced that it would begin accepting scanned documents for assignments of copyright for contributors residing in the United States. We then set about a long process of trying to expand the countries where we could accept scanned documents. While a few countries have been added over the years, the ultimate goal has always been to smooth the assignment process for all contributors.

Today we have achieved that goal. With the advice of counsel, we can begin accepting scanned copies of assignments from all contributors, regardless of where they reside. With a small update to our assignment contract, we can finally make it possible for all contributors to avoid having to send their forms via the post.

This doesn't end our process. There are lots of ways to sign documents these days, including using GNU Privacy Gaurd or other forms of digital signature. We will keep working to smooth that process and make more options available. While there is still more work to do to make the process as simple as possible, this is one big step that will help contributors from all around the world to share their code.