The latest installment of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works.

In this installment, I interviewed Kovid Goyal, the creator and lead developer of calibre, via email.

What is calibre?

Calibre is a free ebook library management application developed by users of ebooks for users of ebooks. Calibre is a vibrant community with half a dozen developers and many, many testers and bug reporters. It is used in over 200 countries and has been translated into a dozen different languages by volunteers. Calibre has become a comprehensive tool for the management of digital texts, allowing you to do whatever you could possibly imagine with your ebook library. Reading is very important to me and one of my goals has always been to prevent either the fragmentation or the monopolization of the ebook market by entities that care solely for short-term goals. As the calibre community continues to grow, driven by book lovers, for book lovers, hopefully it will always present an alternative for people that love to read ebooks and want to be in control of their own digital libraries.

How are people using it?

People use it to catalog their book collections, to manage their reading devices, to get access to periodicals in ebook form, to create ebooks in different formats, to share their ebook collections with their friends and family over the net, to read their books on their computers. Calibre has been downloaded by over 12 million people.

Why did you decide to release it under the GNU GPLv3?

Because I do not want people creating proprietary software based on my work. Calibre (all my work, really) has always been about the sharing and free propagation of ideas and information. The GNU GPL helps make that happen.

What is the best way for volunteers to help with the development of calibre?

Calibre has had contributions from dozens of people over the years (a limited list), if there is some calibre itch you want to scratch, hop in at: http://calibre-ebook.com/get-involved.

What is the best way for people without strong technical skills to help the project?

Translations, documentation, good bug reports, helping new users in the calibre forums, financial contributions, artwork, all of these are most welcome. Calibre would not be where it is today without its vibrant user community. Participating in an free software community like calibre is a great way to help make the world a better place.

What aspects of the project do you think could use the most help?

Calibre is doing pretty well, there isn't any particular aspect that needs help. I am a great believer in the scratching of itches. If you have ideas about how some part of calibre could be better, make it happen. Contributions are welcome.

Please see the calibre entry in the Free Software Directory for more information.

Enjoyed this interview? Check out our previous entry in this series featuring Jeremy Allison's talk about why Samba went with GPLv3.

GNU Press debuts navy blue and white embroidered GNU beanies.

Keep cozy this winter in our navy blue beanies with GNU embroidered in white on the side. They are 100% cotton, and the embroidered GNU logo is 2.16"H x 2.6"W. Pair the beanie with our hoodies in either the Free Software Free Society or GPLv3 designs, and you'll stay warm this winter while representing free software!

As always, if you can't find something in the store but think we should offer it, please add your suggestion to our Ideas page. And remember, associate members of the Free Software Foundation get a 20% discount on all purchases made through the GNU Press store, so if you are not a member already, join today!

To keep up with announcements about new products available in the GNU Press store, subscribe to the mailing list.

Spend a few minutes this Friday helping to add new entries and update existing ones on directory.fsf.org.

Join the FSF and friends on Friday December 14th, from 2:00pm to 5pm EDT (19:00 to 22:00 UTC) to help improve the Free Software Directory 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 Directory 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 Free Software Directory 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!

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!

¡22 paquetes de GNU lanzan una nueva versión!

• autoconf-archive-2012.11.14
• gengetopt-2.22.6
• libzrtpcpp-2.3.2
• automake-1.12.5
• global-6.2.5
• parallel-20121122
• binutils-2.23.1
• gnunet-0.9.4
• pyconfigure-0.1
• bison-2.6.5
• gnunet-gtk-0.9.4
• sipwitch-1.4.0
• ccrtp-2.0.5
• gnutls-3.1.5
• solfege-3.20.7
• complexity-1.0
• libmicrohttpd-0.9.23
• ucommon-6.0.1
• ed-1.7
• librejs-4.9.2
• freeipmi-1.2.3
• libtasn1-3.1

Para recibir los anuncios de los lanzamientos más recientes de los paquetes de GNU, suscríbete a la lista de correos info-gnu: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu. Casi todo el software de GNU está disponible para la descarga en http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ o, preferentemente, se puede descargar de alguno de sus mirrors (http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html). Desde la página http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/ se puede acceder automáticamente por redireccionamiento al mirror más cercano y actualizado (al menos así se espera).

Me gustaría mencionar especialmente la primer entrega de GNU pyconfigure http://www.gnu.org/software/pyconfigure/. Los desarrolladores que usan setup.py en Python para su paquete, ahora pueden usar los métodos GNU estándares de instalación con configure && make.

Otra mención especial para Ludovic Courtes por su nuevo paquete GNU, el sistema Guix http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/, que va de la mano con su trabajo sobre Guile.

También le damos la bienvenida a Dimitry Bogatov como el nuevo responsable de GNU Thales, Brian Lane y Phillip Susi en sus nuevos roles de co-responsables de GNU parted, Hellekin y Daniel Reusche como nuevos co-responsables de GNU social, Fabio Gonzalez como autor y responsabledel nuevo paquete GNU fcrypt, y Paulo Cesar Pereira de Andrade como responsable de GNU lightning.

Algunos paquetes de GNU, y también el sistema operativo GNU en su conjunto, están buscando encargados del mantenimiento y otras formas de colaboración. Si estás interesado en colaborar, puedes consultar la página http://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint. Los lineamientos generales acerca de cómo ayudar a GNU están en http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html. Para enviar nuevos paquetes para el sistema operativo GNU, consulta la página http://www.gnu.org/help/evaluation.html.

Como siempre, no dudes en escribirme a la dirección karl@gnu.org por cualquier consulta sobre GNU o sugerencias para instancias futuras.