Announcements
Brief items
CERN OHL v.1.2 call for comments
The CERN Open Hardware License version 1.2 is available for comments and feedback. "The main changes were introduced in article 3 of the licence. One point in particular is still under discussion and concerns article 3.3(e) – attempting to send modifications to the Licensors whose design was modified and those who requested it. On the one hand questions of practicalities arise – does every minor modification/debugging need to be sent to everyone? – while on the other it may be perceived as a fair return, for contributors, to be notified of modifications that were made. Your input and suggestions on this point are most welcome!" (Thanks to Paul Wise)
The Document Foundation will be based in Berlin
The Document Foundation has announced that its long-awaited legal entity will be based in Berlin. "'After many months of work in close cooperation with the authorities, we were able to keep the spirit of the community bylaws, and incorporate them into legally binding statutes, that ensure the promises that TDF has made in its manifesto', says Michael (Mike) Schinagl, a Berlin-based lawyer and contributor to various free software projects, who has been driving the legal aspects of the foundation set-up from the very beginning."
GNU Project renews focus on free software in education
The GNU Project has announced the relaunch of its worldwide volunteer-led effort to bring free software to educational institutions of all levels. "The newly formed GNU Education Team is being led by Dora Scilipoti, an Italian free software activist and teacher. Under her leadership, the Team has developed a list of specific goals to guide their work..."
LPI joins Linux Foundation
The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) has become a member of the Linux Foundation. ""LPI represents many Linux professionals from around the globe and we have been promoting the professional use of Linux and Open Source since 1999. Our membership in The Linux Foundation is a natural partnership for us given our long-standing history of industry and community cooperation. We look forward to working with The Linux Foundation to enhance the open source ecosystem that supports innovation and evolution in this dynamic industry," said Jim Lacey, president and CEO of LPI."
Articles of interest
Opponents protest signing of ACTA without adequate debate (ars technica)
ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) was called "more dangerous than SOPA" by US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), as ars technica reports. "Kader Arif, a French member of the European Parliament from the Socialist Party, had been assigned to be a rapporteur on ACTA, meaning that he was asked to study the issue and deliver a report on the subject. But he resigned in protest on Thursday. ”I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement," he said, according to one translation. "No inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament's demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.”"
FOSDEM speaker interviews
The last set of interviews with FOSDEM speakers has been released. This list includes Juan David Gonzalez Cobas and Javier Serrano (open hardware), Bryan Østergaard (community management), Ben Klang (Adhearsion), Soren Hansen (monitoring), Kristian Høgsberg (Wayland), Anil Madhavapeddy (UNIX I/O), Carl-Daniel Hailfinger (coreboot), and Claire Corgnou (average Jane and Joe).Garrett: The ongoing fight against GPL enforcement
Matthew Garrett has posted a complaint about an attempt to create a permissively-licensed busybox and calls for kernel developers to be more aggressive in enforcing their copyrights. "The real problem here is that the [Software Freedom Conservancy's] reliance on Busybox means that they're only able to target infringers who use that Busybox code. No significant kernel copyright holders have so far offered to allow the SFC to enforce their copyrights, with the result that enforcement action will grind to a halt as vendors move over to this Busybox replacement. So, if you hold copyright over any part of the Linux kernel, I'd urge you to get in touch with them. The alternative is a strangely ironic world where Sony are simultaneously funding lobbying for copyright enforcement against individuals and tools to help large corporations infringe at will."
Kuhn: Some Thoughts on Conservancy's GPL Enforcement
Bradley Kuhn has posted a lengthy explanation of the Software Freedom Conservancy's GPL enforcement activities and the demands they make. "I started using this request regularly around 2002 because violators express a concern that, if they came into compliance due to my efforts, what was to stop others from coming to complain, in sequence, and wasting their time? I suggested that if they came into compliance all at once, on all FLOSS licenses involved, it would be easy for me to be on their side, should someone else complain. Namely, I'd come to their defense and say: 'Yes, they were out of compliance, but we've checked everything and they're now in compliance throughout this product. Those who are now complaining are being unfair, since — while this violator had trouble initially — their compliance with all FLOSS licenses is now adequate'."
Seigo: The reveal
KDE developer Aaron Seigo writes about the "Spark", an upcoming unlocked €200 tablet that runs the KDE Plasma Active system. "This is more than just another piece of hardware on the market, though. This is a unique opportunity for Free software. Finally we have a device coming to market on our terms. It has been designed by and is usable by us on our terms. We are not waiting for some big company to give us what we desire, we're going out there and making it happen together. Just as important: the proceeds will be helping fuel the efforts that make this all possible."
Calls for Presentations
“CeBIT for all!”: Submit your entries now
CeBIT 2012 takes place March 6-10 in Hannover, Germany. Univention is organizing an Open Source stage at this year’s CeBIT in Hall 2. "This stage will play host to an extensive stage programme on all trade fair days with contributions from important Open Source projects and companies, discussions and expert interviews. Under the motto “CeBIT for all!” Univention is also offering projects and small companies the chance to apply for a free presentation slot. The call for paper will run until the 25th February 2012."
Ohio LinuxFest Opens 10th Call for Talks
Ohio Linuxfest 2012 will take place September 28-30 in Columbus, Ohio. The call for talks closes July 6, 2012.
Upcoming Events
XFS Developers meeting in San Francisco
There will be a meeting of XFS developers on April 3, 2012 in San Francisco, California. The meeting will take place during the 6th Annual Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit.Libre Graphics Meeting 2012
The 2012 Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM) will take place May 2-5 in Vienna, Austria. "LGM gives software developers, artists, designers and other graphics professionals the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other."
Events: February 2, 2012 to April 2, 2012
The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| January 31 February 2 |
Ubuntu Developer Week | #ubuntu-classroom, irc.freenode.net |
| February 4 February 5 |
Free and Open Source Developers Meeting | Brussels, Belgium |
| February 6 February 10 |
Linux on ARM: Linaro Connect Q1.12 | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| February 7 February 8 |
Open Source Now 2012 | Geneva, Switzerland |
| February 10 February 12 |
Linux Vacation / Eastern Europe Winter session 2012 | Minsk, Belarus |
| February 10 February 12 |
Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering | Oslo, Norway |
| February 13 February 14 |
Android Builder's Summit | Redwood Shores, CA, USA |
| February 15 February 17 |
2012 Embedded Linux Conference | Redwood Shores, CA, USA |
| February 16 February 17 |
Embedded Technology Conference 2012 | San José, Costa Rica |
| February 17 February 18 |
Red Hat, Fedora, JBoss Developer Conference | Brno, Czech Republic |
| February 24 February 25 |
PHP UK Conference 2012 | London, UK |
| February 27 March 2 |
ConFoo Web Techno Conference 2012 | Montreal, Canada |
| February 28 | Israeli Perl Workshop 2012 | Ramat Gan, Israel |
| March 2 March 4 |
Debian BSP in Cambridge | Cambridge, UK |
| March 2 March 4 |
BSP2012 - Moenchengladbach | Mönchengladbach, Germany |
| March 5 March 7 |
14. German Perl Workshop | Erlangen, Germany |
| March 6 March 10 |
CeBIT 2012 | Hannover, Germany |
| March 7 March 15 |
PyCon 2012 | Santa Clara, CA, USA |
| March 10 March 11 |
Open Source Days 2012 | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| March 10 March 11 |
Debian BSP in Perth | Perth, Australia |
| March 16 March 17 |
Clojure/West | San Jose, CA, USA |
| March 17 March 18 |
Chemnitz Linux Days | Chemnitz, Germany |
| March 23 March 24 |
Cascadia IT Conference (LOPSA regional conference) | Seattle, WA, USA |
| March 24 March 25 |
LibrePlanet 2012 | Boston, MA, USA |
| March 26 April 1 |
Wireless Battle of the Mesh (V5) | Athens, Greece |
| March 26 March 29 |
EclipseCon 2012 | Washington D.C., USA |
| March 28 March 29 |
Palmetto Open Source Software Conference 2012 | Columbia, South Carolina, USA |
| March 28 | PGDay Austin 2012 | Austin, TX, USA |
| March 29 | Program your own open source system-on-a-chip (OpenRISC) | London, UK |
| March 30 | PGDay DC 2012 | Sterling, VA, USA |
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol