120 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
120 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2026-08-17">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>Working in the Engine Room of the FSFE</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Working in the Engine Room of the FSFE</h1>
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<p>All spaceships need a control room and all control rooms need
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someone to run it. At the FSFE that is our System Hackers, a group of
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volunteers who are the backbone behind our IT
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infrastructure, the ones making sure that our blinking
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lights show green (and not red!). Since 2022, our colleague Tobias
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has been part of it. Let’s learn more about it with him!</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/8c/36/a70f659fc1b6ce63b25c1d113b93.jpg" alt="dasdf"/>
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</figure>
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<p>Once per year, <a
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href="https://docs.fsfe.org/en/teams/system-hackers">the System Hackers
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of the FSFE</a> meet in person to spend a weekend focusing on the IT
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infrastructure of the FSFE and spend some time together. This year, we
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meet in Frankfurt in the rooms of the <a
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href="https://ccc-ffm.de/">CCCFFM</a> a couple of days ago. Our goal for
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2026? To work on the LDAP setup of the organisation, the Matrix server,
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the website and debugging network settings in the data centers. This was
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my fourth System Hackers meeting, as I have attended them
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since a joined the FSFE as staff. So how did I end up there and at the
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FSFE?</p>
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<p>My interest in Software Freedom started in the middle of the 1990s
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when a new version of the operative system Windows was released. I
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realised that the hand-down computer I just got from my dad was way too
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old to run this new version of the operating system and I
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started to look for alternatives. I found a Free Software operating system, everything worked good
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and then never looked over. In retrospect, <a
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href="/freesoftware/sustainability/sustainability.html">a
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similar sustainability problem</a> that many people are currently facing
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with the end of support of Windows 10. But sooner or later I realised
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that computers got more and more important for society. </p>
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<p>Years later, I was getting more aware about how important computers
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were becoming for our society and when studying physics at the
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university, I came by a booth of the FSFE during one of the Brandenburg
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Linuxtage and we got talking. Shortly after I started to come to the
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group meetings of the <a href="https://docs.fsfe.org/en/LocalGroups/Active/Berlin">Berlin Local
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group of the FSFE</a> – and stayed. The sustainability problem is one
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thing we at the Berlin group are trying to help with with support under
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the <a href="https://endof10.org/">End of 10 campaign</a> during our
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meetings and for example, with workshops at public libraries. After the
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pandemic I was looking for a new job and I found it at the FSFE in 2022. I am very
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happy to have found one, as as technical help-desk and system
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administrator, that let me contribute with my technical skills
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to the work of the System Hackers to support the FSFE and its work for
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Software Freedom in Europe while I continue to be involved as a
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volunteer in other activities.
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</p>
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<h3>Who are the System Hackers of the FSFE</h3>
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<p>They are a crew of volunteers who make sure that the FSFE engines are
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running. They deal with daily system administration tasks within <a
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href="/news/2021/news-20211203-01.html">the IT
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infrastructure, the backbone of the FSFE</a>. For most of it we are using
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upstream Free Software components to run the servers and services that
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lawyers, policy makers and local groups need to do their work for
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Software Freedom. <a
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href="/activities/fsfe25/fsfe25.html">During the last
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25 years</a> most needs of the FSFE could be satisfied by
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existing upstream Free Software products and projects, but for some
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aspects of the work we had to develop our own custom software, e.g. <a
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href="https://git.fsfe.org/fsfe-system-hackers/fsfe-cd">the community
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database</a> or <a href="https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/fsfe-website">the
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static site generator</a> for the main website. And naturally they are
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released as Free Software!</p>
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<p>Apart from the regular maintenance and modernisation work that any IT
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infrastructure needs, what are the current problem the System Hackers
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are facing? Right now the surge of resources caused by the raise of LLM
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usage is also one of the
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main problems for the System Administrator. Websites, documentation,
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code forges and other services need special care to withstand the
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plaguing scrapers. One the other hand, we need to ensure that the message
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about the work of the FSFE is not only available but also accessible for
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all parts of our audience. Hence we are constantly enhancing the for
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humans and bots alike.</p>
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<h3>Join the System Hackers: how you can help</h3>
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<p>Sharing is caring, and while System Hackers have a bus factor > 1,
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every helping hand supporting the FSFE and our work is welcome. Most of
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the services the FSFE is running is hosted on our own servers that need
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spare parts and regular maintenance. The easiest way for you to support
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the work of the System Hackers is to become <a href="/donate">a
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supporter of the FSFE</a>.</p>
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<p>If you want to help with a more hands-on approach, you can apply <a
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href="/about/jobs/internship">as technical intern</a>
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and work on IT projects within the FSFE's IT infrastructure. Or if you
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have technical expertise you want to bring in as volunteer, you can
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reach out to us or meet us at conferences around Europe (SFSCON, Chaos
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Congress or FOSDEM are good bets to meet someone of the System
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Hackers).</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="community">community</tag>
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<tag key="localgroup">localgroup</tag>
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<tag key="tech-teams">tech-teams</tag>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="highlights">highlights</tag>
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</tags>
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<discussion href="https://mastodon.social/@fsfe/"/>
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<image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/8c/36/a70f659fc1b6ce63b25c1d113b93.jpg" alt="dasdf"/>
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<translator/>
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</html> |