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PSF has withdrawn $1.5M proposal to US Government grant program
6 months ago
- PSF submitted a proposal to the NSF in January 2025 to address structural vulnerabilities in Python and PyPI.
- The proposal was recommended for funding, but PSF had concerns over restrictive terms related to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).
- The NSF terms required PSF to affirm they would not operate any programs advancing DEI, conflicting with PSF's core values.
- PSF consulted NSF contacts and reviewed similar cases but ultimately decided to withdraw the application to uphold their mission.
- The rejected grant would have funded tools for proactive security reviews on PyPI, benefiting the broader open-source ecosystem.
- The $1.5 million grant would have significantly supported PSF's budget, but the Board unanimously prioritized values over funding.
- PSF now seeks financial support through memberships, donations, and sponsorships due to economic challenges.
FreeBSD Celebrates the Milestone of Reproducible Builds and No Root Needed
6 months ago
- FreeBSD 15.0 development focused on supporting reproducible builds.
- FreeBSD can now be built reproducibly and without requiring root privileges.
- Reproducible builds addressed timestamp differences, stable file ordering, and consistent build environments.
- No-root infrastructure eliminates the need for root privileges in the release pipeline.
- Changes are available in the FreeBSD development branch and being merged into FreeBSD 15.0.
- Improved security and simplified automated builds by removing root access requirements.
The Geomys Standard of Care
6 months ago
- Professionalizing open source maintenance allows for safer and more reliable projects through standards.
- The Geomys Standard of Care was developed by surveying recent supply chain compromises and expert feedback.
- Covers maintenance philosophy, stability, dependency management, security, vulnerability handling, licensing, and more.
- Future goals include adopting binary transparency tools and periodic reviews of browser extensions and OAuth apps.
- Projects under this standard include Go standard library packages, Staticcheck, Gotraceui, and more.
- Code review, complexity management, static analysis, and strict backwards compatibility are emphasized.
- Dependency management avoids automatic tools like Dependabot, focusing on govulncheck and isolated CI jobs.
- Phishing-resistant authentication is mandatory for critical accounts, with strict modes enabled where possible.
- Long-lived credentials are avoided; hardware-bound SSH keys are preferred.
- CI security includes zizmor for GitHub Actions, read-only workflows by default, and cache poisoning mitigations.
- Third-party access is limited; project abandonment leads to archiving rather than handover.
- Availability monitoring and transparency logging are in place for critical endpoints and domains.
- Vulnerability handling includes documented reporting mechanisms, honoring embargoes, and accurate CVE reporting.
- Permissive licenses like BSD-3-Clause, MIT, and Apache-2.0 are used.
- Geomys is funded by companies like Smallstep, Ava Labs, and Tailscale, ensuring sustainable open source maintenance.
Keep Android Open
6 months ago
- Google announced in August 2025 that starting next year, app development for Android will require central registration with Google.
- Registration requirements include paying a fee, agreeing to Google’s Terms and Conditions, providing government ID, uploading app signing keys, and listing all app identifiers.
- Actions to oppose the policy include signing an Open Letter in various countries like the EU, US, UK, and Brazil.
- References include overviews, press reactions, video responses, editorials, blogs, discussions, and official documentation.
PocketBase 2026: FLOSS/fund sponsorship and UI rewrite
6 months ago
- FLOSS/fund has decided to sponsor PocketBase, allowing the developer to work on it full-time for at least one year starting December.
- The main goal is to achieve a stable release by the end of next year, with a short-term focus on rewriting the UI.
- Current UI limitations include lack of dashboard customization, inability to extend UI for custom fields, OAuth2 providers, and system sections.
- The developer is exploring a new minimal frontend framework called Shablon, written in plain JavaScript with 0 dependencies, to avoid Node.js build steps and ensure long-term maintainability.
- A new PocketBase UI kit for reusable elements like fields, buttons, and popups is in development.
- The project will enter a temporary 'feature freeze' until more concrete UI progress is made.
Open Infrastructure Is Not Free: PyPI, the PSF, and Sustainability
6 months ago
- The Python Software Foundation (PSF) co-signed a joint statement on sustainable stewardship for open infrastructure.
- PyPI has experienced exponential growth, requiring significant investment from the PSF in staffing and infrastructure.
- Key PSF staff supporting PyPI include roles like Director of Infrastructure and PyPI Support Specialist.
- The PSF funds PyPI operations through sponsorships, grants, and individual contributions.
- Long-term partnerships with companies like Fastly help sustain PyPI, but annual renewals pose risks.
- The PSF emphasizes that core PyPI features will remain free, but value-added features may be introduced for corporate users.
- Community members can help by optimizing caching, signing up for PyPI Organizations, or supporting the PSF through memberships, donations, or sponsorships.
Llamafile Returns
6 months ago
- Mozilla.ai is adopting llamafile to advance open, local, privacy-first AI.
- The llamafile project allows easy distribution and running of LLMs locally with a single executable file.
- Mozilla.ai is refreshing the llamafile codebase and modernizing its foundations.
- Community input is invited to shape the future roadmap of llamafile.
- llamafile was originally a Mozilla Builders project and is now part of the mozilla.ai organization.
- The project leverages the cosmopolitan library and llama.cpp for fast model inference.
- Users are encouraged to share feedback on features and use cases via Github Discussion, Mozilla Discord, or Hacker News.
- Existing llamafile workflows will remain unchanged during updates.
Another European agency shifts off US Tech as digital sovereignty gains steam
6 months ago
- Austria's Ministry of Economy migrated 1,200 employees to a Nextcloud-based platform hosted on Austrian infrastructure.
- European governments are shifting away from Big Tech to control sensitive data and reduce reliance on US-based providers.
- The EuroStack Initiative promotes 'Buy European, Sell European, Fund European' to support digital sovereignty.
- Open-source solutions like Nextcloud offer better security, compliance with GDPR, and data control within Europe.
- Germany, Denmark, and France have also moved away from Microsoft to open-source alternatives.
- The US government has expressed concerns over Europe's push for digital sovereignty.
- BMWET's hybrid approach (Nextcloud for internal use, Teams for external) ensured a smooth transition.
- Poorly planned transitions, like Austria's Ministry of Justice shift to LibreOffice, led to compatibility issues.
- Successful migrations require careful IT planning to avoid disruptions and user dissatisfaction.
SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes
6 months ago
- Sailfish OS originated from Nokia's MeeGo OS, developed in collaboration with Intel.
- After Nokia abandoned MeeGo, the team formed Jolla Ltd. to continue development, leading to Sailfish OS.
- Sailfish OS launched in 2013, with version 1.0 and the Jolla smartphone entering 36 markets.
- Sailfish OS 2.0 was released in 2015, alongside the Jolla Tablet, focusing on licensing.
- By 2018, Sailfish OS 3.0 offered secure solutions for corporate and governmental use.
- Sailfish 4, introduced in 2021, supports various ecosystem projects with new features.
- Sailfish OS is independent, open-source, and backed by strong IP rights, free from big corporate ties.
- Developed by Jolla, it's supported by a global community and is popular among tech enthusiasts.
- The OS is built like a classic Linux distribution, with a UI developed using QML and Qt framework.
- Sailfish OS can run Android apps and leverages Android hardware adaptations for easier support.
Minekube Connect: The Ingress Tunnel for Minecraft Servers
6 months ago
- Minekube Connect provides DDoS protection for Minecraft servers.
- It serves as a global gateway with public domains for localhost.
- Built on the open-source Gate project, it's likened to Cloudflare for Minecraft.
- Compatible with major Minecraft server software like Spigot, Paper, and BungeeCord.
- Minekube thrives with contributions from an international team and open-source developers.
- The organization is hiring developers passionate about innovation in Minecraft networking.
Objective-C for Windows, including UIKit (public archive). From Microsoft
6 months ago
- Windows Bridge for iOS (WinObjC) is a Microsoft open-source project enabling Objective-C development in Visual Studio with iOS API support.
- It allows creating Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps by reusing Objective-C code and iOS APIs, integrating Windows 10 features like Cortana.
- Requirements include Windows 10 (build 10586+), Visual Studio 2017 with specific components, and optional tools like Chocolatey and winobjc-tools.
- To start, generate a Visual Studio solution from an Xcode project using vsimporter.exe in PowerShell.
- The WOCCatalog sample app is recommended for learning, demonstrating iOS and XAML UI controls.
- Resources include the project wiki, development roadmap, FAQ, and sample apps repository.
- Contributions are welcome via bug reports, code reviews, pull requests, and community engagement on Twitter and StackOverflow.
- Additional Visual Studio components and Git LFS are needed for contributors building from source.
- Known issues and installation problems are addressed in the FAQ and Known Issues section.
Syllabi – Open-source agentic AI with tools, RAG, and multi-channel deploy
6 months ago
- Build intelligent chatbots with knowledge bases, multi-app integrations, and omnichannel deployment.
- Transform documents, websites, and data into an intelligent knowledge base with accurate information retrieval and citations.
- Supports multiple formats including PDFs, videos, websites, Google Drive, and Notion.
- Advanced retrieval technology (RAG) for instant, relevant information.
- Deploy chatbots across various channels like web, embedded widgets, Slack, and Discord.
- Extend chatbot capabilities with custom skills, tools, and API integrations.
- Rich, interactive conversations with document highlighting, diagrams, code execution, and multimedia support.
- Customizable for different use cases like education, customer support, and team collaboration.
- Full control over chatbot behavior, appearance, and analytics.
- Integrates with popular tools like Google Drive, Notion, Slack, and custom APIs.
- Open-source, MIT licensed, and self-hosted for full data control and privacy.
- Active community-driven development with contributions from developers worldwide.
This Month in Ladybird – October 2025
6 months ago
- October saw 217 PRs merged from 43 contributors.
- New sponsors: Axeptio ($10,000) and Gravwell ($5,000).
- Significant progress on Web Platform Tests (WPT), passing over 90% of subtests.
- Development of a persistent HTTP disk cache began.
- Performance improvements in JavaScript and HTML parsing.
- Added Trusted Types support to various DOM APIs.
- Initial support for XPath evaluations using libxml2.
- Improved audio/video synchronization and multi-track support.
- Pinch-to-zoom support added for macOS.
- Reimplemented Accessibility DevTools for inspecting the accessibility tree.
- Progress on CSS Typed OM API and new CSS functions sibling-count() and sibling-index().
- Improved CSS and SVG gradients rendering.
- Fixed CanvasPattern implementation for correct image rendering.
- Enhanced WebGL2 buffer and offscreen framebuffer support.
- Targeted WebGL fixes for Google Maps Globe View.
- Progress on Windows support, including first successful run and Gamepad API functionality.
Radiant Computer
6 months ago
- Radiant Computer is designed from first principles to reimagine personal computing.
- It aims to counter the current trajectory of computing, which is seen as leading to less freedom and more surveillance.
- Radiant is a clean-slate design, free from Big Tech's influence and historical baggage of modern systems.
- The computer is intended for learning, creating, playing, and exploring, with a focus on simplicity and user agency.
- Modern computing is criticized for prioritizing engagement and surveillance over user needs, with app stores filled with adware and OSes focused on data collection.
- Radiant offers an alternative with its own network, reminiscent of the early Internet, free from social media, scripts, and trackers.
- It is an offline-first system, fully open from hardware to software, designed for focus and creation.
- Radiant makes coding accessible, with every application and surface existing as editable and extensible code.
- The project explores how AI can enhance creativity while maintaining data privacy.
- Radiant is positioned as a humane, personal computer that encourages curiosity and experimentation, keeping power in users' hands.
ICC ditches Microsoft 365 for openDesk
6 months ago
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) is switching from Microsoft 365 to Open Desk, a European open-source alternative.
- Microsoft confirmed the change but emphasized their commitment to future service provision to the ICC.
- European governments have growing concerns over digital dependency on U.S. companies, exacerbated by political tensions.
- The ICC's move is partly due to past issues with Microsoft services under the Trump administration.
- Open Desk is developed by Zentrum Digitale Souveränität (Zendis) under the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.
- The Netherlands is also experimenting with Open Desk under the 'Mijn Bureau' initiative for public sector collaboration.
- The Dutch Digitalisation Strategy (NDS) prioritizes enhancing digital resilience and autonomy.
Unofficial Microsoft Teams Client for Linux
6 months ago
- Unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux with enhanced integration.
- Features include system notifications, tray integration, custom backgrounds, screen sharing, and multiple account profiles.
- Independent project, not affiliated with Microsoft; some features limited by Teams web app.
- Sponsorship by Recall.ai supports development.
- Installation guides provided for Debian/Ubuntu and RHEL/Fedora.
- Available as AppImage, deb, rpm, snap, and tar.gz.
- Documentation includes installation, configuration, troubleshooting, and contributing guides.
- Security recommendations: use Flatpak, Snap, Firejail, or AppArmor/SELinux for sandboxing.
- Project licensed under GPL-3.0, with icons from Icon Duck (CC BY 4.0).
Sponge: A community-driven open-source Minecraft: Java Edition modding platform
6 months ago
- Sponge is a community-driven open source Minecraft: Java Edition modding platform.
- Contribute by coding, testing, writing documentation, or participating in forums.
- Financial contributions are also welcome.
- Three main downloads available: SpongeVanilla, SpongeForge, and SpongeNeo.
- Sponge aims to enrich Minecraft experience with plugins that work across versions.
Managing Diabetes in Software Freedom
6 months ago
- Bradley Kuhn diagnosed with early-stage Type 2 Diabetes in March 2025.
- Medical specialist recommended installing proprietary Freestyle Libre app from Abbott for Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM).
- Kuhn refused due to restrictive terms and conditions, including data collection and prohibition on reverse engineering.
- Discovered FOSS alternative Juggluco for CGM management, avoiding proprietary software.
- Juggluco successfully worked with Freestyle Libre 3+ device, providing real-time glucose monitoring.
- Specialist praised Juggluco's reporting features as superior to Abbott's proprietary app.
- Kuhn plans to contribute to Juggluco and aims for its inclusion in F-Droid.
- Highlighted the importance of software freedom in medical technology for patient control.
- Encouraged support for Software Freedom Conservancy to continue such work.
Open source has a growing problem with LLM generated issues
6 months ago
- The discussion revolves around handling LLM-generated pull requests and bug reports in the runc project.
- Proposal to document guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md regarding what should and should not be accepted.
- Suggestion to close all LLM-generated issues as spam due to unreliable and excessive information.
- For LLM-generated code, the submitter must understand and be able to explain their patch in their own words.
- Mention of legal concerns with LLM-generated code not fulfilling DCO requirements.
- Reference to Incus banning all LLM usage in their CONTRIBUTING.md.
TTS Still Sucks
6 months ago
- The author prefers using open models for voice cloning and generating article transcripts for their podcast.
- Kokoro is a top open TTS model but doesn't support voice cloning.
- Fish Audio's S1-mini model has limitations like non-functional emotion markers and unused chunking parameters.
- Chatterbox is another option but has character limits (1,000–2,000) and issues with longer texts.
- The podcast generation process involves extracting text from RSS, preprocessing with an LLM, and using parallel Modal containers for TTS.
- Improvements include availability on Spotify and better show notes with clickable links.
- Open-source TTS models like Chatterbox have issues with speech duration and lack of control over features like emotion tags.
- Despite advancements, open-source TTS still lags behind proprietary systems.
- The RSS to podcast pipeline is open-source and available on GitHub.

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#open source

PSF has withdrawn $1.5M proposal to US Government grant program

FreeBSD Celebrates the Milestone of Reproducible Builds and No Root Needed

The Geomys Standard of Care

Keep Android Open

PocketBase 2026: FLOSS/fund sponsorship and UI rewrite

Open Infrastructure Is Not Free: PyPI, the PSF, and Sustainability

Llamafile Returns

Another European agency shifts off US Tech as digital sovereignty gains steam

SailfishOS: A Linux-based European alternative to dominant mobile OSes

Minekube Connect: The Ingress Tunnel for Minecraft Servers

Objective-C for Windows, including UIKit (public archive). From Microsoft

Syllabi – Open-source agentic AI with tools, RAG, and multi-channel deploy

This Month in Ladybird – October 2025

Radiant Computer

ICC ditches Microsoft 365 for openDesk

Unofficial Microsoft Teams Client for Linux

Sponge: A community-driven open-source Minecraft: Java Edition modding platform

Managing Diabetes in Software Freedom

Open source has a growing problem with LLM generated issues

TTS Still Sucks