This year the Free Software Foundation is marking its 40th Anniversary and is running a global online Hackathon open to everyone in the free software community. For projects interested in participating the deadline for submissions is May 29th.

Having already reported on the FSF's initial event to celebrate 40 years of campaigning for software freedom in FSF Turns 40 and Auctions Off Original GNU, we now turn to the final event in the calendar - an online Hackathon, scheduled for November 21 -23, 2025.

The Hackathon is part of the celebrations to recognize that the FSF has been campaigning for software freedom since its formation in 1985. The organization is inviting the wider free software community (both projects and individual contributors) to participate in a global, online hackathon to help improve important libre software projects.

Announcing the hackathon, Zoë Kooyman, executive director of the FSF said:

"It's at the core of the FSF's mission to foster free software development and this hackathon is only one of many ways that the FSF supports and promotes free software projects. We're looking forward to seeing what projects participate, and hope we can draw new and lasting contributors to those projects."

Among projects who have already announced their participation are the GNU/Linux distribution and package manager, GNU Guix; the boot software distribution. GNU Boot; the media publishing system. MediaGoblin; and the Free Software Directory, the FSF's catalog of useful free software. 

All free software projects, regardless of affiliation or (free) license, are invited to participate and have until May 27th to do so. See these guidelines and the submission form..

The Hackathon is open to everyone, regardless of programming skill level, and focused on making small but measurable improvements to free software. Hackathon contributions will be judged by a panel appointed by the FSF. The project and contributors making the most noteworthy contributions / patches will be given prizes by the Foundation and the Hackathon will conclude with a closing ceremony. General registration will open in June.

More Information

Forty years of commitment to software freedom

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FSF Turns 40 and Auctions Off Original GNU

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