fidzu : fedora

For some people, contributing to an open source project is a diversion from the world around them. It's a fun way to work on well-defined problems with a community of like-minded people. But it's important to remember that open source contributors - and their projects - still exist in the real world.

Global projects are going to have interactions with laws that relate to global relations. For example, the Linux Foundation recently issued guidance on complying with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions. Projects that host services have had to pay attention to Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). And everyone is trying to figure out what Europe's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) will mean for open source projects.

Laws aren't the only effect of the outside world on projects. When the COVID-19 pandemic was in the most acute phase in the spring of 2020, I was filled with worry and uncertainty, as were many others. I worried about my family, but I also worried about the Fedora community. As a leader in the community, I felt a sense of responsibility to make sure everyone was doing well. When governments enact laws hostile to the identity of members of the community, I worry for them.

It's tempting to think of open source as a noble pursuit that's separate from the noise of daily life. But you do your community a disservice when you take that approach. If people in your community want to use contributing as an escape, let them. But be aware of how people are doing and create a space where they can feel comfortable stepping away to take care of themselves.

This post's featured photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash.

The post Open source projects don't exist separately from the outside world appeared first on Duck Alignment Academy.

05 Feb 2025 12:00pm GMT

04 Feb 2025 2:00pm GMT

BalCCon 2k24 - Invisible Path

Fedora had a booth at BalCCon for the 8th time in a row. I'm personally very happy that we kept this streak as the first BalCCon where Fedora had presence is when I first became Ambassador in Serbia . I'm not aware of any other booths that had such a strong presence.

For those unaware of this conference, it is focused on: hacking, information security, privacy, technology & society, making, lock-picking, and electronic arts. For a sharp eye, these are well-rounded topics for Free Software-oriented people and that makes it rather important conference in the region.
In addition to all that, people that organize these events are extremely welcoming and heart-warming people! Working in tandem: founders, volunteers, and speakers - all show teamwork in very challenging times, both now as well as in the past… For an untrained eye it would seem that every BalCCon is a smooth sailing, but the truth is that there is a lot of effort and sacrifice required in realizing it. Every single person behind it, is a devoted, humble, and passionate contributor to the event.

Attendees range from teenagers, students, younger and older adults all interested in learning, sharing and socializing with each others. In other words, the conference is not solely focused on lectures and workshops, but also on bringing similar-minded people together and providing them a safe place to connect.

Fun is also huge part of the event as there is a karaoke evening (don't miss that one ) and a rakia tasting and sharing night adequately named "Rakija leaks".

At Fedora booth we try to engage people and encourage questions, to better understand what people like and dislike, to provide them guidance and invite them to join the community. We always keep the positive attitude towards all Free and Open Source Software and never fuel or support distro-wars. We love Fedora, but that doesn't exclude love towards other distros as well (it just may not be as strong ).

This approach had an impact that many non-Fedora users liked to talk to us and stuck around. That relationship grown to constructive discussions about strengths of Fedora and their OSes of choice. Many of them converted over time , or at least found a perfect sweet-spot for Fedora in their everyday life.

Due to the import customs in Serbia, swag has been a hit and miss sometimes, but we try to keep the booth entertaining even in the absence of much-adored stickers.

This year we've had a revamp of our booth with new Fedora logo for the roll-up banners and the table cloth. And it was at a perfect time, as Fedora booth was visible in an article of country's most popular printed IT magazine Svet Kompjutera.

This was all due to the amazing support from jwflory who displayed great amount of innovative and pro-active energy!

Booth appearance has evolved over the years and become more and more inviting to everyone. An organizing volunteer even approached me to say that people've been asking if Fedora will have a booth again this year, as they found it very interesting - not only from the Project's aspect, but also because, since the first year we tried to bring something that would draw people to come and talk to us.

To give some examples:

• Awesome demo of touchless gaming concept by our dear thunderbirdtr (2015)
• Fedora on handheld touchscreen devices (2018)
• AAA Gaming on Fedora out-of-the box (with RPM Fusion only) (2022)
• Introduction of Fedora cookies (2023)
• Fedora baby (2024)

There are plans and ideas for future booths too, such as SyncStar setup, SELinux challenge box, DIY pin machine, other quizes, …

Here is the timeline in photos from 2015 - 2024 (there are missing photos due to, either COVID, or just an unfortunate oversight on my end):

Huge thanks for the support from jwflory, thunderbirdtr, nmilosev, nsukur, bitlord, and especially to my dear wife littlecat that makes the booth incredibly appealing.

If you've never been to Serbia, Novi Sad, or BalCCon, you should definitely consider visiting and we'll do our best to be good hosts and dedicate some of our times just for you!

The post Balkan Computer Congress, Novi Sad, Serbia appeared first on Fedora Community Blog.

04 Feb 2025 10:00am GMT