Free, Libre, and Open Source Software, Coding, and Standards

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 12, 2026

• Events

  • LWN ☛ The LSFMM+BPF 2026 call for proposals is out

    The 2026 edition of the GNU/Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory Management, and

    BPF Summit will be held May 4-6 in Zagreb, Croatia. The call for

    proposals has gone out for anybody who would like to attend this

    invitation-only meeting. "We are asking that you please let us know you

    want to be invited by February 20, 2026".

• Content Management Systems (CMS) / Static Site Generators (SSG)

  • Nicolas Magand ☛ The frustration of a perfect setup

    I recently wrote about my HTML and CSS “explorations” with this blog. Satisfied with the results, I think this job is done. The same goes for how Eleventy works on my machine: everything has been optimised, refined, future-proofed (especially Node.js): nothing to see here! Even the hosting is something I’m very happy with. My only gripe with xmit is that there is no possibility for me to pay for it.

• Education

  • FOSDEM ☛ FOSDEM 2026 - Travel and transportation advisories

    Attendees should be aware of potential transportation disruptions in the days leading up to FOSDEM.

• Licensing / Legal

  • Aethrvmn ☛ licensing philosophy

    It is on this that libre software takes a stand, where the open-source movement doesn’t; libre software acts as an extension of good law; it protects and reinforces the rights of the user. Meanwhile non-libre software aims to plunder the user; it deducts from the user’s rights.

    The way the rights are preserved is through a type of license called copyleft, called so because it forces not only the developer to provide the entirety of the project in a way that respects user freedom, but also any other developer who might build upon it and make their own modifications and distributions of the software. In essence it forces, in a viral way, all derived software to be as respectful of the user’s rights as the original version. It promotes user freedom at the detriment of the developer.

• Programming/Development

  • Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk Eddelbuettel: RApiDatetime 0.0.10 on CRAN: Maintenance

    A new maintenance release of our RApiDatetime package is now on CRAN, coming just about two years after the previous maintenance release.

    RApiDatetime provides a number of entry points for C-level functions of the R API for Date and Datetime calculations. The functions asPOSIXlt and asPOSIXct convert between long and compact datetime representation, formatPOSIXlt and Rstrptime convert to and from character strings, and POSIXlt2D and D2POSIXlt convert between Date and POSIXlt datetime.

  • Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk Eddelbuettel: RProtoBuf 0.4.25 on CRAN: Mostly Maintenance

    A new maintenance release 0.4.25 of RProtoBuf

    This release brings an update to a header use force by R-devel, the usual set of continunous integration updates, and a large overhaul of URLs as CRAN is now running more powerful checks. As a benefit the three vignettes have all been refreshed. they are now also delivered via the new Rcpp::asis() vignette builder that permits pre-made pdf files to be used easily.

  • SANS ☛ YARA-X 1.11.0 Release: Hash Function Warnings, (Sun, Jan 11th)

• Standards/Consortia

  • Rui Carmo ☛ The IMAP Protocol

  • Opus Interactive Audio Codec ☛ libopusenc 0.3 – Opus Codec

    This release fixes a number of issues: [...]

  • [Old] Karl Voit ☛ Markdown Is a Disaster: Why and What to Do Instead

    I'm very well aware that Markdown is the most widely used syntax for that purpose at this moment. It's so widespread that most people do think that Markdown is the only LML there is.

    My point is that Markdown is a bad syntax choice for LML applications. I think I have good arguments for my point. I also mention better designed LMLs that you should use instead in order to simplify your personal digital life as well as the digital life of so many others that are about to learn their main LML.