hackathons.html (8271B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 3 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays upholding action" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Hackathons should insist on free software 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/hackathons.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>Why hackathons should insist on free software</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address> 17 18 <p>Hackathons are an accepted method of giving community support to 19 digital development projects. The community invites developers to 20 join an event which offers an encouraging atmosphere, some useful 21 resources, and the opportunity to work on useful projects. Most 22 hackathons choose the projects they will support, based on stated 23 criteria.</p> 24 25 <p>Hackathons fit the spirit of a community in which people take an 26 attitude of cooperation and respect towards each other. The software 27 that accords with this spirit is free (libre) software, <a 28 href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free as in freedom</a>. 29 Free software carries a license that gives its users (including 30 programmers) freedom to cooperate. Thus, hackathons make sense within 31 the free software community. <a 32 href="/philosophy/free-hardware-designs.html">Hardware 33 design projects</a> also can and ought to be free.</p> 34 35 <p>Respect for freedom can't be taken for granted. On the contrary, we 36 are surrounded by companies that shamelessly release proprietary 37 (nonfree) software, available for use only to those that will yield to 38 their power. These companies develop software as a <a 39 href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">means 40 to dominate and control others</a>.</p> 41 42 <p>These companies' harmful success inspires young developers to follow 43 their example by developing their own programs or hardware designs to 44 dominate users. They sometimes bring their projects to hackathons, 45 seeking the community's support while rejecting the community's 46 spirit: they have no intention of returning cooperation for 47 cooperation. Hackathons which accept this undermine the community 48 spirit that they are based on.</p> 49 50 <p>Some perverse hackathons are specifically dedicated to aiding the 51 computing of certain companies: in some cases, <a 52 href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210122185507/https://www.beyondhackathon.com/en"> 53 European</a> and <a 54 href="https://www.hackathon.io/rbc-digital">Canadian banks</a>, and 55 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161019011626/http://expediaconnectivity.com/blog"> 56 Expedia</a>. While they don't explicitly say, the announcements give the 57 impression that they aim to promote development of some nonfree 58 software, and that attendees are meant to help these non-charitable 59 projects.</p> 60 61 <p>Those examples show how far down the slope hackathons can slide. 62 Let's return to the more common 63 case of a hackathon that is not specifically commercial, but accepts 64 projects that are proprietary.</p> 65 66 <p>When a developer brings a project to a hackathon, and doesn't say 67 whether it will be free, that is not overt opposition to the community 68 spirit, but it undermines that spirit. Hackathons should strengthen 69 the community spirit they are based on, by insisting that hackathon 70 projects commit to release in accord with that spirit.</p> 71 72 <p>This means telling developers, “So that you deserve our support and 73 help, you must agree to give the community the use of your project's 74 results in freedom, if you ever consider them good enough to use or 75 release.”</p> 76 77 <p>As an individual hackathon participant, you can support this 78 principle: before joining in any hackathon project, ask “What license 79 will you publish this under? I want to be sure this will be free 80 (libre) before I join in developing it.” If the developers of the 81 project say that they will choose the license later, you could respond 82 that you will choose later whether to participate. Don't be shy—if 83 others hear this discussion, they may decide to follow the 84 same path.</p> 85 86 <p>To see which licenses are free licenses, see <a 87 href="/licenses/license-list.html">the GNU license 88 list</a>. Most “open source” licenses are free, but <a 89 href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">some 90 open source licenses are nonfree because they are too restrictive</a>.</p> 91 92 <p>Firmness by individuals has an effect, but a policy of the hackathon 93 itself will have a bigger effect. Hackathons should ask each 94 participating project to pledge to follow this rule:</p> 95 96 <blockquote> 97 <p>If you ever release or use this code or design, you will release its source 98 code under a free (libre) license. If you distribute the code in executable 99 form, you will make that free (libre) also.</p> 100 </blockquote> 101 102 <p>Many hackathons are sponsored or hosted by schools, which is an 103 additional reason they should adopt this rule. Free software is a 104 contribution to public knowledge, while nonfree software withholds 105 knowledge from the public. Thus, <a 106 href="/education/edu-schools.html">free software 107 supports the spirit of education, while proprietary software opposes 108 it</a>. Schools should insist that all their software development be 109 free software, including that of hackathons they support.</p> 110 </div> 111 112 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 113 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 114 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 115 <div class="unprintable"> 116 117 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 118 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 119 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 120 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 121 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 122 123 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 124 replace it with the translation of these two: 125 126 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 127 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 128 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 129 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 130 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 131 132 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 133 our web pages, see <a 134 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 135 README</a>. --> 136 Please see the <a 137 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 138 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 139 of this article.</p> 140 </div> 141 142 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 143 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 144 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 145 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 146 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 147 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 148 document was modified, or published. 149 150 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 151 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 152 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 153 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 154 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 155 156 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 157 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 158 159 <p>Copyright © 2017, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> 160 161 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 162 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 163 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 164 165 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 166 167 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 168 <!-- timestamp start --> 169 $Date: 2021/09/14 16:23:30 $ 170 <!-- timestamp end --> 171 </p> 172 </div> 173 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 174 </body> 175 </html>