Participate in supporting the FSD by adding new entries and updating existing ones. We will be on IRC in the #fsf channel on freenode.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained volunteers.

While the FSD has been and continues to be a great resource to the world over the past decade, it has the potential of being a resource of even greater value. But it needs your help!

This week we're playing the part of Dr. Frankenstein by adding and approving new entries to the directory, but our creations won't be monsters! Helping to grow the directory is one of the best ways to make sure it is a great resource for users looking for free software they can use. While we've focused the past few meetings on improving and updating existing entries, there are still plenty of packages looking to make their way onto the directory.

If you are eager to help and you can't wait or are simply unable to make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started on helping the Directory today! There are also weekly FSD Meetings pages that everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each meeting.

We provide plenty of resources when it comes to picking a license. From our list of licenses to essays on copyleft, if you are looking to figure out what license is right for you there is plenty of information to rely upon. But this month's resource helps to pull that information together in one place to make selecting a license simple.

Our guide, "How to choose a license for your work" is one stop browsing for answering many of the questions you may have when it comes to finding the right license. It provides recommendations based on the state of the work, but also based on the type of work that it is. While the Affero GNU General Public License version 3 works great for server software, documentation would probably be better served with a license directed at such, like the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3. Smaller works can often get away without a strong copyleft, but still need to address patents, and so Apache License version 2.0 might be appropriate. The guide explains the reasoning behind the different recommendation for these and more. It also links to all those other resources mentioned above in case you need to dive in deeper when picking out a license.

Choosing a license isn't always the easiest decision, but it can be one of the most important ones you make when starting out your project. The license is the document that grants users the freedoms outlined in the free software definition. Without a license (or the right license), users won't have the ability to study, share, and modify your work, so choose wisely. This guide should make it easy to pick the right one for you, but if you need a little extra help, you can always contact the licensing and compliance team here at the FSF by emailing licensing@fsf.org.

We hope you'll take a look at our guide the next time you start up a project, or that you'll review it right now if your current project is without a license! Resources like "How to choose a license for your own work" are made possible thanks to the users who support our work, here's what you can do to help:

• You can keep up to date on this series and more free software news by subscribing to our newsletter, the Free Software Supporter and subscribing to our RSS feed.
• You can help fund our work in creating these licensing resources by becoming a member or by making a donation.

Enjoy this article? Check out our previous entry on Free GNU/Linux distributions & GNU Bucks

Every week free software activists from around the world come together in #fsf on irc.freenode.org to help improve the Free Software Directory. This recaps the work we accomplished on the Friday, October 21st, 2016 meeting.

Last week we were hunting 'Ghost' entries in the directory, and the ghost of our previous meeting time was present with some volunteers starting early. The meeting kicked of with Iankelling outlining their ideas on how to handle older, historical packages. The first order of business was determining what criteria would be needed for treating a package as historical. The criteria we came together on was that a package should be tagged as historical if it had not been updated in a long while and could no longer run on current versions of GNU/Linux. That way, the tag would let people know that the package, while still potentially useful, probably wasn't something you can just download and easily get running on your machine. After getting the criteria squared away, Iankelling also help update the version status and tool-tips to enable tagging actual entries.

Once we had the criteria and tools in place we turned to marking packages as historical. Iankelling once again helped out by producing a list of packages by their version date. Several entries apparently came out at the beginning of time all the way back in 1970 and so we focused our energies on those packages. mangeurdenuage and donalr3 worked on GNU ghost packages and were able to get them either appropriately tagged our updated. fmkb worked over a number of packages, nominating some for deletion where the package was truly a ghost and had no software or other remnants available. The channel was able to get through quite a few packages but more work will need to be done in future to root out all the ghosts. With the tools and criteria in place, that would should be easy to continue.

cmhobbs pointed out that with all the focus on the past, we've accumulate a bit of a backlog of new entries awaiting approval. So it was decided that next week we will be working as Dr. Frankenstein, working to bring new entries to life.

If you would like to help add new entries or just help update the directory in general, meet with us every Friday in #fsf on irc.freenode.org from 1pm to 4pm EDT (17:00 to 20:00 UTC).

Nominations for the 19th annual Free Software Awards opened at LibrePlanet 2016, right after the most recent Free Software Awards were presented -- and we need you to nominate more projects by November 6th, 2016 at 23:59 UTC. For details see instructions below.

If you know a free software contributor or project that deserves celebration, don't hesitate to nominate them! This is your opportunity to publicly recognize people and projects that have inspired you. Your nominations will be reviewed by our awards committee and the winners will be announced at LibrePlanet 2017.

Award for the Advancement of Free Software

The Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software is presented annually by FSF president Richard Stallman to an individual who has made a great contribution to the progress and development of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free software.

Last year, Werner Koch was recognized with the Award for the Advancement of Free Software for his work on GnuPG, the defacto tool for encrypted communication.

Award for Projects of Social Benefit

The Award for Projects of Social Benefit is presented to a project or team responsible for applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in a project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects of life.

We look to recognize projects or teams that encourage people to cooperate in freedom to accomplish tasks of great social benefit, and those that apply free software ideas and lessons outside the free software community. A long-term commitment to one's project (or the potential for a long-term commitment) is crucial to this end.

This award stresses the use of free software in the service of humanity. We have deliberately chosen this broad criterion so that many different areas of activity can be considered. However, one area that is not included is that of free software itself. Projects with a primary goal of promoting or advancing free software are not eligible for this award (we honor individuals working on those projects with our annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software).

We will consider any project or team that uses free software or its philosophy to address a goal important to society. To qualify, a project must use free software, produce free documentation, or use the idea of free software as defined in the Free Software Definition. Projects that promote or depend on the use of non-free software are not eligible for this award. Commercial projects are not excluded, but commercial success is not our scale for judging projects.

Last year, the Library Freedom Project received the award, for their work teaching librarians about surveillance threats, privacy rights and responsibilities, and offering digital tools to stop surveillance, all with the aim of creating a privacy-centric paradigm shift in libraries and the local communities they serve.

Eligibility

In the case of both awards, previous winners are not eligible for nomination, but renomination of other previous nominees is encouraged. Only individuals are eligible for nomination for the Advancement of Free Software Award (not projects), and only projects can be nominated for the Social Benefit Award (not individuals). For a list of previous winners, please visit https://www.fsf.org/awards. Current FSF staff and board members, as well as award committee members, are not eligible.

Winners will be decided by a committee to be announced, including several previous winners. Last year's committee was:

• Suresh Ramasubramanian
• Rob Savoye
• Jonas Öberg
• Fernanda Weiden
• Wietse Venema
• Matthew Garrett
• Vernor Vinge
• Hong Feng
• Andrew Tridgell
• Marina Zhurakhinskaya

Instructions

After reviewing the eligibility rules above, please click on the links below to submit your nominations. All nominations need to be submited before Sunday, November 6th, 2016 at 23:59 UTC.

• Nominations for the Award for Projects of Social Benefit

• Nominations for the Award for the Advancement of Free Software

Attend the Free Software Awards at LibrePlanet 2017

Want to be in the room when the winners are announced? Registration is already open for the LibrePlanet conference, March 25-26 2017, in the Boston area. You can meet the award winners and take part in a program devoted to the world of free software. Remember: Free Software Foundation members attend LibrePlanet gratis!