Beyond that, you can also help by volunteering to do work. This page
lists many kinds of work we need.
Help develop the GNU operating system
Please let the GNU Volunteer
Coordinators
<gvc@gnu.org>
know if you start a new package that you found in those lists.
We want to keep track of what tasks are being worked on.
When writing software for GNU, please follow the
GNU Coding Standards
and
Information for Maintainers of GNU
Software
documents.
We are sometimes offered software which already does
substantially the same task as an existing GNU package.
Although of course we appreciate all offers, we'd naturally like
to encourage programmers to spend their time writing free
software to do new jobs, not already-solved ones. So, before
starting a new program, please check the
Free Software Directory
for
free software that does the job already.
We can offer
some
resources
to help GNU software developers.
The GNU Volunteer
Coordinators
<gvc@gnu.org>
can
assist you if you would like to help developing GNU software. They will
be able to put you in touch with other people interested in or working
on similar projects. When you have selected a task from our task
lists, please let them know you're interested in working on it.
Important new small-to-medium programs needed
Help support GNU development and use
This list is ordered roughly with the more urgent items near the top.
Please note that many things on this list link to larger, expanded lists.
- Help with
Savannah
. We are
especially looking for technical sysadmin volunteers to help with
underlying infrastructure support. Volunteers to help with pending
project submissions are also very welcome. Please see this
general
information on how to become a savannah hacker
. Please
communicate with us on the
savannah-hackers-public
mailing list.
- Organize a new
GNU/Linux
User Group
.
- Volunteer as a GNU Webmaster. Start by completing the
webmaster quiz
.
- Translate the GNU Web site into other
languages. Each translation team needs several members that are native
speakers of the target language (and fluent in English), but it also needs
at least one member that is a native speaker of English (and fluent in the
target language.) More information about the issue can be found at the
Guide to Translating
the www.gnu.org Web Pages
. Write to
<web-translators@gnu.org>
if you want to help.
- We need native English speakers with a
good command of the language to proofread English text written by GNU
package maintainers and other volunteers. These texts can be articles
on various subjects related to free software, documentation, or
sometimes GNU manuals that need to be prepared for printing. To help
with this task, please subscribe to the low-traffic
GNU
documentation proofreaders list
.
- When you are talking with people that don't value freedom and
community, you can show them the many practical advantages of free
software (see
Why
Open Source / Free Software? Look at the Numbers!
for some
useful evidence). But keep mentioning the ethical issues too!
Don't let their pressure change your voice into an open-source voice.
- Make sure that essays
from our
philosophy section
and other GNU URLs are linked to often in the appropriate categories.
If you'd like to help us with this task, please contact the
GNU Volunteer Coordinators
<gvc@gnu.org>
.
- Donate
hardware
to the
FSF.
- If you or your company work
supporting or developing free software in some way, you can list
yourself (or your company) in the
Service Directory
.
- If you run a company that needs to hire people to work with free
software, you can advertise on our
Free Software Job
Page
.
- Volunteer to contact companies and suggest that they use our
Free Software Job
Page
to publish their job postings. If you would be
interested in this, please contact
<job-page@fsf.org>
.
Spread awareness about GNU and the Free Software Movement
- Inform your acquaintances about the GNU
philosophy
and
software
.
- When you refer to the operating system that started as GNU with
Linux added, call it
GNU/Linux
, and don't follow those who call it
“Linux”. Once people are aware of what we have already
done, rather than attributing it to others, they will
support our present and future
efforts more
. This help takes very little of your time once you
have unlearned the old habit.
- Show your support for the free software movement and our
ideas of freedom for users of
computing
, by saying “free software”, “libre
software” or “free/libre software”.
-
Avoid the term “open source”
which stands for
rejection of our ideals.
- Add a link to this web site
to your home pages.
- Suggest that others do these things.
- Offer GNU/Linux Installation or support in your local time banks.
Help improve h-node.org
h-node.org is a repository that contains information about how well
particular hardware works with free software.
Help is needed in:
For other ways to help,
see
https://h-node.org/wiki/page/en/Main-Page
.
For communicating with h-node.org users/developers, use
their
mailing
lists
.
Volunteer with and donate to the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is the principal organizational
sponsor of the GNU Operating System. The FSF also helps to spread
awareness of the ethical and political issues of software freedom.
Like GNU, the FSF also gets a lot of its strength from volunteers.
It's a great place to volunteer and a great community to join,
especially if you don't have the technical background to contribute
directly to free software development. Check out the FSF's
volunteering page
to get started
or the
homepage
to learn more about
the organization.
Support the FSF and the GNU Project financially by becoming an FSF
associate member
,
donating
to the
FSF,
purchasing
manuals, t-shirts,
stickers, and gear from the FSF, or by
selling free
software
and donating some of the proceeds to the FSF or another
free software organization. By funding development, you can advance
the world of free software.