I Love Free Software Day
We often underestimate the power of a simple Thank
you
. Free Software contributors do important work
for our society and they deserve to be recognised. “I Love Free
Software Day”, celebrated on 14 February, is the perfect
opportunity for you to express your special gratitude and show
your appreciation for Free Software.
Imagine a Free Software community that is welcoming and appreciates
its contributors. This community is motivating and friendly in the
interaction with each other. Imaging if somebody new or old wants
to participate and be part of this Free Software community, they
would send an email to the project’s mailing list with new ideas.
The answer and reviews to this would be grateful and full of
appreciation of the work done by the contributor. When a Pull
Request in this community is reviewed, and the reviewers underline
how grateful they are for the effort of opening it in the first
place. Imagine a Free Software community that is thankful for their
contributors, developers and of course their maintainers. Such a
community can easily become reality, by simply saying Thank
you!
The larger a Free Software project gets, the harder it is to
maintain. On “I Love Free Software Day” we acknowledge the work
done by each other for Free Software, even more we appreciate the
work done for Free Software. We reach out and say Thank you!
to all the people maintaining and contributing to Free Software, to
all the people advocating for Free Software: Thank you ♥
By doing so, we aim at creating a welcoming community in which not only seasoned enthusiasts feel safe to participate, but also new people are encouraged to join. A simple “Thank you” can motivate others to keep contributing to Free Software!
With a simple Thank you! ♥
we appreciate the work and effort
put into Free Software by its contributors.
Free Software is not just any type of software: it is a community, it is software that empowers users and it is out there for all of us to use, understand, share, and improve. Let us foster the growth of a lovely and welcoming Free Software community, by celebrating the software that empowers us! ♥
I ♥ Free Software Day 2027: Back to the roots
“I Love Free Software Day” is a long-lasting tradition. On this day, we thank all the people behind Free Software projects or programs and let them know that their work does not go unnoticed. Let’s celebrate all the wonderful people working for Free Software together: join the “I Love Free Software Day” celebrations all over Europe. Get in touch with your local FSFE group and organise a fun meeting.
We are grateful to those who work and contribute to the Free Software
universe: developers, designers, translators, advocates, contributors,
users, and more. There are a lot of different Free Software
communities out there, with different values or different focuses in
their work. But we all contribute to Free Software and value the
freedom to use, study, share and improve software. Let's celebrate our
appreciation for Free Software and the people behind it with a simple
Thank you!
For our upcoming 14th edition of the “I Love Free Software Day”, we have a special focus on going back to the roots of Free Software. The way we interact with software is changing. Today, LLMs can generate code, answer technical questions, and help us solve problems in seconds. But Free Software has never been just about getting code to work. It is about people coming together, learning from each other and building something that everyone can benefit from. This year, we want to bring that spirit back to the centre. Let’s be curious, explore, ask each other questions and exchange ideas. Let’s take the time to understand, to share what we know and to learn from one another. With the upcoming “I Love Free Software Day: 2027”, let’s celebrate what has brought us together from the beginning: the freedom to use, study, share and improve software. Four freedoms. One community. Let’s go back to the roots!
Join the celebrations for "I Love Free Software Day 2027"
You want to participate in the "I Love Free Software Day 2027"? Now is the time to start
planning and to reach out to us
on social media
or
Celebrations and events in Europe
You want to organise your own "I Love Free Software Day" event? Let us know and email us to
❤ Get active ❤
If you want to organise an event in your local area feel free to take a look at our toolkit for local groups. In this kit you find resources for organising your own I Love Free Software Day event.
You want to organise your own event?
Let us know via email. We are happy to help with any questions you may have about public relations and organisation! Otherwise, all you need to do is register your event on our events page.
For "I Love Free Software Day 2026" we want to organise events dedicated to highlight the important work done by maintainers of Free Software projects.
- Play our new "I ❤ Free Software Day" quiz with your friends!
- Contact your local library and organise a talk about Free Software and the four freedoms
- Contact your local hackerspace and organise a Free Software meet-up with them
- Contact local Free Software companies and organise an event with them
- Reach out to your local Free Software group, local Linux User Group or digital rights groups and organise an event together!
Say thanks
Think about a Free Software project that you are grateful for and that deserves more attention. Reach out to them and your maintainer for the project on the 14th of February to say thank you. Organise a local group meeting or spread the word about Free Software. You can use our sharepics, stickers and balloons, or artwork, and merchandise for #ilovefs.
Remember the good times
Which Free Software project did you use in the past year? Do you know who is the maintainer of the project? What was fun? For some inspiration have a look at others’ love statements and videos.
Share your love
That’s the fun part! We have created a sharepic generator, with which you can easily create your very own sharepics and share your appreciation on social media (#ilovefs), in blog posts, pictures and video messages, or directly to the Free Software developers and contributors.
Improve Free Software
Talking is silver, contributing is gold! Help a Free Software project with a donation, a translation or by assisting its users. If you can, please consider supporting our work with a donation to the Free Software Foundation Europe.
What is your contribution to this special day dedicated to the people who enable you to use Free Software? Will you use our stickers and balloons? Or make a picture or video with your new ILoveFS shirt? And what about celebrating software freedom with your colleagues and friends at a company gathering or public event? Whatever you do, show it to the world by using the #ilovefs tag. And if you have questions, just drop us an email.
Happy I Love Free Software Day everyone! ❤