Working in the Engine Room of the FSFE
All spaceships need a control room and all control rooms need someone to run it. At the FSFE that is our System Hackers, a group of volunteers who are the backbone behind our IT infrastructure, the ones making sure that our blinking lights show green (and not red!). Since 2022, our colleague Tobias has been part of it. Let’s learn more about it with him!
Once per year, the System Hackers of the FSFE meet in person to spend a weekend focusing on the IT infrastructure of the FSFE and spend some time together. This year, we meet in Frankfurt in the rooms of the CCCFFM a couple of days ago. Our goal for 2026? To work on the LDAP setup of the organisation, the Matrix server, the website and debugging network settings in the data centers. This was my fourth System Hackers meeting, as I have attended them since a joined the FSFE as staff. So how did I end up there and at the FSFE?
My interest in Software Freedom started in the middle of the 1990s when a new version of the operative system Windows was released. I realised that the hand-down computer I just got from my dad was way too old to run this new version of the operating system and I started to look for alternatives. I found a Free Software operating system, everything worked good and then never looked over. In retrospect, a similar sustainability problem that many people are currently facing with the end of support of Windows 10. But sooner or later I realised that computers got more and more important for society.
Years later, I was getting more aware about how important computers were becoming for our society and when studying physics at the university, I came by a booth of the FSFE during one of the Brandenburg Linuxtage and we got talking. Shortly after I started to come to the group meetings of the Berlin Local group of the FSFE – and stayed. The sustainability problem is one thing we at the Berlin group are trying to help with with support under the End of 10 campaign during our meetings and for example, with workshops at public libraries. After the pandemic I was looking for a new job and I found it at the FSFE in 2022. I am very happy to have found one, as as technical help-desk and system administrator, that let me contribute with my technical skills to the work of the System Hackers to support the FSFE and its work for Software Freedom in Europe while I continue to be involved as a volunteer in other activities.
Who are the System Hackers of the FSFE
They are a crew of volunteers who make sure that the FSFE engines are running. They deal with daily system administration tasks within the IT infrastructure, the backbone of the FSFE. For most of it we are using upstream Free Software components to run the servers and services that lawyers, policy makers and local groups need to do their work for Software Freedom. During the last 25 years most needs of the FSFE could be satisfied by existing upstream Free Software products and projects, but for some aspects of the work we had to develop our own custom software, e.g. the community database or the static site generator for the main website. And naturally they are released as Free Software!
Apart from the regular maintenance and modernisation work that any IT infrastructure needs, what are the current problem the System Hackers are facing? Right now the surge of resources caused by the raise of LLM usage is also one of the main problems for the System Administrator. Websites, documentation, code forges and other services need special care to withstand the plaguing scrapers. One the other hand, we need to ensure that the message about the work of the FSFE is not only available but also accessible for all parts of our audience. Hence we are constantly enhancing the for humans and bots alike.
Join the System Hackers: how you can help
Sharing is caring, and while System Hackers have a bus factor > 1, every helping hand supporting the FSFE and our work is welcome. Most of the services the FSFE is running is hosted on our own servers that need spare parts and regular maintenance. The easiest way for you to support the work of the System Hackers is to become a supporter of the FSFE.
If you want to help with a more hands-on approach, you can apply as technical intern and work on IT projects within the FSFE's IT infrastructure. Or if you have technical expertise you want to bring in as volunteer, you can reach out to us or meet us at conferences around Europe (SFSCON, Chaos Congress or FOSDEM are good bets to meet someone of the System Hackers).