Bonum Certa Men Certa

Plotting and Analysing the Letter in Support of Richard Matthew Stallman (RMS) Being Reinstated by the Free Software Foundation

Video download link



Summary: "An open letter in support of Richard Matthew Stallman being reinstated by the Free Software Foundation" has been signed by 6,731 people (it may reach 7,000 later this summer) and here's how to generate a chart based on this very latest data

IT already feels like "hot summer" over here; this past spring the founder of the Free Software Foundation came under a lousy attack by mostly misled people, commandeered by front groups of monopolies. They've been defaming the founder of the Free Software Foundation for a number of decades (the GNOME Foundation tried 12 years ago), but this time there seems to be some urgency in removing him. We spent many days explaining the who and the why. This isn't the subject of this post and video.



"For those who want to reproduce the charts, detailing nearly 10,000 people who signed petitions in Microsoft’s proprietary software monopoly (GitHub), the video above explains the basic steps."For those who want to reproduce the charts, detailing nearly 10,000 people who signed petitions in Microsoft's proprietary software monopoly (GitHub), the video above explains the basic steps. Here are the basic commands from the video above:

cd /tmp rm -rf rms-open-letter.github.io rm -rf rms-support-letter.github.io

or just

rm -rf rms-open-letter.github.io rms-support-letter.github.io

Get the latest data:

git clone https://github.com/rms-open-letter/rms-open-letter.github.io.git

git clone https://github.com/rms-support-letter/rms-support-letter.github.io.git

Now run python3 count.py

There may be missing python libraries (depending on the system), but they can be added/installed from repositories. They're widely available and used.

Here's the code from count.py:

 



# author: Kezi # license: gplv3

import time import os import subprocess from threading import Thread

from datetime import datetime

start_time = 1616522054+60*60*4 stop_time = int(time.time())

path_open = "/tmp/rms-open-letter.github.io" # https://github.com/rms-open-letter/rms-open-letter.github.io.git path_support = "/tmp/rms-support-letter.github.io" # https://github.com/rms-support-letter/rms-support-letter.github.io.git

cwd = os.getcwd()

def count_open(): lol=subprocess.check_output(['sh', '-c', f"cd {path_open}; cat index.md | grep -e \"^1.\" -e \"^- \" | wc -l"]) return int(lol)

def count_support(): lol=subprocess.check_output(['sh', '-c', f"cd {path_support}; ls _data/signed/ | wc -l"]) return int(lol)

def checkout_open(date): try: subprocess.check_output(['sh', '-c', f"cd {path_open}; git checkout -f `git rev-list -n 1 --before=\"{date}\" main`"]) except: pass

def checkout_support(date): try: subprocess.check_output(['sh', '-c', f"cd {path_support}; git checkout -f `git rev-list -n 1 --before=\"{date}\" master`"]) except: pass

def time_machine(timestamp): print("time machine", datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp), timestamp)

date=datetime.utcfromtimestamp(timestamp).strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M') thread1 = Thread(target = checkout_open, args = (date, )) thread1.start() thread2 = Thread(target = checkout_support, args = (date, )) thread2.start()

thread1.join() thread2.join()

dates=[] points_open=[] points_support=[]

for i in range(start_time, stop_time, 60*5): time_machine(i)

dates.append(datetime.fromtimestamp(i)) points_open.append(count_open()) points_support.append(count_support())

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import matplotlib.dates as md

plt.subplots_adjust(bottom=0.2) plt.xticks(rotation=25) ax = plt.gca() xfmt = md.DateFormatter('%Y-%m-%d') ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(xfmt) plt.plot(dates, points_open, label="rms hate letter")

plt.subplots_adjust(bottom=0.2) plt.xticks(rotation=25) ax = plt.gca() xfmt = md.DateFormatter('%Y-%m-%d') ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(xfmt) plt.plot(dates, points_support, label="rms support letter")

plt.legend() plt.show()



The latest chart below (shown after running in the terminal, as shown in the video:

RMS petitions.png



Still growing, but in relative terms not by very much. Here's how to sign.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
Links for the day
 
Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
Links for the day
Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
Links for the day
"Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
Links for the day
Google News is Dying
treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
Links for the day
Links 17/04/2025: Calling Whistleblowers at Microsoft, Slop Doing More Harm Everywhere
Links for the day
Links 17/04/2025: Russian Bot Farms Infect TikTok (Which US Government and SCOTUS Decided to Block January 19), US Hardware Stocks Crash Due to Tariffs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Sticking to Free Software, Smolnet, and Counting the Reals
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: In Conclusion and Enforcement Action Proceeds Against OSI at the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)
There's too much to cover in one single part
When You Fail to Filter Your Clients You End Up SLAPPing Reporters on Behalf of Bad People From Microsoft in Another Continent
“American Psycho”
Links 17/04/2025: LayoffBot and Tesla Cheats Buyers
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 16, 2025