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

If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
 
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day