About us
The Software Freedom School exists to teach the world how to use and why to choose free software.
David L. Willson and Heather L. Willson started SFS in 2013 with Linux Camp.
We feed the whole learner, mind (techie classes), body (delicious food), and spirit (libre software).
We try to have at least two 4-hour gentle hands-on intro classes each month, one 4-day immersion camp each year, and a few study groups.
Our ideal participant loves Free Software, comes to learn with us, and stays to teach with us. Newbies, graduates, veterans, career changers, and enthusiasts are all welcome and wanted with us!
We are a community based company in the Denver area. We want to partner with hacker-spaces, maker-spaces, LUG's, businesses of all sizes, entrepreneurs, and small, free schools like ours. Our goal is to teach the world how to use and why to choose free software and it would be wonderful if you joined us!
We look forward to meeting you and are excited for you to be part of the libre community!
Upcoming events
2
- $16.00
Ansible BOLT
·OnlineOnlineAnsible is a configuration management tool that is part of every CI/CD, IaC, or DevOps toolbox. It is also valuable even if all you manage is your own laptop because it allows you to remember and automate tasks that you are repeatedly relearning. This class will teach you how to use Ansible and give you a playbook you can start using now.
Our BOLT (Brief, Observe, Lab, Takeaway) format is a one hour quick start that will have you using something new in a flash!## Objectives
We will:
- Understand the structure of an Ansible playbook
- Author changes to customize a playbook to your needs
- Use the playbook to begin managing a machine’s configuration
In this hands-on class, we’ll write a playbook to manage the configuration of the machine(s) you use every day.
## Bring
- Your own GitLab account
- A machine with:
- A microphone and browser that can join Big Blue Button
- SSH with a published key pair
- Your questions and curiosity
Meeting will start 15 minutes prior to the event
- Pay what we ask: 256 mLTC, 128 uBTC, 32 mXMR, or 16 USD
- Or, pay what you choose: pwyc@sofree.us
- Our classes are always free-libre and never free-gratis.
Chat in Mattermost — sign in with GitLab
Email the Captains
If you sign up for one of our events and your plans change, please change your RSVP. We prep things for you and we flag no-shows.2 attendees 
Continuous Integration (CI) with GitLab (Online)
·OnlineOnlineGitLab’s CI is built into the same platform you’re already using for git, issues, merge requests, and container registry. Perfect integration. No separate Jenkins server to maintain, no bolt-on integrations to keep working. The pipeline config lives in your repo as code, versioned alongside the thing it deploys. That integration is the feature: the CI is native, not stitched together from a collection of loosely-coupled tools you have to keep gluing.
And it’s libre. GitLab CE is free software you can self-host, audit, and modify. Which is worth pausing on, because practically all the world’s free software is hosted on an opaque, proprietary platform right now. GitLab is the one where that’s not the case.## Objectives
We will:
- Understand Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment — and why they matter
- Write tests (unit and integration) for a simple app
- Author a `.gitlab-ci.yml` with build, test, and deploy stages
- Deploy via GitLab Pages
- Practice TDD with feature branches and merge requests
In this hands-on class, we’ll build a real CI pipeline from first test through automated deployment, following a scenario where you’re the new engineer on a tiger team. Build, test, deploy — the whole flow.
- Pay what we ask: 1 LTC, 1 mBTC, 128 mXMR, or 64 USD
- Or, pay what you choose: pwyc@sofree.us
- Our classes are always free-libre and never free-gratis.
## Bring
- A machine, preferably with Linux
- Your own GitLab.com account
- Your questions and curiosity
Meeting opens at 8:45, class begins at 9AM sharp
Chat in Mattermost — sign in with GitLab
Email the Captains
Call David
If you sign up for one of our events and your plans change, please change your RSVP. We prep things for you and we flag no-shows.1 attendee
Past events
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