Developer(s) | GNU Project [1] [2] |
---|---|
Initial release | 2 June 2011 |
Stable release | |
Repository | |
Written in | Python, SQL |
Platform | Linux, [4] macOS, [4] Microsoft Windows [4] |
Available in | English, Spanish, German, Dutch, Esperanto, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Slovak, Romanian [5] |
Type | Web server, media hosting and sharing |
License | AGPLv3, CC0 for site design [6] |
Website | mediagoblin |
GNU MediaGoblin (also shortened to MediaGoblin or GMG) is a free, decentralized Web platform (server software) for hosting and sharing many forms of digital media. [7] [8] It strives to provide an extensible, federated, and freedom-respectful software replacement to major media publishing services such as Flickr, DeviantArt, and YouTube. [9] [10]
The origins of GNU MediaGoblin date back to 2008, when a gathering was held at the Free Software Foundation in order to discuss the path that Internet communities should take. The answer was that restrictive and centralized structures were both technically and ethically doubtful, and may harm the typical fairness and availability of the Internet. [8] Several projects have since appeared to prevent this, including Identi.ca, Libre.fm, Diaspora, among others.
The MediaGoblin project remains in active development.
Release Version | Date | Notable features or events |
---|---|---|
0.12.1 | 2023-04-11 | Python dependency fixes [11] |
0.12.0 | 2021-09-18 | Bugfix in media processing [12] |
0.11.0 | 2021-03-10 | Transition to Python 3 [13] |
0.10.0 | 2020-05-01 | New plugin for displaying video subtitles and support for transcoding and displaying video in multiple resolutions [14] |
0.9.0 | 2016-03-26 |
|
0.8.0 | 2015-06-04 | Improved client to server API [16] |
0.7.0 | 2014-08-26 | |
0.6.0 | 2013-12-03 |
|
0.5.0 | 2013-09-05 |
|
0.4.0 | 2013-06-17 | |
0.3.3 | 2013-03-12 | Interface and API enhancements; avoiding unneeded processing of some videos |
0.3.2 | 2012-12-20 | Support for 3D models, collections, and API |
2012-10 to 2012-11-09 | A crowdfunding campaign was launched via the Free Software Foundation [19] [20] [21] | |
0.3.1 | 2012-08-24 | Theming support |
2011–03 | Software development begins [22] |
MediaGoblin is part of GNU, [1] and its code is released under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License; [6] meaning that it adheres to the principles of free and open-source software. The copyright on everything else (e.g. design, logo) is given to the public domain. Christine Lemmer-Webber, the core developer, came up with the name "MediaGoblin" which also makes a pun with the pronunciation of "gobbling". [23]
The main page displays an upper banner with MediaGoblin's typeface and an authentication section for users. The remaining space is left to show thumbnails of the latest posted works. Each user owns a personal profile comprised by two vertical sections – one for uploads arranged as a gallery and another with a customizable text box. For displaying media, the platform focuses on the work itself rather than overstocking with options and buttons; nonetheless, comments can be added under the artwork description. Some other features like tags, metadata, theming, Creative Commons licensing and GPS support can be enabled as separate plug-ins to enrich the usage of GNU MediaGoblin. [24]
The platform successfully hosts and displays many sorts of media:
The project mascot is a purple goblin called Gavroche wearing clothing that resembles a stereotypical artist costume. [28]
Free software, libre software, or libreware is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, not price; all users are legally free to do what they want with their copies of a free software regardless of how much is paid to obtain the program. Computer programs are deemed "free" if they give end-users ultimate control over the software and, subsequently, over their devices.
GNU is an extensive collection of free software, which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popularly known as Linux. Most of GNU is licensed under the GNU Project's own General Public License (GPL).
The GNU Project is a free software, mass collaboration project announced by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983. Its goal is to give computer users freedom and control in their use of their computers and computing devices by collaboratively developing and publishing software that gives everyone the rights to freely run the software, copy and distribute it, study it, and modify it. GNU software grants these rights in its license.
GNU Wget is a computer program that retrieves content from web servers. It is part of the GNU Project. Its name derives from "World Wide Web" and "get". It supports downloading via HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) grants two annual awards. Since 1998, FSF has granted the award for Advancement of Free Software and since 2005, also the Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit.
Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.
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Richard Matthew Stallman, also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to use, study, distribute, and modify that software. Software that ensures these freedoms is termed free software. Stallman launched the GNU Project, founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in October 1985, developed the GNU Compiler Collection and GNU Emacs, and wrote all versions of the GNU General Public License.
This comparison only covers software licenses which have a linked Wikipedia article for details and which are approved by at least one of the following expert groups: the Free Software Foundation, the Open Source Initiative, the Debian Project and the Fedora Project. For a list of licenses not specifically intended for software, see List of free-content licences.
gNewSense was a Linux distribution, active from 2006 to 2016. It was based on Debian, and developed with sponsorship from the Free Software Foundation. Its goal was user-friendliness, but with all proprietary and non-free software removed. The Free Software Foundation considered gNewSense to be composed entirely of free software.
A free-software license is a notice that grants the recipient of a piece of software extensive rights to modify and redistribute that software. These actions are usually prohibited by copyright law, but the rights-holder of a piece of software can remove these restrictions by accompanying the software with a software license which grants the recipient these rights. Software using such a license is free software as conferred by the copyright holder. Free-software licenses are applied to software in source code and also binary object-code form, as the copyright law recognizes both forms.
The GNU General Public License is a series of widely used free software licenses, or copyleft, that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general use, and was originally written by Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), for the GNU Project. The license grants the recipients of a computer program the rights of the Free Software Definition. The licenses in the GPL series are all copyleft licenses, which means that any derivative work must be distributed under the same or equivalent license terms. It is more restrictive than the Lesser General Public License, and even further distinct from the more widely-used permissive software licenses BSD, MIT, and Apache.
The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and derivatives to be available under the same license. Copies may also be sold commercially, but, if produced in larger quantities, the original document or source code must be made available to the work's recipient.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft terms, such as with its own GNU General Public License. The FSF was incorporated in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, where it is also based.
The HTML5 specification introduced the video element for the purpose of playing videos, partially replacing the object element. HTML5 video is intended by its creators to become the new standard way to show video on the web, instead of the previous de facto standard of using the proprietary Adobe Flash plugin, though early adoption was hampered by lack of agreement as to which video coding formats and audio coding formats should be supported in web browsers. As of 2020, HTML5 video is the only widely supported video playback technology in modern browsers, with the Flash plugin being phased out.
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