FOSDEM 2025
Ok, the date is set, but while we don’t yet have all the details on this upcoming event, but we do know a lot about FOSDEM, because it’s been going on for a long time!
FOSDEM is a two-day event organised by volunteers to promote the widespread use of free and open source software. Usually taking place in the beautiful city of Brussels (Belgium), FOSDEM is widely recognized as the best such conference in Europe.
What We Already Know About FOSDEM 2025
We may not know it all about FOSDEM 2025, but there’s a lot we do know. Here’s what we can tell you in a glance, along with links for more information.
Projects With “Stands”: For example, we know that at last count 93 open source projects will have booths… or “stands”, at FOSDEM, which is so many projects that everybody’s favorite open source project will probably have a presence. Whiles there’s no map available yet that shows what project is going to be located where at the event, there is a list for you to check to see if your favorite project will have an official presence.
Call for Presentations: The call for papers went out on November 1 and will close on December 1. Proposals are being accepted Main Track, Lightning talks, Developer Rooms presentations. Visit the event site’s Presentations page for complete information on how to submit, as well as emails to the folks in charge at the various tracks in case you have a question.
Developer Rooms:So far, there are 70 Developer Rooms accepted for the 2025 presentation. While I don’t know for sure where more might be added to the list, I’m figuring that this is it. In case you’re wondering, of course there’s a list of Developer Rooms, with each item being linked to its own page with further information.
What is FOSDEM?
FOSDEM is a free and non-commercial event organised by the community for the community. The goal is to provide free and open source software developers and communities a place to meet to:
- Get in touch with other developers and projects;
- Be informed about the latest developments in the free software world;
- Be informed about the latest developments in the open source world;
- Attend interesting talks and presentations on various topics by project leaders and committers;
- To promote the development and benefits of free software and open source solutions.
Participation and attendance is totally free, though the organizers accept donations and sponsorship.
Developer Rooms
The FOSDEM team feels it is very important for free and open source software developers around the world to be able to meet in “real life”.
To this end, we have set up developer rooms (devrooms) with network/internet connectivity and projectors where teams can meet and showcase their projects. Devrooms are a place for teams to discuss, hack and publicly present latest directions, lightning talks, news and discussions. We believe developers can benefit a lot from these meetings.
A Bit of History
In 2000, Raphael Bauduin, a fan of the Linux movement in Belgium, decided to organise a small meeting for developers of Open Source software. He called it ‘Open Source Developers’ European Meeting’ (OSDEM).
Raphael created a mailing list, a small website and spread the word to people around him. Only a few weeks later, lots of people were waiting for an exciting event in Brussels! Invitations were sent to well-known figures in the community: Rasterman, Fyodor, Jeremy Allison and so on. They all gave a very positive response, and OSDEM was on the road to success.
For the second year, OSDEM was renamed FOSDEM. And now, many years later, it has grown into the event it is today. We now try to cover a wide spectrum of free and open source software projects, and offer a platform for people to collaborate. Every year, we host more than 5000 developers at the ULB Solbosch campus.
When available, the schedule will be here.