41 new projects awarded
We are happy to announce 41 new projects to our portfolio. That effectively means hundreds of people across the world working on great ideas that contribute to the Next Generation Internet and a more open information society. The 41 new projects will be part of two different NGI Zero programmes: NGI0 Entrust (which supports people who are working on privacy and trust enhancing technologies) in its final round sees no less than 30 teams receiving funding. The NGI0 Core program welcomed 11 projects.
Projects cover nine of the ten layers of the NGI technology stack, from trustworthy open hardware to services and applications which provide autonomy for end-users.
What is clearly visible this round is a continued strong interest in web standards. This includes exciting work on low level standards like WebXR/WebGPU (with projects like Wolvic, Renderling (and alternative usage of these technologies in GPGPU Playground), but also higher level standards like ActivityPub, Solid and upcoming technologies like WebXDC. It also includes cross-platform browser engines forming the basis of projects like Webkit and Servo. There is a significant number of open hardware projects too, including a project for low cost redox flow batteries, creating braille content, compliance pre-testing for ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD) and better testing towards preventing fault injection in FPGA's.
NGI Zero funding
NLnet has rolling calls with a deadline every two months. If you have a good idea that contributes to a better internet and digital commons we can build our societies on you can submit a proposal. The next deadline is June 1st.
Meet the new projects
(you can click or tap on the project name to fold out additional information)
Trustworthy hardware and manufacturing
Squishy — SCSI multi tool and gateware library
Squishy is a SCSI multi-tool aimed at long term access to computer systems and equipment. It accomplishes this by having capable hardware combined with an extremely flexible software ecosystem, allowing Squishy to act not only as nearly any device under the sun, but also as a SCSI bus initiator with high flexibility. Enabling it to be used for archival work to interact with obscure or arcane hardware to read magnetic tapes, or allowing modern systems to interface with and control older, but still reliable and used lab and scientific equipment. Squishy is currently in it's second prototyping phase, after lessons were learned from the first revision of the hardware. This involves a full redesign to grant it more capabilities and serve as a more solid foundation. The end goal is a relatively small fully compliant device for multiple SCSI standards along with a robust software ecosystem, allowing for it to speak to any equipment be it a SCSI-1 tape drive, or an ULTRA-320 SCSI-based data acquisition system. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Squishy
O-ESD: Open-hardware for ElectroStatic Discharge testing — Open-hardware for ElectroStatic Discharge testing
The goals of the Open-hardware for ElectroStatic Discharge testing (O-ESD) is to design, produce and verify an open-hardware and accompanying open-software for a device for electrostatic discharge testing. Electrostatic discharge is a phenomenon that occurs daily between humans and electronics and can irreversibly damage the electronics. All consumer electronics sold in EU, including all internet hardware, must satisfy Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive. One of the most hardest tests within EMC directive deals with electrostatic discharge as defined by IEC/EN 61000-4-2 standard. Standardized tests are typically done with special equipment in accredited EMC laboratories and are costly. The O-ESD tester will minimize the costs of pre-compliance testing and make it publicly available. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/O-ESD
openCologne — CM4 form factor SoM for GateMate chips
Currently there is only one FGPA vendor in Europe (CologneChip). Their GateMate chips have some high quality features compared to other FPGA's, such as a high speed SerDes. Recently we have seen the appearances of a number of affordable boards with these FPGA's. The challenge (and opportunity) is now to make sure that the open hardware community can benefit from these FGPA's as soon as possible. This project will design a new iteration of the popular open hardware ULX-boards (ULX5M) featuring GateMate chips, which will be compatible with the widely used CM4 form factor - so it can be slotted into many existing designs instantly. This opens up this strategic new FPGA target for a broader audience, and help breach the market. In addition, the project will make a portfolio of entry level projects that selectively put GateMate resources to good use, including its unique SerDes. Be they in RTL or HLS, implemented as pure hardware FSMs, or by using HW/SW co-design and SOC techniques, or integrated with LiteX - delivering a variety of real-life use cases. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/openCologne
BrailleRAP — Low-cost open hardware for creating Braille content
BrailleRAP is an open source Braille embosser. AccessBrailleRAP software give you the ability to translate a text document into Braille and emboss the Braille characters on paper with the BrailleRAP device. DesktopBrailleRAP software project aim to build a desktop publishing application suitable to build tactile documents for unsighted people with the Braille embosser BrailleRAP. The application brings the ability to import vector graphics in SVG format, or create text label with a position and orientation on a page layout. Text labels are translated in Braille with the ability to choose the Braille standard (language in a simplified manner). Vector graphics are decomposed in series of dot positions along path. All dots from Braille characters and paths are converted in GCODE commands for the BrailleRAP embosser. The result is a tactile document with accurate embossed Braille and tactile 2d graphics made by a series of close dots. DesktopBrailleRAP aim to build a suitable tool for individual or teacher to build tactile documents for unsighted people, such as geographic maps, building or organization maps (like school or campus), public transportation maps or teaching plans in biology and mathematics (geometry). The funding from NLnet will allow the development of the first public release with suitable documentation. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/BrailleRAP
FPGA Fault Injection Testing —Better testing towards preventing fault injection in FPGA's
More details to follow
S-SATA for openXC7 —Open source SATA phy and interface for FPGA's
More details to follow
Redox Flow Battery — Development Kit for Open-Source Hardware Redox Flow Battery
The clean energy transition is underway, and batteries are becoming more common in everyday life. Stationary batteries can perform many roles, like reversibly storing intermittent renewable energy or providing backup power and services to the electrical grid, including internet infrastructure. Right now, lithium-ion batteries—also used in portable electronics and electric vehicles—are increasingly used for stationary applications. Lithium-ion batteries are, however, not ideal in terms of lifetime, cost, safety, and supply chain sustainability. There are viable alternatives to lithium-ion batteries for stationary storage, such as flow batteries, which are being commercialized but are not yet widespread. We plan to democratize flow battery technology by developing an open-source flow battery and starting an associated community around it. We will start with a benchtop-scale development kit, suitable for educational and research use, before progressing towards larger cells. With this NLnet funding, we plan to finish our first release of a 5 cm² kit as well as design and test the subsequent 25 cm² cell. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/RedoxFlowBattery
Network infrastructure incl. routing, P2P and VPN
WWW SCION — Path-aware web server/proxy deployment and browsing
The WWW SCION project aims to bring innovation to web applications by enabling seamless SCION support to the web ecosystem. SCION is a clean-slate, more secure, and robust path-aware Internet architecture designed to provide route control, fault isolation, and explicit trust information for end-to-end communication. The main outcome of this project will be a full software suite for path-aware web browsing that can be easily adopted by network operators to make their web resources available on the SCION network. To do so, this project will develop (1) a production-grade reverse proxy, which enables web resources to be accessed via SCION, and (2) much improved client-side support. This will have an immediate impact on thousands of users who are already connected to the SCION infrastructure, allowing them to access next-generation network features such as expressing path-selection policies that implement their preferences. For instance, a web user could avoid traversing ASes (Autonomous systems) in certain regions when accessing their e-banking website. Another example from which users may benefit is using distinct paths depending on the web resources. In this case, the server could make use of a high-bandwidth path to increase the throughput when loading a large resource, while it could use a low-latency path for a latency-sensitive resource, e.g., a server control message. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/SCION-proxy
Cell broadcast support for the Linux Mobile Stack — Implement SMS-CB for emergency messages on Linux
Cell broadcast is the capability of the mobile network to send messages to multiple mobile devices in an area. It is the common way to alert users about disasters and emergencies. Phosh is a user friendly, graphical interface for Linux based mobile phones using GTK, GNOME and the wlroots compositor library. It uses ModemManager for it's mobile broadband connections. ModemManager is used on Linux systems to control mobile broadband devices and connections. The aim of this project is to add cell broadcast support to ModemManager and the necessary UI elements to Phosh so cell broadcast messages sent to devices running this platform can be properly received and displayed. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/SMS-CB
CAKE-MAINT —Improve network queue management algorithms on Linux
More details to follow
Distributed GNU Shepherd — A Secure Distributed System Layer for Networked Cluster Computing
The project to convert the GNU Shepherd to a distributed program by porting it to use Spritely's Goblins library will empower users to more securely connect computers for clustered and other forms of cooperative work. As a daemon-managing daemon, the Shepherd exposes control of the system layer. Goblins, as an implementation of the object-capability security paradigm, provides both networking and security abstractions. Together, they will simplify and increase the efficiency of existing networked workflows without sacrificing security while also enabling entirely new kinds of cooperation between disparate machines. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/DistributedShepherd
Software engineering, protocols, interoperability, cryptography, algorithms, proofs
Renderling — Real-time rendering library on top of WebGPU
Renderling is an innovative, GPU-driven real-time renderer designed for efficient scene rendering with a focus on leveraging GPU capabilities for nearly all rendering operations. Utilizing Rust for shader development, it ensures memory safety and cross-platform compatibility, including web platforms. The project, currently in the alpha stage, aims for rapid loading of GLTF files and handling large, animated scenes with many lighting effects. Development emphasises performance, safety, observability, and the use of modern rendering techniques like forward+ rendering and physically based shading. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Renderling
Elliptic curve encryption speed-up using SIMD — Low-level instructin optimisation for curve25519-dalek & Arkworks
This project aims to enhance the speed and security of elliptic curve cryptography using the Rust programming language, with a particular focus on mobile and IoT devices. Leveraging SIMD instructions, specifically ARM NEON, we can speed up elliptic curve cryptography in existing libraries such as curve25519-dalek with the goal to optimise encryption processes in software such as Signal. Additionally, we implement double-odd curves in Arkworks to bolster zero-knowledge protocols, and aim to abstract our optimisations to work on any CPU architecture and elliptic curve. By implementing improvements in these libraries, this project seeks to address the growing demand for efficient and secure cryptographic solutions, especially in mobile and IoT environments. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/curve25519-dalek
Pre-Scheme — Compile Scheme directly to portable C
Pre-Scheme is a statically-typed dialect of the Scheme programming language which compiles to C, suitable for low-level systems programming. Pre-Scheme is implemented using a sophisticated general-purpose compiler, written in Scheme, with demonstrated applications to other programming languages and compilation targets. This project aims to port the compiler to R7RS, the latest Scheme standard, so that it can run on a variety of modern Scheme implementations. The Pre-Scheme language and tooling will also be updated to meet the expectations of a contemporary developer audience, and the compiler framework will be documented and exposed to support future innovations in programming language development and research. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Pre-Scheme
ELF tools in Rust — Porting patchelf and install_name_tool to a flexible Rust crate
The "ELF tools in Rust" project aims to develop a versatile command-line tool/library for manipulating ELF and Mach-O binaries, with a particular focus on enhancing patching functionalities. It will leverage the patchelf tool as a standard, alongside Rust's efficiency and safety features. Additionally, it aims to provide seamless integration with Python via bindings created with PyO3 for enhancing accessibility and usability for a wider range of developers and use cases. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/ELF-rusttools
GPGPU Playground — A virtual GPU to learn GPU programming
GPUs are an extremely effective and widely deployed vector co-processor, and yet those interested in adapting their capabilities are faced with a very high barrier to entry. Tools like OpenCL, CUDA, and WebGL all require a broad background to get started solving even simple problems, and mistakes in larger programs can be nearly impossible to identify without an even deeper level of experience. This project takes advantage of WebAssembly and Vulkan's SPIR-V format to deliver a safe, on-demand toolkit for exploring the potential of GPUs, focused on applications outside the bounds of traditional graphics acceleration. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/GPGPU
WebXDC XMPP — Standardisation effort for WebXDC integration in XMPP
WebXDC is a fresh and still evolving effort to explore "private apps", essentially 'portable' web apps through which users can interact in any number of ways outside of the traditional client-server paradigm, e.g. over E2EE chat. Originally developed for Delta Chat over SMTP, we will bring the latest version of this experience to the XMPP ecosystem, including a standardized interchange format for other XMPP clients to use, and a gateway for communication with existing Delta Chat WebXDC users. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/WebXDC-XMPP
RETETRA3 —Security research into TETRA standard
More details to follow
Enhancing vula with IPv6 and REUNION rendezvous — IPv6, hybrid post-quantum improvements & REUNION support for Vula
With zero configuration, Vula automatically encrypts IP (v4) communication between hosts on a local area network (LAN) in a forward-secret and transitionally post-quantum manner to protect against passive eavesdropping. When the local gateway to the internet is a Vula peer, internet-destined traffic will also be encrypted on the LAN. With simple verification using QR codes or other peer verification methods, Vula is also able to disrupt active surveillance adversaries. Vula combines WireGuard for forward-secret point-to-point tunnels with cryptographically enhanced mDNS and DNS-SD for local peer discovery. Vula enhances the confidentiality of WireGuard tunnels by using CSIDH as provided by highctidh, a post-quantum non-interactive key exchange primitive, to generate a peer-wise pre-shared key for each tunnel configuration. Vula avoids the need for any Single Point of Failure (SPOF) such as a trusted third party. Vula is equally functional on otherwise air-gapped networks. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Vula-IPV6-Reunion
Operating Systems, firmware and virtualisation
DeviceCode — Structured technical information about consumer devices
This project is about reusing crowdsourced technical data about devices. This data is useful for researchers and tinkerers, but it is typically not the data that vendors are willing to give, let alone under a license that allows reuse. Think of: chipset information, serial port layout & speeds, amount of memory, and so on. Several groups of people have collected this data in several places (mostly wikis) under an open data license, but they are hard to reuse by other projects that could be interested in this data. The goal of "DeviceCode" is to collect this information, rework it into a format that is easy to reuse by other projects without having to resort to Wiki scraping, and also clean up the data (as humans make data entry mistakes and put useful data in places where it shouldn't be), cross-correlate different sources and automatically enrich the data where possible. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/DeviceCode
Reproducible-openSUSE — Reproducible distribution of openSUSE rolling release
The Reproducible-openSUSE project is creating a proof-of-concept of a general-purpose Linux distribution based on openSUSE-Tumbleweed. By employing reproducible-builds, it allows independent verification that all its binaries correspond to the sources. This greatly reduces the amount of trust that users need to place in the build infrastructure. It is not only a proving-ground, but also a staging-area for upstreaming changes to make them useful to millions of users. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Reproducible-openSUSE
The MacBook Liberation Project —Implement Coreboot support to various Apple devices
More details to follow
Measurement, monitoring, analysis and abuse handling
CRAVEX —Cyber Resilience Application for Vulnerability Exploitability Exchange
More details to follow
Pijul ecosystem — A modern patch-based version control system
Pijul is a modern patch-based version control system that addresses many shortcomings found in existing tools. While its foundations are already mature and well-tested, it lacks many conveniences users expect from the ecosystems of popular tools such as Git. This project aims to significantly reduce Pijul's barrier to adoption by addressing common areas of user feedback - documentation, usability, robustness, and integration into other tools such as text editors or CLI prompts. We believe this will improve the workflow of existing users, and enable many more to adopt Pijul and its benefits without sacrificing other parts of their workflow. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Pijul
Decentralised solutions, including blockchain/distributed ledger
Enhancing vula with IPv6 and REUNION rendezvous — IPv6, hybrid post-quantum improvements & REUNION support for Vula
With zero configuration, Vula automatically encrypts IP (v4) communication between hosts on a local area network (LAN) in a forward-secret and transitionally post-quantum manner to protect against passive eavesdropping. When the local gateway to the internet is a Vula peer, internet-destined traffic will also be encrypted on the LAN. With simple verification using QR codes or other peer verification methods, Vula is also able to disrupt active surveillance adversaries. Vula combines WireGuard for forward-secret point-to-point tunnels with cryptographically enhanced mDNS and DNS-SD for local peer discovery. Vula enhances the confidentiality of WireGuard tunnels by using CSIDH as provided by highctidh, a post-quantum non-interactive key exchange primitive, to generate a peer-wise pre-shared key for each tunnel configuration. Vula avoids the need for any Single Point of Failure (SPOF) such as a trusted third party. Vula is equally functional on otherwise air-gapped networks. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Vula-IPV6-Reunion
Pijul ecosystem — A modern patch-based version control system
Pijul is a modern patch-based version control system that addresses many shortcomings found in existing tools. While its foundations are already mature and well-tested, it lacks many conveniences users expect from the ecosystems of popular tools such as Git. This project aims to significantly reduce Pijul's barrier to adoption by addressing common areas of user feedback - documentation, usability, robustness, and integration into other tools such as text editors or CLI prompts. We believe this will improve the workflow of existing users, and enable many more to adopt Pijul and its benefits without sacrificing other parts of their workflow. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Pijul
Data and AI
DeviceCode — Structured technical information about consumer devices
This project is about reusing crowdsourced technical data about devices. This data is useful for researchers and tinkerers, but it is typically not the data that vendors are willing to give, let alone under a license that allows reuse. Think of: chipset information, serial port layout & speeds, amount of memory, and so on. Several groups of people have collected this data in several places (mostly wikis) under an open data license, but they are hard to reuse by other projects that could be interested in this data. The goal of "DeviceCode" is to collect this information, rework it into a format that is easy to reuse by other projects without having to resort to Wiki scraping, and also clean up the data (as humans make data entry mistakes and put useful data in places where it shouldn't be), cross-correlate different sources and automatically enrich the data where possible. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/DeviceCode
Solid NC 2024 — Add more Solid capabilities to Nextcloud
The Solid Nextcloud project implemented a server component with the Solid specification for Nextcloud, which makes ones Nextcloud server a Solid server as well. This allows user to user their existing server for identity and storage within the Solid eco-system. To enhance security and to enable easier cooperation and release of new versions we need to improve a number of things. The CI/CD of the project will be improved. Based on an earlier audit, we will implement a number of security enhancing features and we will release a PHP Solid Server next to the Solid Nextcloud module. These servers share a lot of code, which makes maintenance easier. The advantage is that PHP has a security maintenance cycle of three years, making it easier for users to stay secure when using a Solid server. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Solid-NC
CRAVEX —Cyber Resilience Application for Vulnerability Exploitability Exchange
More details to follow
Dokieli — Decentralised article publishing, annotations & social interactions
Dokieli empowers users with full control and ownership of their content through self-publishing capabilities. As a decentralised authoring, annotation, and notification tool, dokieli enables users to create and share human-readable and machine-processable content. Users can author and annotate a wide range of creative works, including articles, reviews, technical specifications, research and academic works, resumes, journals, and slideshows. They can link significant units of information from various open sources, store their content using their preferred storage systems, and share it with their contacts. Dokieli is committed to leveraging open internet and web standards to ensure interoperability and universal access. Content produced by dokieli is decoupled from the application, allowing users the autonomy to switch to any other standards-compliant application and storage system. The project's goal is to make it usable and accessible for all. To this end, we will replace several key libraries; improve the UI; expand test coverage (including accessibility tests); increase support for offline use; perform security audits; and expand implementation of web standards, and provide implementation experience feedback to technical standards bodies. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Dokieli
Services + Applications (e.g. email, instant messaging, video chat, collaboration)
Blink for Windows —Modern cross-platform SIP client
More details to follow
Improving WebKit on Windows — Improve Windows support for the WebKit browser engine
WebKit is an open source browser engine, used by Safari and others. Such a browser engine is used to lay out web pages, graphically render the content and perform all other kinds of tasks under the hood of a browser or WebView. In recent years, one engine (Google's Blink engine, which forked from Webkit in 2013) has started to become nearly pervasive due to the market share of Google. Having a global dependency on a single piece of code maintained by a single entity is a significant liability, and isn't good for the open web either. It is important that applications on all platforms are able to choose from different engines like WebKit, Gecko or Servo. One weak part of Webkit in recent years has been its limited support for the Windows platform. This project will focus on enabling more features in WebKit’s Windows port, to make WebKit a more viable alternative choice when building a cross-platform web browser. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/WebKit-on-Windows
Servo CSS — CSS feature parity for Servo browser engine
Servo is a web rendering engine written in Rust, with WebGL and WebGPU support, and adaptable to desktop, mobile, and embedded applications. Built with safety, speed, and concurrency in mind, Servo showcases the potential of Rust for modern web development. Servo's modular design allows for easy adaptation to various use cases. As part of this project we'll continue the work on adding support for more CSS features to the Servo layout. The main areas of work would be to finish Tables and Flexbox support; which will increase the number of web pages and applications render properly in Servo. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Servo-CSS
IronCalc — Embeddable spreadsheet engine written in Rust
IronCalc is a versatile open-source spreadsheet engine written in Rust from the ground up, employing modern programming best practices. It can be used from any programming language or from end-user products like Web IronCalc. Around the world, millions of spreadsheets are used for accounting, data analysis, processing, educational purposes, collaboration, sharing, etc. IronCalc aims to be an all-purpose alternative to Excel or Google Sheets, filling an important gap in the democratisation of spreadsheets. Suited for companies, individuals, and schools alike, the project aims to be feature-rich, international, fast, and lightweight. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/IronCalc
Wolvic User Interface — Flexible windows, tabs, zooming and web rendering in Wolvic
Wolvic is an Open Source Web browser developed for XR (Extended Reality) devices, focusing on delivering both traditional web browsing and immersive experiences across multiple platforms. Led by Igalia, with its significant expertise in browser engine development and standards organizations, Wolvic builds on Mozilla’s Firefox Reality project to broaden the accessibility and functionality of web browsing in the XR space. This project will further the development of Wolvic by improving its user experience and adding support for more content, standards, and platforms. We will enhance the flexibility of window management in order to better adapt to different use cases and workflows, improve browsing functionality like tabs and zoom, and refine hand tracking and related features in the 3D space. Although Wolvic currently uses the Gecko browser engine, its architecture is designed to be independent of any particular engine; for improved support and performance, we will integrate the Chromium engine and make available a Chromium-based version of Wolvic alongside the existing Gecko-based one. Furthermore, we will also extend compatibility to new device formats, such as lightweight Augmented Reality (AR) glasses. Finally, we are enhancing our support of AR experiences on the Web and implementing the WebPayments standard for secure online transactions. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Wolvic-UI
Omnom —Add social layer to personal bookmarking
More details to follow
DeltaTouch — DeltaChat on UBports mobile phones
DeltaTouch is a Delta Chat compatible messenger app for the Ubuntu Touch mobile platform. In this project we will enhance Webxdc support, the last big feature missing compared to the mainline Delta Chat apps. Webxdc apps are small, portable web apps that are running inside a host application. At the moment, all official Delta Chat clients and Cheogram, an XMPP-based messenger, are able to act as a host for Webxdc apps. The DeltaTouch Webxdc implementation aims to support the current and also upcoming Webxdc specifications, allowing all existing Webxdc apps to function well with DeltaTouch. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/DeltaTouch
Webxdc evolve — Comparative analysis of HTML5 app containers
Webxdc.org is an evolving standard which defines a format for portable HTML5 applications and an API for local-first, peer-to-peer, end-to-end encrypted applications. For this project we will perform a comprehensive survey of historical and contemporary efforts with similar goals, including those by W3C working groups, independent open-source developers, and noteworthy proprietary platforms. We'll produce reference documents providing developers with a comprehensive overview of the space, summarizing their options for packaging portable HTML5 applications for different platforms, and highlighting affinities between closely aligned projects. As a follow-up, we'll propose additions to the webxdc API based on patterns observed in other projects, aiming to reduce the complexity of common designs and facilitate portability between or interoperability with existing platform implementations. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Webxdc-Evolve
Solid NC 2024 — Add more Solid capabilities to Nextcloud
The Solid Nextcloud project implemented a server component with the Solid specification for Nextcloud, which makes ones Nextcloud server a Solid server as well. This allows user to user their existing server for identity and storage within the Solid eco-system. To enhance security and to enable easier cooperation and release of new versions we need to improve a number of things. The CI/CD of the project will be improved. Based on an earlier audit, we will implement a number of security enhancing features and we will release a PHP Solid Server next to the Solid Nextcloud module. These servers share a lot of code, which makes maintenance easier. The advantage is that PHP has a security maintenance cycle of three years, making it easier for users to stay secure when using a Solid server. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Solid-NC
ActivityPub Quote Posts —Quote Posts in ActivityPub and Mastodon
More details to follow
FediMod —Tooling for Fediverse moderation
More details to follow
Dokieli — Decentralised article publishing, annotations & social interactions
Dokieli empowers users with full control and ownership of their content through self-publishing capabilities. As a decentralised authoring, annotation, and notification tool, dokieli enables users to create and share human-readable and machine-processable content. Users can author and annotate a wide range of creative works, including articles, reviews, technical specifications, research and academic works, resumes, journals, and slideshows. They can link significant units of information from various open sources, store their content using their preferred storage systems, and share it with their contacts. Dokieli is committed to leveraging open internet and web standards to ensure interoperability and universal access. Content produced by dokieli is decoupled from the application, allowing users the autonomy to switch to any other standards-compliant application and storage system. The project's goal is to make it usable and accessible for all. To this end, we will replace several key libraries; improve the UI; expand test coverage (including accessibility tests); increase support for offline use; perform security audits; and expand implementation of web standards, and provide implementation experience feedback to technical standards bodies. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Dokieli
Vertical use cases, Search, Community
Cpdf Accessibility — Implement PDF/UA in cpdf
The Cpdf accessibility project extends the popular open-source PDF processing tool Cpdf to support PDF/UA (ISO 14289), the standard for accessible PDF. PDF/UA helps those with disabilities who use screen readers and other tools to navigate documents by tagging PDFs with metadata describing the logical structure of the content. Such metadata can also help all users by allowing reliable text re-flow, and better searching within documents. There is very little open-source tooling for accessible PDF at present, so this will represent a significant step forward. The work will involve adding functionality to Cpdf for the inspection and manipulation of existing PDF/UA files, and the creation of new ones from scratch. These tools will be useful to PDF/UA developers as well as to end users. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/cPDF-UA
Inochi2D — Open source 2D animation/puppeteering framework
Inochi2D is an open source, BSD 2-clause licensed toolkit and ecosystem for real-time 2D puppet animation, for use in game development, virtual avatars and other multimedia applications. Our ecosystem features a SDK and two tools: Inochi Creator, which allows the user to create a puppet by rigging layered 2D art via warping meshes, physics, dynamic masking and real-time lighting, in order to create the illusion of depth and liveliness. And Inochi Session, which allows the use of Inochi2D puppets for livestreaming, teleconferencing and more, by mapping external tracking data to a puppet's rigging. The SDK and tools together allows anyone to express themselves without restrictive licensing terms. With this grant our goal is to improve the user experience and portability of our tooling via the creation of a new UI toolkit which is purpose-built just for Inochi2D, called libsoba. We also plan to finish and release a major update to Inochi2D, version 0.9, which aims to make Inochi2D more future proof and portable, making it viable to use in game engines such as Godot and Unity, and on the web via WebASM, WebGL and WebGPU. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Inochi2D
cables.gl — Creative tool for graphics and 3D content
Cables is a tool which allows people to create beautiful, interactive, visual web content without knowing how to type a line of code. Your work is easily exportable at any time, so you can embed it into your website, use it an immersive VR experience, or integrate into other kinds of creative output. Cables patches can be published, shared, copied and remixed by the entire community. This allows people to constantly learn new things from each other. By developing a standalone version, that works outside of the browser, cables will open up even more for contributions from the open source community. It will be, at the same time, a development environment for contributors, and an offline version of the cables editor. As a side effect, using it with native modules on any major platform and operating system will open up a whole new area of how and where to use cables to create content. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/cables.gl
MinetestEdu — Education platform centered around 3D/cube world Minetest
The MinetestEdu project is an open-source initiative designed to provide French teachers with tools for using the Minetest video game in the classroom. The aim is to encourage the adoption of open-source tools among educators and students in France and abroad, while contributing to the Minetest community with the development of educational features and customisable graphical elements with a focus on improved filtering of educational mods and enhanced manipulation of 3D data. This initiative follows on from the UNEJ (Urbanités Numériques En Jeux) project, which was developed in the north of Paris and is one of several projects using Minetest for education. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/MinetestEdu
Faircamp 1.0 — Self-hostable, maintenance-free websites for audio producers
Faircamp is a static site generator for audio producers, empowering artists, labels and everyone else working with sound to distribute their work on their own, with low resource requirements and little to no maintenance effort. The aims within this project are to address usability, accessibility and cultural concerns, to improve documentation, to implement missing core architecture components and complete the embedding functionality, as well as complementary bugfixing and smaller feature additions. ▸ For more details see: https://nlnet.nl/project/Faircamp
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