Google Summer of Code

What is it?

The [[[Summer of Code 2007|2007]], 2008, 2009 and again in 2010.

Geeklog did not participate in GSoC in 2011, but we will be applying again for 2012. Please note that the list of accepted organizations will only be published on March 16 - until then, we won't know whether or not Geeklog will be in GSoC again.

Below are some project ideas from past years that haven't been implemented yet. These are currently under review as part of our 2012 application.

Project Ideas

Below is a list of projects that we feel would add useful functionality to Geeklog. These are fully fleshed-out project ideas that you can apply to "as is":

• Add Support for Dynamic Feeds with Access Control
• Core Notification Service
• Unit Test Framework revisited
• Improve Geeklog's spam filter
• Topic Improvements
• Template Engine Upgrade
• Provide PHP Session Handling
• Merge display of comments with trackbacks and pingbacks
• more (mostly unfinished) ideas: GSoC Brainstorming (for your inspiration)

We are also willing to accept new ideas from students. In that case, please check that what you're proposing is not already available (e.g. with some existing add-on) or has been rejected in the past.

Note: If there's no possible mentor listed on the project's idea page (we usually don't pre-assign mentors) and you want to talk about a project, use any of the ways to contact us listed below.

Notes for Students

We have collected some information for students here. Please take a moment to read them. Thanks.

Recommended reading

Google provides an extensive FAQ. There's also a very informative Advice for Students page as well as a much longer GSoC Student Guide. We recommend reading those first.

If you're new to open source development in general, the free ebook Open Advice provides insights and experiences from contributors to various open source projects. There's also the classic Producing Open Source Software, which goes into a lot more details (you may want to start with Open Advice for a quick(er) overview).

Required skills

Students interested in any of the above projects should have reasonable experience with PHP and some basic SQL knowledge. Being able to set up your own LAMP server (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) would probably help but isn't a prerequisite.

Geeklog uses Mercurial for revision control. Students should have a basic grasp of revision control - we can help you with the specifics of Using Mercurial.

If you meet theses requirements, you may want to try and "get your feet wet". See our Getting Started guide.

Also see what we expect from our students during the course of the Summer.

Background information

Geeklog (current version: 1.8.1) is the software you may have seen running websites such as Groklaw.

Contact

Important: Please note that while we encourage you to send a draft proposal to one of the addresses below first, in the end you must submit your proposal through the official Summer of Code website. Only applications submitted through the website can be considered! Google provides detailed instructions - please follow them.

We suggest that you join our Development Mailing List, introduce yourself and the project(s) you are interested in. This list is the best place for any questions or discussions related to the projects and their development.

Or you can hop on our IRC channel, #geeklog at irc.freenode.net and talk to us directly (some patience required - not everyone may be online there all the time).

If you need a more private communication channel, you can also email us at

contact-us(AT)lists.geeklog.net

or use this web form. This goes to a private mailing list which is read only by the GSoC mentors.

Application Template

When applying for a project with Geeklog, please use this application template, i.e. please answer the following questions.

• Please tell us something about yourself (experience, interests, why you are applying for this project).
• Please include contact information (an email address, at the very least), as we won't have access to the contact information that you entered as part of your application.
• Please explain, in your own words, what the project is about and what the goals are.
• Then, please provide a (rough) schedule for your project: The order in which you plan to implement features and an estimate how long it will take and when they will be finished. Don't forget to factor some time for tests and documentation into your plans.
• If there are any periods during the Summer where you will not be able to work on your project (e.g. due to exams or planned vacations), then please also include this information.
• We would like to ask GSoC applicants to submit a patch for Geeklog as part of your application. You can find our project tracker here: http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/. Try looking for issues that are tagged "beginner" (but feel free to tackle any other issue). This will give us an opportunity to see your coding skills in practice.

Feel free to deviate from this exact list - just make sure to answer all the questions.

Thank you!

Further Reading

• Getting Started with Geeklog development
• The Summer of Code topic on geeklog.net provides coverage of our previous participation in the Google Summer of Code.