[Printing-architecture] Google Summer of Code 2009: The Application for the Linux Foundation as Mentoring Organization

Till Kamppeter till.kamppeter at gmail.com
Mon Mar 9 14:56:24 PDT 2009


Hi,

please see below the answers to Google's questions for the application 
of the Linux Foundation as a mentoring organization in the Google Summer 
of Code 2009. I have filled in the answers to best of my knowledge and 
based on what we have filled in in last year's application.

I ask you all to review the application and to give your suggestions how 
to improve it.

Deadline for submitting the application is

    Friday, March 13, 2009, 12 noon PDT / 19:00 UTC

Please give your suggestions well before so that I can apply them. Thank 
you very much in advance.

We will also talk on the OpenPrinting telecon about this application and 
for that also non-OpenPrinting people are invited.

The call starts in one hour:

   - Monday 9 March 2009, Evening
       - US
         4pm in San Francisco - US PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)
         5pm in Colorado - US MDT (Mountain Daylight Time)
         6pm in Chicago - US CDT (Central Daylight Time)
         7pm in New York - US EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)

     - Tuesday 10 March 2009, Morning
       - Europe
         12am in Berlin - CET (Central European Time)
       - Japan
         8am in Tokyo - JST (Japan Standard Time)

     * Phone Number (InstantConference.com)
       International: +1-218-936-7999
       Access Code:   491659#

Do not hesitate to make your suggestions by e-mail if you cannot call in.

    Till



----------------------------------------------------------------

Google Summer of Code™ Organization Application

  Link ID:

   linux_foundation

  Group Name:

   The Linux Foundation

  Home Page URL:

   http://www.linux-foundation.org/

  Public Email:

   gsoc2009 at linux-foundation.org (Mailing list where mentors should
   subscribe, posting without subscription allowed, has to be set up).

  Description:

   The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to
   fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007 as a merger of the
   former Free Standards Group (FSG) and the former Open Source
   Developer Lab (OSDL), the LF sponsors the work of Linux creator
   Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source
   companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation
   promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified
   resources and services needed for open source to successfully
   compete with closed platforms.  More:
   https://www.linux-foundation.org/en/About

   All software produced by us is free software published under
   OSI-approved licenses. See project ideas page for the license used
   by the each project.

  Why is your group applying to participate? What do you hope to gain
  by participating?

   Our goals are twofold: to meet specific technical goals, and to gain
   new members of our community (and the open-source community, by
   extension).  For the work in all our workgroups, as printing,
   kernel, driver backports, LSB, ..., having a specific goal and a
   mentor are important in penetrating areas which can be more complex
   than some other projects. And none of the projects in question are
   "filler"; each will provide a very specific, in-demand benefit.

  What is the main public mailing list for your group?

   See the mailing lists of the workgroups on the project ideas page

   LSB: lsb-discuss Mailing List,
   http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/lsb-discuss;
   OpenPrinting: printing-architecture Mailing List,
   http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/printing-architecture;
   Kernel: http://kernelnewbies.org/MailingList;
   Driver Backport: Lf_driver_backport Mailing List,
   http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/Lf_driver_backport

  Where is the main IRC channel for your group?

   See the available IRC channels of the workgroups on the project ideas 
page

   LSB: irc://irc.linux-foundation.org/#lsb;
   Kernel: http://kernelnewbies.org/IRC;
   OpenPrinting: irc://irc.linux-foundation.org/#openprinting;

  What criteria do you use to select the members of your group? Please
  be as specific as possible.

   We selected the principal editors/developers of the Linux Foundation
   working groups or free software project where the proposed student
   projects are part of. Very important is also that the mentors are
   coding on things similar to what the student is supposed to do and
   that they are not only designers or managers.

  Has your group participated previously? If so, please summarize your
  involvement and any past successes and failures.

   Yes, we participated in 2008, as a mentoring organization, and we
   were very successful. Our 8 slots were occupied by 5 students for
   the OpenPrinting workgroup and 3 for the kernel. 7 of the 8 students
   actually started their work and finished successfully. The Google
   Summer of Code especially helped us to for the Common Printing
   Dialog and also to get Ubuntu Intrepid as the first distribution
   with a PDF-based printing workflow out of the door.

  If your group has not previously participated, have you applied in
  the past? If so, for what sort of participation?

   We participated already.

  What license does your organization use?

   GPL. (Mention rest in org application, according to Leslie)

   All the work produced by the Linux Foundation is free software
   according to the OSI definitions, but there is no requirement for a
   specific license. The licenses are selected depending on what is
   most suitable for each individual project.

     * LSB: mostly GPL, some tools Artistic
     * PAPI: CDDL
     * JTAPI: MIT
     * CUPS filters: GPL
     * Foomatic (including web software): GPL
     * Kernel: GPL

  URL for your ideas page

   https://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Google_Summer_of_Code_2009

  What is the application template you would like contributors to your
  organization to use.

   TBD

  What is your plan for dealing with disappearing contributors (students)?

   If possible (early enough) we would like to replace the disappearing
   student by another one. Otherwise, we will transition their
   work-in-progress to a caretaker (i.e., the appropriate mentor).

  What is your plan for dealing with disappearing memebers (mentors, 
admins)?

   We will transition their mentor role to another active member of the
   appropriate Linux Foundation working group.

  What steps will you take to encourage contributors to interact with
  your project's community before, during and after the program?

   Each of the projects has methods for community interaction, whether
   through conference calls, IRC, or face-to-face meetings. To the
   extent possible, we intend to give our students time to report on
   their project, both in the progress they make and in the things they
   learn.  Invitations to these events will be given at the earliest
   opportunity.  Some of the projects may take more time than just the
   summer, or may involve integration work after the project is
   complete. Even if the project is done, we will work to keep the
   student involved in the integration process. And we hope to suggest
   other ways the student can participate that mesh well with their
   strengths once this project is done.

  What will you do to ensure that your contributors students stick with
  the project after GSoC concludes?

   We will gauge each student's progress, and suggest other projects
   they may wish to work on after their summer project is done.
   Integration with the main upstream projects will likely be an
   important part of the task. Our students will be encouraged to take
   part in that process, and not just "throw the patch over the wall".
   Occasionally, other internships and even contracting jobs can come
   up.  In these cases, previous participants in GSoC who have
   continued to participate in their respective projects may find
   themselves with job opportunities, either within a Linux Foundation
   workgroup or in the general community.

  Please select your backup group administrator.

   TBD



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