Re: LibreCAD application for Google Summer of Code (GSoC)

On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 10:09 PM, Scott Howard <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Hello devs,
>
> LibreCAD is going to apply to participate in Google Summer of Code.


The idea page is coming together, please put any other ideas you can
think of up on that page. You also need to put contact info (an email)
for each mentor.


Below is a draft of our application, check it over/comment if you'd like:

    Describe your organization.

LibreCAD is an open source (GPLv2) computer assistant drawing project
for Windows, OSX, and Linux. The project started in 2010 as the qt4
port of QCAD, and has since grown to exceed expectations. It has gain
widespread support, included in several Linux distributions and is the
default 2D CAD in Edubuntu, and has been translated into over 20
languages by the community. The goal of the project is to provide a
professional and open-source 2D CAD that is extensible and flexible
for many applications. For example, in additional to traditional usage
of CAD (design and drawing of machinable parts, for example), the
community has begun work developing interfaces for CAM (computer
assisted machining) and similar projects.

    Why is your organization applying to participate in Google Summer
of Code 2012? What do you hope to gain by participating?

LibreCAD hopes to gain exposure and introduce students to our
development community so that they too can become actively
contributing developers. We have some interesting projects which will
yield useful features for LibreCAD, but we really hope to gain
exposure and widen our developer base/community.

    Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes?
If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and
challenges of your participation.

This is our first year applying.

    If your organization has not previously participated in Google
Summer of Code, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)?

This is our first year applying.

    What Open Source Initiative approved license(s) does your project use?

GPLv2, all new contributions must be GPLv2 or later.

    What is the URL for your Ideas page?

http://wiki.librecad.org/index.php/GSoC_2012

    What is the main development mailing list for your organization?

http://forum.librecad.org/LibreCAD-dev-f4361976.html

    What is the main IRC channel for your organization?

#librecad on irc.freenode.net

    Does your organization have an application template you would like
to see students use? If so, please provide it now.

[LIBRECAD TO DO!!] DEVS what do you want to now about our applicants

    Who will be your backup organization administrator?

Ries van Twisk <[hidden email]>, lead project manager of LibreCAD

    What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's
program? Please be as specific as possible.

Mentors were all long-term (> 6 month) active contributors to the
project. They have reputations for being skilled, good communicators,
helpful, friendly, and encouraging of the community. We invited the
"core" developers to be members and propose projects on our ideas
page, and had internal discussions as to which projects would fit best
with the program.

    What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students?

We would be disheartened to lose students, but no project proposed is
release-critical so the project can cope by other devs picking up the
project when they get a chance. Ideally we'd have good communication
with students so they feel a part of the community and not want to
disappear!

    What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors?

Each project is a mentor and a co-mentor. If the mentor is unable to
continue mentoring, the co-mentor will step up. By the middle of the
summer, we hope the student is a member of the community of developers
such that everyone is aware of their work and can help as well.

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

Students are encouraged to contact perspective mentors prior to the
start of the program. Mentoring will take place on our public mailing
list and IRC channel so the community can also participate in
mentoring. We will encourage the students to look at additional tasks
they can do outside of the scope of GSoC towards the end of the
program as a way of showing them more interesting work they can
continue to do with LibreCAD

    Are you a new organization who has a Googler or other organization
to vouch for you? If so, please list their name(s) here.

[i've started contacting people, i'll fill this in later. Please let
me know if you know of anyone else too]

    Are you an established or larger organization who would like to
vouch for a new organization applying this year? If so, please list
their name(s) here.

A few notes on the mentoring organization application:

    If you take a look at the program timeline, we've left about a
week and a half for students to get to know you before submitting
their applications. It is critical that it be obvious how students
should reach you to discuss applying to your organization; plan to
link this information from your Ideas list at the very least.