Google are running their Summer of Code again this year. If you're not
familiar with it, see:
https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/
We decided to apply a while back, but it's now time for orgs to
actually apply - the deadline is just a few days away (Feb 20th).
The main priorities right now are:
* Refreshing the list of project ideas. I've done some cleaning up,
but the better the breadth and depth of ideas we have, the more
likely we are to be selected:
https://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoCProjectIdeas
Ideas do *NOT* have to be for work on Xapian itself - projects
related to Xapian in other software are within scope (e.g.
integrating Xapian into a framework, or adding Xapian search to an
application). You'll need to provide mentoring related to the
other software, but we can help out with Xapian-specific questions.
Ideas don't need to be fully planned out - we expect the students to
do some research, planning and to discuss the project as part of
getting from the project idea to their proposal. But we do need to
clearly say what the aims are, give some pointers to useful
resources, and a list of required or beneficial skills. And the
scope needs to be suitable for taking a student developer about 12
weeks of full time work to complete (ideally including getting it
merged).
If you have a suitable idea, feel free to add it to the page, or
raise it for discussion here or on IRC.
This list is one of the key things google look at when reviewing org
applications, so we want it to be in great shape by 20th. You can
still add or improve ideas after then, but it's less likely to make a
difference to us being selected.
* Identifying potential mentors. Every idea on the list should have at
least one suitable potential mentor attached.
If you're interested in acting as a mentor for one of the ideas
there, please update the page.
One of the questions I need to answer in the org applications is
how many mentors we have, so if you are interested in mentoring, then
speaking up in the next few days would be helpful. It's OK for us to
end up with more mentors than we say at this point, but being able to
realistically respond will likely help our application.
* Talking to the students who've started to appear.
If you are a student eligible for GSoC and interested in working on
Xapian, please feel free to get in touch. You don't have to choose from
the ideas on the list - you're welcome to propose your own project
ideas.
If you want to discuss being a mentor or a student, or a project idea,
you can do so on the mailing list or on #xapian on freenode (if you
aren't already an IRC user, see https://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoC_IRC for
links to a web IRC client).
There's also a general GSoC IRC channel - #gsoc on freenode.
Cheers,
Olly