Google Summer of Code/2016/Organization application

Your details

Why does your org want to participate in Google Summer of Code?
We intend to recruit enthusiastic, experienced, high-quality Gentoo developers to maintain the growth and health of our developer community and its many derivative distributions: Google's ChromeOS; CoreOS, the Linux for massive server deployments; Calculate Linux; Sabayon Linux; etc... We also contribute on a regular basis as an umbrella to entirely separate OSS projects in ways that benefit Gentoo — PackageKit is one excellent example.

How many potential mentors have agreed to mentor this year?
11-15

How will you keep mentors engaged with their students?
We will strongly encourage applicants to interact with the community using our standard communication methods (mailing lists and IRC) before and during the application & evaluation periods. In fact, this will be part of our custom application template. If they cannot learn to do it during that month-long period, we can't expect that they will learn to do so during the next few months. That will count against them in the ranking of their application. Since communication will be one of the requirements for a successful application, we expect that problems during and after the program will be much rarer. We will treat students in the same way we treat our new developers, a significant portion of whom are college students just like the applicants. By encouraging students to communicate directly with the community instead of privately with their mentors, we will infuse them with the process of open-source development.

How will you help your students stay on schedule to complete their projects?
Before they start, we discuss with them their daily schedule and all practical aspects. Any other activities during GSoC? Exams? Do they have a suitable place with internet access to work? We require a physical address and phone number, and we will confirm the phone number at the start of the program. We ask them to answer the following questions, in one line or so, everyday: What was your plan for the day? Did you accomplish that? Why? What is your plan for tomorrow? It should take less than 5 minutes and must be done at the end of the work day, not at the beginning of the following day. In case they stop communicating we will try to contact them by any mean, including having someone near them geographically try to get in touch. After one week and without any advance notice from them, they will be sent a final warning. If we hear nothing by the following day, they will be failed. Students will be informed of this policy when the program starts and will agree to follow it.

How will you get your students involved in your community during GSoC?
We will strongly encourage applicants to interact with the community using our standard communication methods (mailing lists and IRC) before and during the application & evaluation periods. In fact, this will be part of our custom application template. If they cannot learn to do it during that month-long period, we can't expect that they will learn to do so during the next few months. That will count against them in the ranking of their application. Since communication will be one of the requirements for a successful application, we expect that problems during and after the program will be much rarer. We will treat students in the same way we treat other new developers, a significant portion of whom are college students just like the applicants. By encouraging students to communicate directly with the community instead of privately with their mentors, we will infuse them with the process of open-source development.

How will you keep students involved with your community after GSoC?
It mostly boils down to treating them as being full Gentoo developers during GSoC and integrating them into the Gentoo community right from the start of their project. Donnie Berkholz wrote a detailed blog post on what we do here: http://redmonk.com/dberkholz/2012/07/10/how-to-recruit-open-source-contributors/ Here's a summary: Step 0: Set goals and measure progress Step 1: Establish the expectation that most contributors become long-term developers Step 2: Make them interact as true community members, not through a mentor’s conduit Step 3: Don’t let them slip away. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask

Has your org been accepted as a mentoring org in Google Summer of Code before?
Yes

Which years did your org participate in GSoC?
2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

What is your success/fail rate per year?
2006: 10/14 2007: 8/9 2008: 5/6 2009: 6/7 2010: 16/19 2011: 14/15 2012: 8/8 2013: 6/7 2014: 3/4

If your org has applied for GSoC before but not been accepted, select the years:
2015

== If you are a new organization to GSoC, is there a Google employee or previously participating organization who will vouch for you? If so, please enter their name, contact email, and relationship to your organization. (optional) ==

Are you part of a foundation/umbrella organization?
No

What year was your project started?
1999