Re: Google Code-In 2012?

[Chris Leonard <cjlhomeaddress gmail com>]

On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 11:21 AM, Andre Klapper <ak-47 gmx net> wrote:

> Quick update: We were not able to get enough tasks and mentors to sign
> up to do Google Code-In, so GNOME will not participate.



Fellow GNOME Foundation members,

Just because GNOME did not muster an application for GCI does not mean
that all opportunity to participate is lost.

As the many Sugaristas on the membership rolls will know, Sugar Labs
(and the OLPC OS builds that are it's major distribution channel) are
heavily dependent on the GNOME stack (mostly via Fedora).  I am
pleased to announce that Sugar Labs did submit a winning application
for participation in GCI2012 (as did our friends at Fedora).

To the extent that, in a given case, a clear argument is made that
Sugar Labs and it's users will directly benefit (as a downstream), I
would certainly entertain the idea of posting GCI tasks that would
land upstream rather than drectly in SL repos.

My understanding is that GCI is about introducing kids to FOSS and I
can think of no lessons more important than understanding the
interdependence of the FOSS stack; how to work collaboratively across
project boundaries; and the importance of "showing some love to the
upstream".  If you have suitable task ideas that straddle the
GNOME-Sugar boundary, please feel free to write them up and place them
on our wiki staging area for consideration, ideally creating a task
specific wiki page tagged with GCI2012 giving more details.

http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Google_Code-In_2012

http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/GoogleCodeIn2012/GCI2012_Brainstorming

http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Category:GCI2012

Note: Tasks are not "official" until one of the GCI coordinators
(myself and Walter Bender) posts them up to the GCI server.

I can't speak for Fedora, but I would imagine they would take a
similar stance (and Sugar Labs might also benefit as a Fedora
downstream).

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/GCI_2012

Particularly important initiatives in the current Sugar development
cycle include GTK3+ porting, introspection, touch UI operability, and
compatibility with ARM architecture, so tasks that would smooth the
rapids of downstreaming in those areas would be most welcome.

A pretty good way to get a sense of the Sugar - GNOME overlap would be
to scan the included packages list of a recent OLPC build.

x86
http://build.laptop.org/13.1.0/os12/xo-1/31012o0.packages.txt

ARM
http://build.laptop.org/13.1.0/os12/xo-4/31012o4.packages.txt

If you don't have a specific task in mind, but like the idea of
helping to introduce a kid to the world of FOSS, I would welcome you
to consider applying to serve as a mentor for Sugar Labs tasks that
interest you.  I can tell you that Sugar Labs has already attracted
some very bright kids from worldwide deployments as contributors.
That is our secret generational recruiting strategy :-).  OLPC gives a
kid an XO laptop running Sugar and we wait for them to be shaped into
Sugar developers by some amazing teachers (like Flavio Danesse).  We
have one particularly shining example of a kid who got an XO at nine
years old and at the ripe old age of fourteen, he is now hacking the
Sugar Core UI alongside our lead developers.  Numerous other examples
exist of kids who have contributed smaller, stand-alone applications
(what we call Activites in Sugar-speak).

Our ranks of potential mentors are small (and very busy), so your help
in making GCI a successful experience for the kids would be most
appreciated.  Please drift on downstream for a few days to knock off a
task or two and teach a kid a thing or two about how FOSS gets stuff
done.

Feel free to kick ideas around with myself or Walter Bender by e-mail
or drop into irc://freenode/sugar At present, the GCI mentor
registration process is a little buggy, but there is a work around
described here:

http://code.google.com/p/soc/issues/detail?id=1640

Warmest Regards,

cjl