GSoC 2007

The Google Summer of Code 2007 is on, and we want to be part of it. We are therefore starting this drive, with the ultimate goal of getting Haiku to participate as a mentoring organization. As part of the drive, we want to mobilize the community to help us better articulate our intentions to participate in the GSoC. In general, we want to create more favorable conditions to help us reach our goals.

What is the Google Summer of Code and why does Haiku want to participate?

The Google Summer of Code is a program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source projects. For Haiku, this not only represents an opportunity to have a paid for engineer for three months that would contribute with actual code, but it also means that we can raise our visibility in the open source world. It is also common for a student that works on a project through the GSoC to stay as a community member of that project, and that is obviously a welcome benefit.

Will Haiku be able to participate?

We really don't know. Our participation depends on whether our application as a mentor organization is accepted or not. The application period is from March 5th through the 12th. We expect to submit our application on March 5th or 6th.

The list of accepted mentoring organizations will be announced on code.google.com on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007.

How you can help during the application period

During the application period, you can help Haiku raise the chances of being chosen as a mentor organization by becoming a mentor. The more mentors we have, the better our chances are. Mentors are developers that guide students, evaluate their work, and help them reach their project goals.

We currently have several mentors, but are still looking at expanding our pool of mentors to increase our chances of being selected. So if you are interested, you can either send an email to the Haiku mailing list or contact the Haiku GSoC administrator directly (login required; if you don't have an account, create one here).

Here is our current list of mentors for GSoC 2007:

  • Axel Dörfler
  • Michael Phipps
  • Ryan Leavengood
  • Oliver Ruiz Dorantes
  • Jérôme Duval (backup)
  • Waldemar Kornewald (backup)

How you can help if Haiku does become a mentor organization

If after our application to be a mentoring organization is approved by Google, and once the selected students start their work, you can help provide assistance to the students on the mailing list and on the Haiku IRC channel. Making the students feel comfortable with the community is important, as it can help them do a better job at reaching their GSoC goals (which is also positive for Haiku), and could also be the key to students staying with the project even after their GSoC assignment is over.

Ideas for GSoC 2007

The Haiku core developers have come up with a list of ideas for students to choose from if our application to become a mentoring organization is approved by Google. Check out the complete list here:

Information for students

If you are a qualifying student and would like to apply for one of our GSoC 2007 project ideas, please check out the Students: How to apply for a Haiku project for details on how to apply.