Google Summer of Code 2024
Participation
The XSF has plans to be a mentoring organization for Google Summer of Code 2024. The XSF has been accepted as a mentoring organization in GSOC 2024!
XMPP oriented projects should still add project ideas to the below list.
Organization: Edward offered to help the organization. Please reach out to the GSoC chat if you want to support as well of plan to participate in any way: GSoC chat room gsoc@muc.xmpp.org
Dates
More information on the dates are listed on their GSoC Website
Otherwise, all other info is on GSoC page
Overview
| Date | Meeting | Participants |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Kick-off Meeting | emus & supporters |
| 2024 | Organization Application preparation | emus & supporters |
| 2024 | Org Application Deadline | emus |
| 2024 | Projects Application | Mentors |
Overview
XMPP is an Internet protocol used in many fields, such as the Internet of Things, chat applications, voice and video calls, etc. It's what commercial client alike Google Talk, Whatsapp or Google Hangouts uses as an XMPP-derivate of the protocol uses or in some aspects of XMPP internally, and as well as end-users it's used extensively by enterprises and governments but of course also the open variant propagated and standardized by the XSF.
The XSF is (for GSoC) an umbrella organization for various XMPP-related projects. As such, there's two tiers involved - the XSF itself, which is responsible for gathering mentors to submit ideas, choosing students etc., and the software projects themselves that then mentor students. Anyone interested in participating in GSoC as an XSF student can join the gsoc@muc.xmpp.org MUC room, where various mentors will be available to answer questions and generally help. Although each idea below lists a possible mentor, this group chat (MUC) is the best place to start.
As there are several disparate projects here, there's variety across several codebases in different languages and with significantly different aims, so take a look through all the ideas - there should be something for everyone here :)
How to get started?
- Read the Google Summer of Code 2023 guidelines!
- Review the projects below and inform yourself if that could be of interested for you Link
- Reach out the projects contact, tell about yourself and why you are interested (see project section)
- Join our GSoC group chat channel via XMPP (you can reach out via mail of course as well, but we really recommend to also use the technology) Link
- Continue to discuss teaser tasks with the project contact Link
- If everything is fine, start preparing a proposal and if reviewed submit the application Link
Join the group chat!
Use a regular XMPP client and join the GSoC chat room gsoc@muc.xmpp.org.
How to join:
- Download and install a client, or use a web client
- Create an account, or use an existing one
- Find, join, and bookmark: gsoc@muc.xmpp.org.
- Submit small patches: To assess students applying to GSoC for XSF projects we want them to have submitted some small patches to one of the XMPP projects in advance, as this gives us an idea of their general ability to interact with the projects and submit patches. These should only be an afternoon or two's work, and should not be onerous!
- Solve the XMPP quiz to the best extend you can: Please include you answers in your application. Please also don't make your answers public so others don't start copy & pasting responses. The idea is not to have the perfect answers, but show that you took time to review the technology. If you don't understand certain details that is a good indicator to start a discussion about it within the community.
- What does XMPP stand for?
- Is XMPP just another name for Jabber?
- What is federation?
- What can you do with XMPP apart from chatting?
- Do you know examples/implementations for XMPP usage in a centralized service, as a federated service, as a serverless service?
- What is a XEP?
- What is a stanza?
- Describe the core RFCs and XEPs.
- Does XMPP run on IoT devices?
- What is OMEMO?
A list of teaser tasks is given in the Project Ideas overview, but please join the chat rooms for the respective projects and discuss them there, where mentors will be able to help you and know what you're up to. There are different teasers for different codebases, and more teasers will be appearing here over the next few days.
Student Proposal
Before you started with the proposal - please ensure you follow-ed the steps above!
In addition to writing a proposal, engagement with the actual projects before the application is very important. Showing motivation by taking interest in the project and communicating with the mentors is very advantageous. Solving a typical small problem can show that a student is serious with their plans.
Of course, a good proposal is fine, too. We would be interested in the motivation behind the application. Additionally, the student's background, the possible experiences and preferred technologies, the outcome of a preliminary research on the protocol and codesbases the student might work on. Furthermore, their own perspective on how the collaboration and organization through the Google Summer of Code with the mentors should look like and a review of which possible problems may be faced are also helpful.
Furthermore we recommend a bit of research on online guides to write a proposal or motivational letter. The official guidelines of the Google Summer of Code 2023 are highly recommended to read first.
Checklist
- I have read the Google Summer of Code 2023 guidelines!
- I have contacted the project mentors and exchanged about the project.
- I have conducted a teaser task (see second bullet point).
- I have join our GSoC group chat channel via XMPP (you can reach out via mail of course as well, but we really recommend to also use the technology) Link.
- I have solved the XMPP Quiz
Project Ideas
The following table contains links to individual project ideas.
| XMPP Organisation Name | Project Idea Title | Project Size | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monal | Modern Onboarding | 90 hours | easy |
| Monal | Media Gallery | 90 hours | easy |
| Monal | MDM support | 175 hours | easy |
| Monal | SiriKit support | 350 hours | medium |
| Dino | Inline link preview | 175 hours | easy |
| Dino | Rich message support | 175 hours | easy |
| Prav.app | Standards compliant SMS OTP based authentication | 350 hours | medium |
Your own ideas
You feel confident to propose your own well-stated idea? Then please ahead. First reach out in our GSoC group chat please.
To make a good proposal yourself please be aware that you:
- Be sure it covers XMPP technology
- Apply active engagement with the XMPP Community NOW (!)
- Apply high level of self-organisation and motivation to understand XMPP technology to a higher level than expected from contributors to existing ideas