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authorThomas Schwinge <thomas@schwinge.name>2010-03-28 21:48:46 +0200
committerThomas Schwinge <thomas@schwinge.name>2010-03-28 21:48:46 +0200
commit4b35fc7bdd7ab723cb3db8e9122ed08d996f33b4 (patch)
treee4bb2ffadd136ab05b8abc3c0fa9f305f8c360fe /community/gsoc/organization_application.mdwn
parent34794c7002f679ab9c2d076284ff58288224c47d (diff)
parent96611f76b833159bafeab3443229dfa690178d92 (diff)
Merge commit '96611f76b833159bafeab3443229dfa690178d92' into master-news_next
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--- a/community/gsoc/organization_application.mdwn
+++ b/community/gsoc/organization_application.mdwn
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]]
+[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation,
+Inc."]]
[[!meta license="""[[!toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[!toggleable
id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
@@ -8,166 +9,147 @@ Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license
is included in the section entitled
[[GNU Free Documentation License|/fdl]]."]]"""]]
-* Link ID:
-
-hurd
-
-* Group Name:
+* Organization Name:
GNU Hurd
-* Home Page URL:
-
-http://hurd.gnu.org
-
-* Public Email:
-
-bug-hurd@gnu.org
-
* Description:
-The Hurd project is a loose community of people sharing a common interest in
-developing the Hurd kernel, which is the official kernel of the [GNU operating
-system](http://gnu.org).
-
-When the Hurd was originally started in 1990, it was the last missing major
-component for a complete GNU system. Today Linux and other free kernels are
-available to fill this gap, and the combination of GNU and Linux (often
-[incorrectly](http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html) called just "Linux")
-is in wide use. However, the Hurd is still interesting due to its unique
-design, better fitting the GNU philosophy than traditional monolithic kernels
-like Linux.
-
-The GNU GPL guarantees that all users of software published under this license
-get the legal permission to adapt the software they are using according to
-their wishes, and also get the source code and other tools necessary to put
-this permission to use. However, in traditional operating systems, the kernel
-and related low-level system software are protected from normal users, and
-cannot be easily modified; only the system administrator has power over these.
-
-The Hurd offers special mechanisms that allow any user to change almost all of
-the system functionality he uses, without affecting the rest of the system, and
-thus easily (at runtime) and without any special permissions.
-
-This ability to run subenvironments more or less independant from the rest of
-the system, can be classified as a very sophisticated [lightweight
-virtualization](http://tri-ceps.blogspot.com/2007/10/advanced-lightweight-virtualization.html)
-approach.
-
-To offer these possibilities, the Hurd uses a true multiserver microkernel
-architecture. That makes it quite unique: The Hurd is the only general-purpose
-multiserver microkernel system in development today that is nearly ready for
-everyday use, and offering almost perfect UNIX compatibility. (More than half
-of the packages in the Debian repository are available for the Hurd.) All other
-existing true microkernel systems are either research projects not nearly
-complete enough for actual use, or limited to embedded systems and other
-special purposes, or both.
-
-Marcus Brinkmann and Neal Walfield from the Hurd project are working at the
-bleeding edge of microkernel operating system research. They have been in
-contact with the most distinguished researchers in that field from the
+The mission of the Hurd project is to create a general-purpose kernel suitable
+for the [GNU operating system](http://gnu.org), which is viable for everyday
+use, and gives users and programs as much control over their computing
+environment as possible.
+
+In traditional operating systems, most system functionality is provided by the
+kernel, and thus cannot be easily modified. The Hurd on the other hand --
+following the GNU spirit of giving users more control over the software they
+use -- implements a unique design, which makes it feasible to change almost
+everything, down to the core features of the system.
+
+While on other systems, such changes would require a lot of effort and special
+privileges to rebuild the system core, with the Hurd this is not necessary: the
+extensible architecture enables users (or applications) to simply modify their
+local system environment at any time, while leaving the rest of the system in
+place.
+
+The most obvious example is the completely decentralized VFS mechanism: it can
+be extended in almost any imaginable way, simply by setting up suitable server
+processes (translators). Not only does this empower users, but also it helps
+application development: desktop environments such as GNOME for example, when
+making use of these possibilities, wouldn't need to create their own VFS
+mechanism -- they simply could extend the system VFS to suit their needs.
+
+One major element of the design which enables this extensibility, is the use of
+a true multiserver microkernel architecture. The Hurd is quite unique in being
+the only general-purpose multiserver microkernel system in development today,
+that is nearly ready for everyday use, and offering almost perfect UNIX
+compatibility. (About 65% of all packages in the Debian repository are
+available for the Hurd.) The "general-purpose" and "everyday use" bits are
+decisive here: all other existing true microkernel systems are either research
+projects not nearly complete enough for actual use; or limited to embedded
+systems and other special purposes; or both.
+
+Marcus Brinkmann and Neal Walfield, while working on improvements to the Hurd
+design, pushed at the forefront of microkernel operating system research. They
+worked with the most distinguished researchers in this field from the
[L4](http://l4hq.org/) and
[EROS](http://www.eros-os.org/eros.html)/[Coyotos](http://www.coyotos.org/)
-microkernel operating system groups, and have written a couple of [research
-papers](http://walfield.org/).
-
-* Why is your group applying to participate? What do you hope to gain by participating?
-
-The primary goal of course is to find and introduce new long-term contributors
-to the project.
-
-Aside from that, it is a way to make progress with tasks that require an amount of
-focused work, that is hard to do for volunteers working in their spare time
-only.
+microkernel operating system groups, and published a couple of [research
+papers](http://walfield.org/) as well in this process.
-Also it is a good possibility to get valuable input from new people, as well as
-spreading technical and other knowledge about the Hurd among actual and
-potential contributors. More generally, participation should help raising
-awareness among people who might know about the existence of the Hurd, but
-otherwise having very little idea what the project is all about, and how its
-progress is.
-
-Last but not least, we hope the participation will have a positive effect on
-our community -- new impulses, increased communication etc.
+* Home Page:
-* What is the main public mailing list for your group?
+http://hurd.gnu.org
-bug-hurd@gnu.org, see http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-hurd
+* Main Organization License:
-* Where is the main IRC channel for your group?
+GNU General Public License (GPL)
-\#hurd on freenode.net
+* Why is your organization applying to participate in GSoC 2010? What do you hope to gain by participating?
-* What criteria do you use to select the members of your group? Please be as specific as possible.
+The primary goal of our participation is of course to find and introduce new long-term contributors
+to the Hurd. We are trying to optimise for this in our student selection
+process, our mentoring approach, and our choice of project ideas.
-The most important criterium is that the person is involved in the project for
-some time, knowing the ways; so he can actually instruct the student; and if
-there are tough technical questions he can't answer himself, he knows whom to
-ask.
+The mentor-student setup, together with the period of focused work during the
+summer session, also offer a unique opportunity for kick-starting innovative
+new projects apart from mainline development, which are hard to fit in among
+the normal day-to-day development work. This is particularily important for the
+Hurd, as innovative uses are crucial to show the benefits of the unique
+architecture. Several such projects came into being through the GSoC program
+over the past years.
-It's also important that the mentors are reliable and helpful, so the students
-won't be left on their own with any problems they face.
+Last but not least, GSoC participation always yields a lot of valuable input from new people, and helps
+spreading technical and other knowledge about the Hurd among actual and
+potential contributors. It has a very positive effect on
+our community -- new impulses, increased communication, etc.
-* Has your group participated previously? If so, please summarize your involvement and any past successes and failures.
+* Did your organization participate in past GSoCs? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation.
In 2006 and 2007,
we participated under the umbrella of the GNU project, getting one slot each
year.
-The 2006 participation was mostly a failure. After some intitial work
-(available in CVS), the student disappeared -- moving to another country and
-other personal issues from what we heard.
+In 2008 we participated as an organisation on our own for the first time. This
+turned out extremely beneficial: with the better visibility, we got a lot
+more applications (more than 20), mostly of good or excellent quality.
-The 2007 participation was a considerable success. The student was very bright
-and dedicated. We got some code, as well as a lot of ideas, which we continued
-discussing after the end of GSoC, and he intends to put into code as well in
-the future.
+In 2009, we were rejected as an organisation, so we participated under the GNU
+umbrella again.
-In 2008 we participated as an organisation on our own for the first time. This
-turned out extremely beneficial: Not only did it give us much better
-possibilities to find and select good students, as we hoped. We also get a lot
-more applications, mostly of good or excellent quality.
+While the 2006 student disappeared midway, in all the later years all of our
+students were successful -- even including one who worked on his project in
+spite of not getting an official slot. Half of them are regular Hurd contributors now.
-We ended up with four slots. (We didn't request more, because we were not sure
-whether we would be able to mentor them properly, and generally didn't want to
-overdo it on our first "full" participation.) There was also a fifth student,
-who worked on his project in spite of not getting a slot.
+Selecting the most promising students, as well as suitable mentors, turned out
+to be the most tricky part of GSoC participation -- but we learned our lesson
+after the first failure: we didn't have any students that didn't meet our
+expectations since then, and we also believe our mentoring is exceptionally
+good now -- one project that was in serious trouble, turned out well after all,
+due to effective mentor intervention.
-All five students were pretty successful, most of them completing or almost
-completing the original goals -- some even exceeding them. Even our weakest
-student, after serious struggling in the beginning, did quite well in the end.
+* If your organization participated in past GSoCs, please let us know the ratio of students passing to students allocated, e.g. 2006: 3/6 for 3 out of 6 students passed in 2006.
-Two students are still regularily working on the Hurd -- not as much as we
-hoped of course, but probably as much as can be realistically expected...
+2008: 4/4
-All in all, the participation was a considerable amount of work, but it was
-definitely worth it :-)
+(+1 inofficial in 2008)
+(under GNU umbrella: 2006: 0/1; 2007: 1/1; 2009: 1/1)
-* If your group has not previously participated, have you applied in the past? If so, for what sort of participation?
+* If your organization has not previously participated in GSoC, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)?
--
-* What license does your organization use?
+* What is the URL for your ideas page?
-GNU General Public License (GPL)
+http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/community/gsoc/project_ideas.html
-* What is the URL to the ideas list of your organization?
+* What is the main development mailing list for your organization? This question will be shown to students who would like to get more information about applying to your organization for GSoC 2010. If your organization uses more than one list, please make sure to include a description of the list so students know which to use.
-http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/community/gsoc/project_ideas.html
+bug-hurd@gnu.org ( http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-hurd )
-* What is the main development mailing list for your group?
+* What is the main IRC channel for your organization?
-bug-hurd@gnu.org, see http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-hurd
+\#hurd on freenode.net
-* What is the application template you would like contributors to your organization to use.
+* Does your organization have an application template you would like to see students use? If so, please provide it now. Please note that it is a very good idea to ask students to provide you with their contact information as part of your template. Their contact details will not be shared with you automatically via the GSoC 2010 site.
[[student_application_form]]
-* What is your plan for dealing with disappearing contributors?
+* What criteria did you use to select the individuals who will act as mentors for your organization? Please be as specific as possible:
-The plan is mostly to avoid that happening in the first place. For that, we
-will be particularily careful with the selection of the students: Making sure
-that they have no other obligations during that time; that they are motivated
+The most important criterium is that the person is involved in the project for
+some time, knowing the ways; so he can actually instruct the student; and if
+there are tough technical questions he can't answer himself, he knows whom to
+ask.
+
+It's also important that the mentors are reliable and helpful, so the students
+won't be left on their own with any problems they face.
+
+* What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students?
+
+The plan is mostly to avoid that happening in the first place. To this end, we
+are particularily careful with selection of students: Making sure
+that they have no other major obligations during that time; that they are motivated
enough; that they actually have the necessary skills to complete the task; that
they fit in our community.
@@ -175,50 +157,55 @@ Also, we will make sure that we are constantly in contact with the students --
asking about progress, discussing technical issues, etc. -- so we can act in
time if things go wrong.
-If a student disappears in spite of that, there is little we can do. Of course
+If a student disappears in spite of all this, there is little we can do. Of course
we will try to contact him and find out what the problem is; whether the
-project can perhaps be scaled down, or at least wrapped up to bring it in a
-state where it is useful even if not finished.
+project can perhaps be scaled down, or otherwise salvaged, so that the effort
+already invested in the student and the project is not wasted. We also try to
+make sure that all important design discussions are archieved, and that all
+code produced is suitable for upstream inclusion from the beginning -- to allow
+others to pick up the project if necessary, without having to start from zero.
-We will also try to limit damage by insisting that students regularily check in
-their work, so that we get partial results at least if someone disappears.
-
-* What is your plan for dealing with disappearing members?
+* What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors?
As our mentors all have been with the project for some time, the risk of them
disappearing is not too big. If one of them disappears nevertheless, it's not a
-problem for us: We have enough mentors, and someone else will take over.
+problem for us: we have enough mentors, and someone else will take over.
We will encourage the students to keep discussions public as much as possible,
keeping private conversations with the mentors to a minimum, so the transition
should go smoothly.
-* What steps will you take to encourage contributors to interact with your community before, during, and after the program?
+* What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before, during and after the program?
We try to make it very clear that we expect the students to get into regular
-contact with us before the end of the student selection process, and won't
+contact with us early during the student selection process already, and won't
consider their applications otherwise. This way we know that the students are
able and willing to communicate with us in the first place.
-After the selection, the regular contact will be kept up: We require the
-students to participate in weekly IRC meetings, where we ask the students
-actively about the work they do, problems they face, decisions they take etc.
-Furthermore, we will ask them to hang around on IRC most of the time while
-working on their projects, so we keep in close contact.
+After selection, the regular contact is kept up: we require the
+students to participate in IRC meetings up to twice a week, where we ask the students
+actively about the work they do, problems they face, decisions they take, etc.
+Furthermore, we ask them to be available on IRC while working on their
+projects, so we can communicate easily.
We also require the students to join our main development mailing list, so any
-design questions etc. can be discussed there. We will encourage them to take
+design questions, etc. can be discussed there. We encourage them to take
part in other conversations, not directly related to their projects, as well.
-After the program we continue the regular meetings, still discussing the
-projects: The application of the code created, future directions etc.
+After the program we continue the regular meetings, discussing the further
+development of their original projects; as well as new projects, after the
+original ones are done.
-* What will you do to ensure that your accepted contributors stick with the project after the program concludes?
+* What will you do to ensure that your accepted students stick with the project after GSoC concludes?
-We will try to invite all participating students to a conference afterwards,
-where we will discuss the projects, as well as other Hurd-related topics. We
-hope this will motivate them to follow up on the work they have done during the
+In addition to keeping up the regular IRC meetings,
+we try to invite all participating students to meet us at conferences afterwards,
+where we discuss the projects, as well as other Hurd-related topics. This should
+keep them motivated to follow up on the work they have done during the
program, and generally help keeping them involved.
-* Please select your backup group administrator.
+* Is there anything else you would like to tell the Google Summer of Code program administration team? :
+
+* Backup Admin (Link ID):
+tschwinge