We're in! The GNU Hurd project is again participating in the Google Summer of Code under the GNU umbrella.

This year's student application period is over. Thanks for sending in your applications! We're now reviewing and discussing these, so please pay attention to any questions posted on your proposal's page. The Google site's notification system should be sending out emails, too.

Per the program timeline, we're now waiting for Google to announce the number of slots that the whole GNU project gets, and we'll be discussing with our GNU peers about how to split these up among all the GNU subprojects.

As we only have finite resources (meaning that we won't be able to accept all GNU Hurd applications even if we wanted to), we will eventually need to make a choice about whom to select. For this, it is a very good idea to be in contact with us, be it by answering the evaluators' questions on your proposal's page, or by talking to us on the mailing lists or on IRC. At this time, it is important for us to get a good impression about the seriousness you're showing with your application.

If you intend to apply for any such projects in the future, it's a good idea to already start perparing for it now: the sooner, the better. It is a good idea to get familiar with the GNU Hurd, by reading some of our documentation, and by using a GNU/Hurd system. It is also a good idea to send in some basic patches (as mentioned in our student application form), and talk to us on the mailing lists or on IRC, for example about the principal steps you're planning on doing in your intended work area. Of course, we don't expect you to already start working seriously on your project, but any input you're giving us will make it easier for us to justify selectiong your specific proposal. At this time, it is not quantity that matters, and it also is not the perfect patch we're waiting for, but it is rather that we see how you're generally able to work with the code.

If you have any questions, don't be shy: please ask! Nobody expects you to know everything. Even for the long-term Hurd contributors it is common to openly post messages to bug-hurd saying: Hey, I don't know how to do X, can someone please help me? And, as we're not working next to each other in a conventional office or university setup, we'll need to establish and get used to different communication channels.

Possible projects

We have a list of project ideas, and students are likewise encouraged to submit their own project proposals. Please follow our student application form.

Then, don't forget to visit https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ to formally submit your proposal, and please pay attention to and answer any review comments you'll get on your proposal submission.

Please read up about contributing in general, and please ask any questions you might have, on the mailing lists, or on IRC, for example at one of our regular IRC meetings. Generally it's a good idea to get in contact with us as soon as you're beginning to spend time on a project.

Outside of the GSoC Scope

Working on one of these projects is generally a good opportunity to get started with Hurd development, even outside of the GSoC context. Please don't hesitate to contact us regarding mentoring even if it's not GSoC time at the moment, or if you aren't a student anyway.

History

In 2006 and 2007, we participated in GSoC under the umbrella of the GNU project, getting one slot each year. In the following year, we successfully participated on our own, instead of as a suborganization of the GNU project. Read about our five students' success on the 2008 page. In the next years, we again participated under the GNU umbrella with one slot in 2009, three in 2010, one in 2011, two in 2012, three in 2013 (one GNU, one GCC, one Debian), one in 2014, two in 2015, two in 2016, one in 2017.