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Octave has participated during the last two years with four students under the | Octave has participated during the last two years with four students under the | ||
auspices of the GNU project. Due to the success of those experiences, where many | auspices of the GNU project. Due to the success of those experiences, where many | ||
members of the Octave community helped mentor the | members of the Octave community helped mentor the students, we are trying again. | ||
We hope to get good code from interested students and ideally establish a line | We hope to get good code from interested students and ideally establish a line | ||
of collaboration with them for the future. We also want to raise awareness of | of collaboration with them for the future. We also want to raise awareness of | ||
Octave | Octave in the free software community. | ||
Google Summer of Code represents a unique opportunity to | Google Summer of Code represents a unique opportunity to improve both core Octave and domain-specific functionality. We believe the interaction with fresh minds will bring not only new code to Octave but also will augment the developers group. | ||
bring not only new code to Octave but also will augment the developers group. | |||
=== Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. === | === Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. === | ||
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Yes, during 2011 and 2012, under the GNU umbrella. Four students have | Yes, during 2011 and 2012, under the GNU umbrella. Four students have | ||
successfully completed projects for us in the past, all of which is live and in | successfully completed projects for us in the past, all of which is live and in | ||
our main source tree. In addition, we mentored two students in 2012 through the | our main source tree. In addition, we mentored two students in 2012 through the Summer of Code In Space | ||
project run by the European Space Agency. | |||
The challenges | The challenges are managing very diverse problem domains and finding | ||
people who are competent in all of them. We have not had trouble keeping | people who are competent in all of them. We have not had trouble keeping | ||
students interested, although we have seen lulls in their productive output a few | students interested, although we have seen lulls in their productive output a few | ||
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=== What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's program? Please be as specific as possible. === | === What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's program? Please be as specific as possible. === | ||
Each project includes at least one core Octave developer as mentor. These | |||
are | are proven, veteran members of the project, active in its development, and familiar | ||
with the code base. | with the code base. | ||
GNU Octave is a project with applications in very diverse domains so each | |||
project also includes mentors with expertise in the related field. All of these | project also includes mentors with expertise in the related field. All of these | ||
have previously contributed with code, have commit access to either Octave or | have previously contributed with code, have commit access to either Octave or | ||
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First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | ||
welcome. | welcome. We will engage the students frequenty by email and IRC, provide prompt response to student queries, | ||
periodic status reports from mentors about the | and expect periodic status reports from mentors about the project status. We will also | ||
encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | ||
with or without mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | with or without the mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | ||
tree, if necessary, in a feature branch. All of these have shown to be effective | tree, if necessary, in a feature branch. All of these have shown to be effective | ||
with all students in previous years. | with all students in previous years. | ||
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=== What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors? === | === What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors? === | ||
Distribute the workload | Distribute the workload among the remaining mentors. The mailing list is | ||
active enough and questions almost never go unanswered. Reassign the student to | active enough and questions almost never go unanswered. Reassign the student to | ||
a backup mentor. In the worst case, the project admin can become a mentor for | a backup mentor. In the worst case, the project admin can become a mentor for | ||
the student until another backup mentor is found. | the student until another backup mentor is found. | ||
This should be infrequent and we hope to prevent | This situation should be infrequent and we hope to prevent it by selecting | ||
mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free projects. We are also | mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. We are also | ||
pairing new mentors with | pairing new mentors with more experienced ones. | ||
=== What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before and during the program? === | === What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before and during the program? === | ||
We will encourage them to join us on our IRC channel and mailing list. We will set clear expectations on the minimum frequency of email | |||
progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates, should be done on a | progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates, should be done on a | ||
blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org. | blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org. |