[Printing-architecture] Google Summer of Code 2008 -- LAST CALL: Submission of the application

[Till Kamppeter <till.kamppeter@gmail.com>]

Hi,

in 15-20 minutes I will finally submit our application. If you have 
anything urgent to change, please tell me immediately. Have special 
attention to my changes after the conference call yesterday (today in 
the morning in Japan):

Ideas list:

1. LSB project proposals removed, Russ has withdrawn his some minutes 
ago, and George did not post a description.

Application form:

1. Description of the Linux foundation (question 3 in first section) 
shortened

2. Answers to the question 4 in the first section and questions 3 and 4 
in the last section improved by Jeff Licquia

See the up-to date Ideas List here:

https://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Google_Summer_of_Code

See the final Application Form below this e-mail.

    Till

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPLICATION FORM
================


About Your Organization
-----------------------


1. What is your Organization's Name?

The Linux Foundation


2. What is your Organization's Homepage?

http://www.linux-foundation.org/


3. Describe your organization.

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering 
the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the LF sponsors the work of Linux 
creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source 
companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation 
promotes,  protects and  standardizes Linux by providing unified 
resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete 
with closed platforms.

More: https://www.linux-foundation.org/en/About
<!--The open source model has transformed software development by 
providing faster demand-side learning, higher quality, better security, 
shorter development cycles, and lower prices than closed platform 
development models.

For Linux to remain open and attain the greatest ubiquity possible, 
important services must be provided, including legal protection, 
standardization, promotion and collaboration. The Linux Foundation has 
been founded to help close the gap between open source and proprietary 
platforms, while sustaining the openness, freedom of choice and 
technical superiority inherent in open source software.

The Linux Foundation does not build Linux, nor does it compete with 
existing Linux companies. Rather it fosters the growth of Linux by 
focusing on the following areas:

* Protecting Linux by sponsoring key Linux developers and providing 
legal services
It’s vitally important that Linux creator Linus Torvalds and other key 
kernel developers remain independent. The Linux Foundation sponsors them 
so they can work full time on improving Linux. The Linux Foundation also 
manages the Linux trademark and offers developers legal intellectual 
property protection through such initiatives as the Open Source as Prior 
Art project, the Patent Commons Project, and sponsorship of the Linux 
Legal Defense Fund.

* Standardizing Linux and improving it as a platform for software 
development
A platform is only as strong as the applications that support it. The 
Linux Foundation offers application developers standardization services 
and support that make Linux an attractive target for their development 
efforts. These include the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and the Linux 
Developer Network. All major Linux distributions comply with the LSB.

* Providing a neutral forum for Collaboration and Promotion
The Linux Foundation serves as a neutral spokesperson to advance the 
interests of Linux and respond with authority to competitors’ attacks. 
It also fosters innovation by hosting collaboration events among the 
Linux technical community, application developers, industry and end 
users to solve pressing issues facing the Linux ecosystem in such areas 
as desktop interfaces, accessibility, printing, application packaging, 
and many others.-->


4. Why is your organization applying to participate in GSoC 2008? What 
do you hope to gain by participating?

Our goals are twofold: to meet specific technical goals, and to gain new 
members of our community (and the open-source community, by extension).

For both printing and kernel work, having a specific goal and a mentor 
are important in penetrating areas which can be more complex than some 
other projects.  And none of the projects in question are "filler"; each 
will provide a very specific, in-demand benefit.
<!--We want to get complete implementations of OpenPrinting API modules 
into the common Linux distributions in order to add them to the Linux 
Standard Base (LSB) in one of the upcoming releases. We also want to get 
things implemented which we have worked out in the last Printing Summits.

We want to get the developer and user tools for the LSB improved, with a 
focus on printing, so that the LSB gets more adopted by ISVs and 
hardware vendors.

We hope to help students become new contributors to the kernel project 
and in the process give them better understanding of Linux kernel 
internals and how the development process works.-->


5. Did your organization participate in previous GSoC years? If so, 
please summarize your involvement and the successes and failures of your 
student projects. (optional)

No, we did not participate.


6. If your organization has not previously participated in GSoC, have 
you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? (optional)

No, this is our first application.


7. What license does your project use?

All the work produced by the Linux Foundation is free software according 
to the OSI definitions, but there is no requirement for a specific 
license. The licenses are selected depending on what is most suitable 
for each individual project.

*LSB: mostly GPL, some tools Artistic
*PAPI: CDDL
*JTAPI: MIT
*CUPS filters: GPL
*Foomatic (including web software): GPL
*Kernel: GPL


8. URL for your ideas page

https://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Google_Summer_of_Code


9. What is the main development mailing list for your organization?

LSB: lsb-discuss Mailing List,
http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/lsb-discuss

OpenPrinting: printing-architecture Mailing List,
http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/printing-architecture

Kernel: http://kernelnewbies.org/MailingList

Driver Backport: Lf_driver_backport Mailing List,
http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/Lf_driver_backport


10. Where is the main IRC channel for your organization?

For LSB work: irc://irc.freestandards.org/#lsb is being used.

For Kernel work: http://kernelnewbies.org/IRC

OpenPrinting is not using IRC currently.


11. Does your organization have an application template you would like 
to see students use? If so, please provide it now. (optional)


12. Who will be your backup organization administrator? Please enter 
their Google Account address. We will email them to confirm, your 
organization will not become active until they respond. (optional)

jeff.licquia@gmail.com




About Your Mentors
------------------


1. What criteria did you use to select these individuals as mentors? 
Please be as specific as possible.

We selected the principal editors/developers of the Linux Foundation 
working groups or free software project where the proposed student 
projects are part of. Very important is also that the mentors are coding 
on things similar to what the student is supposed to do and that they 
are not only designers or managers.


2. Who will your mentors be? Please enter their Google Account address 
separated by commas. If your organization is accepted we will email each 
mentor to invite them to take part. (optional)

till.kamppeter@gmail.com, HinTak.Leung@gmail.com, 
josef.spillner@googlemail.com, riddell@gmail.com, penberg@gmail.com, 
jonmasters@gmail.com




About The Program
-----------------


1. What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students?

If possible (early enough) we would like to replace the disappearing 
student by another one. Otherwise, we will transition their 
work-in-progress to a caretaker (i.e., the appropriate mentor).


2. What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors?

We will transition their mentor role to another active member of the 
appropriate Linux Foundation working group.


3. What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your 
project's community before, during and after the program?

Each of the projects has methods for community interaction, whether 
through conference calls, IRC, or face-to-face meetings.  To the extent 
possible, we intend to give our students time to report on their 
project, both in the progress they make and in the things they learn. 
Invitations to these events will be given at the earliest opportunity.

Some of the projects may take more time than just the summer, or may 
involve integration work after the project is complete.  Even if the 
project is done, we will work to keep the student involved in the 
integration process.  And we hope to suggest other ways the student can 
participate that mesh well with their strengths once this project is done.


4. What will you do to ensure that your accepted students stick with the 
project after GSoC concludes?

We will gauge each student's progress, and suggest other projects they 
may wish to work on after their summer project is done.

Integration with the main upstream projects will likely be an important 
part of the task.  Our students will be encouraged to take part in that 
process, and not just "throw the patch over the wall".

Occasionally, other internships and even contracting jobs can come up. 
In these cases, previous participants in GSoC who have continued to 
participate in their respective projects may find themselves with job 
opportunities, either within a Linux Foundation workgroup or in the 
general community.