Talk:GSoC:2006

From XMMS2

XMMS2 Wiki

please note that this project will probably _not_ be accepted by google, there faq clearly states the work should be code and nothing else! See http://code.google.com/soc/studentfaq.html#27 Progster

Yes, you're right, SoC is about coding projects. Note that 1) the XMMS2 Wiki task didn't specify a documentation-only task, 2) the items on the Summer of Code 2006 page are only proposed projects - they're not a matter of "this is what you need to do - take it or leave it". It's up to the individual applicant (student) to submit a fully specified proposal with a detailed description, deliverables and schedule. To further clarify this particular task, here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to an interested student:

There are quite a few things on the to-do list for the XMMS2 wiki - we intend to make it the 
main web site for anything XMMS2-related, since that's where most of the information is 
currently located. However, I'm not entirely sure whether it will be sufficient work for a 
Summer of Code project. First of all, you seem to be a styling guru, so I'm not sure how 
proficient you are at dealing with backend stuff, like PHP coding, etc. (Also note that SoC 
projects have particular emphasis on coding ;)

Here's a rough to-do list for the wiki and associated ideas:
- Create a new distinctive style for the XMMS2 wiki. This should be in the form of a Mediawiki 
skin and may include a new colour scheme, graphical elements, new layout for various elements 
(side menu, page tabs - edit, history, etc, page content, footer, and so on) There are other 
open source projects that have done so with Mediawiki, for example,
http://www.hula-project.org/Hula_Project and http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page
- Choose a logo for the XMMS2 project. As you can see on
http://wiki.xmms2.xmms.se/index.php/Logo we've had a number of logo ideas submitted, but
1) quite a few of them are fairly low quality, 2) of the decent quality ones, we can't figure 
out which one to pick, 3) we haven't yet established a process for the community to pick a logo 
from the submitted ones. So, your mission, should you choose to apply for it, would be to either 
design a new logo that outshines the current submissions and therefore ends the whole logo 
debacle, or to improve the current logo page and propose a process for the community to choose a 
logo. ;) To this end, on the to-do list for the wiki, I've been looking at installing a 
Mediawiki extension that allows us to insert polls on wiki pages.
- Managing the wiki at present is a fairly low maintenance job, however upgrading it when a new 
Mediawiki version is released is a fairly involved process. I imagine this will grow even more 
complex as we add more extensions, such as the poll extension mentioned above, as well as
http://www.wickle.com/wiki/index.php/Graphviz_extension (We also have a custom CAPTCHA hack on 
the account registration page, to help keep automated spammers at bay) I've been thinking about 
creating a new Git repository for managing this task, much like we've done fairly successfully 
with gitweb (http://git.xmms.se/?p=gitweb-xmms2.git;a=summary) I haven't started on this task 
yet, so I'm imagining it will take a bit of work.. *However* I don't know whether this can be 
worked into a SoC project - remember, you have to have enough to do for 3 months. ;)
- Improve the organisation of XMMS2 project-related resources. This is pretty much a continuous 
process, but it might be possible that a significant reorganisation of current resources will 
make it easier to add new resources later, as well as improve navigability for users. For 
example, we currently have:
  - the wiki (wiki.xmms2.xmms.se)
  - planet.xmms.se - aggregates blog feeds from multiple developers and related people
  - test.xmms.se - displays results of current testing cycle, prior to release - may be replaced 
by a wiki bot at some stage
  - bugs.xmms2.xmms.se - the bug tracker
  - git.xmms.se - the repository web interface
As part of this, the main page could also benefit from a facelift, not just style-wise (as 
described above), but in terms of content and links provided.

As you can see, it's mostly a collection of small to medium-sized tasks, no single big task you 
can really sink your teeth into for 3 months, as far as I can see.. If you do intend to apply 
for the SoC, I suggest you be creative with your proposal. You need to be able to propose a 
project that 1) is going to provide enough work to be done for about 3 months (try not to fall 
short of this target, or overshoot it) and 2) involves a fair amount of coding, I imagine (for 
example, the guidelines forbid documentation projects).
See also: http://wiki.xmms2.xmms.se/index.php/Summer_of_Code_2006#Student_Requirements 

Eleusis 20:36, 1 May 2006 (CEST)