google summer of code

[Thiago Jung Bauermann <bauerman@br.ibm.com>]

Hi,

I was wondering whether we want to participate in the Google Summer of
Code. The application period for mentoring organizations is from March 9
until March 13th, so now is a good time to decide if it will be
beneficial for us.

I think two benefits that we get from the program are: 1. possibility of
attracting new gdb developers and 2. a helping hand for features we want
to develop.

There are some disadvantages too. From what I read, the main problem is
that mentoring a student takes some time and effort. From the GSoC
Mentors Wiki:

"However talented the students are who you may select, they will require
significant attention from your developers, so release schedules and the
desire of your community to be supportive are important considerations.

Many organizations have found great rewards in mentoring, but most agree
that they underestimated the amount of time that mentoring requires.

As a potential administrator you should also consider that you will be
responsible for getting reports and forms in to the GSoC website on
time. You should make sure that your potential mentors realize that they
will need to take time to evaluate students at the mid and final points
of the 12 week period.

Failure to meet the reporting requirements or mentoring requirements of
GSoC is a serious infraction, and reflects poorly on your organization.
If you have a big release coming out during the summer that will require
all hands, you may wish to reconsider applying."

We have some ideas for projects that a student could implement in:

http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProjectIdeas

Some that may be worth considering for this:

1. Help with Python scripting support;
2. Help with reversible debugging (not sure if teawater and Michael need
a helping hand there);
3. Support pipes in the run command (this may be too small for a GSoC);
4. Support tracepoints in gdbserver.

There may be some wishlist bugs in the bugzilla that we could lump
together with 3. to keep someone busy for the summer...

Some pointers about the GSoC:

Main page: http://code.google.com/soc/
FAQ: http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2009/faqs.html
Mentors Wiki: http://gsoc-wiki.osuosl.org/index.php/Main_Page

-- 
[]'s
Thiago Jung Bauermann
IBM Linux Technology Center