GSoC2009 Application

Mentor Organization Application

This is a work in progress, of course...

Revised for the 2009 Melange form, which is still evolving, so this content may change. Questions marked with XXX were not asked this year; the answers are being saved in case they turn up in some guise later. Link ID : scons

Group Name : SCons next-generation build system

Home Page URL : http://scons.org/

Public Email : users@scons.tigris.org

Description : SCons is a cross-platform, next-generation build tool. Unlike most other build tools that invent their own mini-language or wedge a scripting language onto some other configuration file syntax, SCons configuration files are actually Python scripts. The flexibility of Python scripting makes it possible to solve complicated build problems in surprisingly small amounts of maintainable code. Its portability (the only requirement is Python 1.5.2 or later), cross-platform features (extensive support for languages and compilers), and reliability (MD5 file signatures, cache) make it an incomparable tool not only for build masters but also for many free software projects.

: SCons has been an active project since its founding in 2001. SCons now averages about 7000 downloads per month and has active user and development mailing lists with membership of approximately 450 and 150, respectively, and average monthly traffic of 275 and 100 messages, respectively.

: The SCons Foundation was organized in 2003 to hold the copyrights of the SCons source code, and to provide a legal entity for any other organizational necessities (e.g., receiving donations). The Foundation is a Delaware non-profit corporation, but does not currently have 501(c)(3) status.

Why is your group applying to participate? What do you hope to gain by participating? : We'd like to broaden the appeal of SCons by adding new functionality, improve its code quality, and help SCons continue to advance toward being the best software build tool available.

What is the main public mailing list for your group? : users@scons.tigris.org

Where is the main IRC channel for your organization? : Although we don't use IRC regularly for development, the IRC channel is #scons on Freenode (irc://irc.freenode.net/#scons); developers often hang out there.

What criteria did you use to select the members of your group? Please be as specific as possible. : I think this question is asking how we select our mentors, not how we select our developers or users (for those two categories, living and breathing are sufficient; they are entirely self-selected).

: The primary mentors are the most active contributors to SCons (of both ideas and code). They have participated actively for many years.

: Other mentors were selected because they suggested a particular task and were willing to mentor it. If a student selects one of these tasks, the backup mentor for the project will be one of the primary mentors.

Has your group participated previously? If so, please summarize your involvement and any past successes and failures. : In 2006 we were awarded two slots, but one student was unable to commit to the necessary time before the project started, and we returned the unused slot for use by another participating organization. The second project was completed successfully and has been integrated into the official code base.

: In 2007 we were also awarded two slots. One student withdrew at mid-term; the other completed successfully. Although the completed project has not been completely integrated, many pieces of code from it have been added to the official code base.

: In 2008 we were awarded three slots. One student took his $500 initial payment and was never heard from again. The other two projects completed successfully. One student's code has been merged with the official code base; the other used some features of Python 2.2 and will be merged as soon as we drop our compatibility requirement for Python 1.5.2 (approximately April 2009). One student is still around and has become a reliable contributor.

If your group has not previously participated, have you applied in the past? If so, for what sort of participation? : Not applicable.

What license does your organization use? : MIT license.

What is the URL to the ideas list of your organization? : http://scons.org/wiki/GSoC2009

What is the main development mailing list for your organization? : dev@scons.tigris.org

What is the application template you would like contributors to your organization to use. : http://scons.org/wiki/GSoC2009-Template

What is your plan for dealing with disappearing contributors? : There's a private mailing list for mentors, administrators, and interested community members for discussing issues like this.

: A separate branch will be created for each student project. We'll expect check-ins of in-progress source code at least weekly to minimize loss of in-progress work.

: The mentor will keep in regular contact with the student (no less than weekly) to make sure they're still working.

: The student must submit a public status report at least weekly to the developers mailing list.

What is your plan for dealing with disappearing members? : We will assign a backup mentor for each project, who will be CC'ed on all email between primary mentor and student. If the primary mentor is unresponsive, the backup mentor will step in.

: The administrator and the backup administrator will track that these requirements are being satisfied by the mentors. Any issues will be brought up on the mentors-only mailing list for resolution.

: If that fails, we send Vinny and the boys to start breaking fingers.

What steps will you take to encourage contribtors to interact with your project's community before, during and after the program? : Students are expected to subscribe to the dev and user mailing lists when they apply, to discuss their draft proposals with the community, and to interact with the community to refine their design during the interim between acceptance and start of work.

: The students must post their completed project designs, on our wiki unless the Melange upgrade provides such a facility, for public review and comment. The students will be expected to announce design updates to the mailing list, to request feedback, and to respond to the feedback promptly.

: The students' status reports will be publicly available so community members can stay informed of progress. The students will be required to respond to questions about their status reports in a timely fashion.

What will you do to ensure that your accepted contributors stick with the project after the program concludes? : We will work to complete integration of the student's code into the main code base and release it to the public as soon as possible after completion.

: We will heavily publicize the authorship of the project, including prominent mention in relevant portions of SCons documentation.

: We will gently discourage others from stepping in to answer mailing list questions and requests about the project, letting the student be the visible face for ongoing future support of the feature.

Please select your backup group administrator. : LinkID of Gary.Oberbrunner@gmail.com

XXX 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. : SguireKnight@gmail.com, Gary.Oberbrunner@gmail.com, GregNoel@tigris.org