OSPP

Konqi is giving a lesson!

Ideas for OSPP 2024

All students and developers are welcome to participate in the Open Source Promotion Plan program with KDE.

This program differs a bit from GSoC, check the differences in the Program FAQ. Notably:

• Mentors are directly paid, it does not go to KDE.
• Mentors cannot guide students to develop through code or help debugging.
• Code must be merged for the project to be validated.

All participants

Mentors, administrators and students: read OSPP Program occasionally. Also read the Program FAQ.

All participants will need a OSPP Portal account in order to join the program. Mentors will receive an email to activate an account after the proposal is approved, while students need to register youself. In addition, all KDE students need to join the KDE student list, KDE-OSPP. In addition, if you do not yet have a KDE account; set that up now.

Programming Language

While the main KDE development occurs in C++, we do have bindings for many other languages, including (but not limited to) Python, Ruby and C#. Some bindings are more stable and more mature than others. Some may not be suitable yet for serious development; be sure to take that into account before making your choice.

C++ will be accepted for any project. Submissions and ideas for projects in any other language should specifically mention the choice.

Instructions for potential contributors

You will be required to produce code for KDE during the coding period. Your mentors, KDE developers, will dedicate a portion of their time to mentoring you , specific code and debugging are not included. Therefore, we seek candidates who are committed to helping KDE long-term and are willing to both do quality work, and be proactive in communicating with your mentor(s).

You don't have to be a proven developer -- in fact, this whole program is meant to facilitate joining KDE and other Open Source communities. However, experience in coding and/or experience with KDE/Qt libraries and applications is welcome. The KDE community maintains a separate wiki page with general information about getting started with KDE development. This will help you understand what techniques you may need to learn or master to create contributions.

You should start learning the components that you plan on working on before the start date. KDE developers are available on mailing lists and on Matrix/IRC for help. The timeline from OSPP sets aside a week in the last week of June this year, use that time to get an early start. Good communication is key. You should plan to communicate with your team at least daily, and formally report progress and plans weekly. Contributors who neglect active communication will be failed.

General instructions

First of all, please read the instructions common to all participants and the OSPP FAQ, and pay special attention to the Student Eligibility.

Recommended steps

1. . Read OSPP's student guide, and also Suggestions for students.
2. . Join the [KDE-devel list] , [#kde-devel Matrix room] and [#kde-devel IRC channel], introduce yourself, and meet your fellow developers
3. . Take a look at [the list of ideas]
4. . Come up with project that you're interested in
5. . ...