[SoC] OSGeo’s GSoC 2018 - ready to start coding period on May 14

[Helmut Kudrnovsky]

Dear students,

** as stated in [1]: **

“At the end of the bonding period you are expected to produce a detailed report of all the above activities that you carried out. Make sure you get in touch with your mentors and the community at large during the bonding period. It will save you time later on.”

Please post your community bonding period activity report in the next days here on the SOC ML. This will be part of your evaluation.


** Tomorrow GSoC coding starts officially, we hope you are ready to code! **

Here is the checklist for students, for a smooth SoC start:

* Version control system setup [2] *

Have you set up your Version Control System to start coding? Make sure you have write access to the relevant repository. If you don't have write access by now, ask your mentor about how your project handles GSoC students access.

* Wiki Page [3] *

Do you have a page on the wiki of your project? The wiki page would ideally contain the link of your application on GSoC website, a detailed timeline, and links to the weekly reports you will send along the summer and a link to the public repository where your commits and progress can be followed. This is the page you must keep up-to-date about your progress on the project. From there, you can link any additional resources, your blog etc.

* Weekly email reports [4] *

You will send your weekly reports on this (SoC) mailing list and on the developers mailing list of your project. The first report is due by Sunday, May 20. You are requested to send the report  mail every week (every Sunday) - even if you didn't code because of exams, or holidays, or any other reason. The report has to contain the title of the project in the subject, the link to your wiki page, the link to the public repository of your weekly commits and at least the answers to these 3 questions:

1) What did I complete this week?
2) What am I going to achieve for next week?
3) Is there any blocking issue?

It’s very important that you send your weekly report on time. If you’re blocked by anything to send your weekly report on time, please post this beforehand on the SOC ML.

Feel free to mail the developers list at any time. You are part of the community! It is a requirement that the communities of your projects are able to follow your GSoC progress and to give you valuable feedback!

Remember, the aim of the SoC is to involve new developers in Open Source communities, not to pay you for working alone, thus, not communicating is considered a reason for failing. So students, please write the weekly reports, and mentors, remind your students about it.

* Evaluation periods *

There will be 3 evaluation periods in June, July and August. Refine your timeline to reflect these milestones and discuss with your mentors which deliverables should be provided that your mentors are able to evaluate.


** For any question or clarification, do not hesitate to contact us, the OSGeo GSoC admins. Please, do contact us in case you experience problems at any time during your GSoC, e.g. you are not able to contact your mentors, you experience communication hurdles or similar issues. ** 

Do not wait until it's too late...follow the Open Source principle: “Release early, release
often”. :-)

So, happy hacking everyone, and looking forward to reading your first reports on next Sunday!

Good luck!

OSGeo GSoC admins

[1] https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/soc/2018-April/003963.html
[2] https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_Recommendations_for_Students#Code_repository_and_documentation
[3] https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_Recommendations_for_Students#Wiki_page_and_blogs
[4] https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_Recommendations_for_Students#Weekly_reports