GNU Mailman is hoping to participate in Google Summer of Code in 2014. This page captures some ideas for student projects and provides information on how to get involved.
Required Skills
Incoming students will need the following skills:
- Intermediate python programming
- Familiarity with source control (Note: Mailman core and Postorius use bzr, Hyperkitty uses git)
- Ability to set up your own development environment for Mailman
Additional desired skills may be listed with specific projects.
We're happy to help you get up to speed, but the more you are able to demonstrate ability in advance, the more likely we are to choose your application!
Getting Started
Interested in getting started with Mailman development? Here are some links for potential students and mentors:
Mailman is written in Python. For developers, the path of least resistance is probably to use python 2.7+ (sadly not all our requirements handle python 3 yet) and work under Ubuntu Linux, although it is definitely possible to do development on other platforms. You are not required to use a virtual machine for Mailman development, although many people prefer to do so.
Development work on Mailman 2.1 has been frozen for some time, so all new project ideas should be related to Mailman 3.
Want to get involved?
If you're interested in participating in GSoC 2014 as a student, mentor, or interested community member, you should join the Mailman Developers mailing list: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-developers and post any questions, comments, etc. to mailman-developers@python.org.
In addition you may be able to find us on IRC at #mailman on irc.freenode.org. If no one is available to answer your question, please be patient and post it to the mailing list as well. (We *are* the developers for Mailman -- unsurprisingly, most of us prefer to communicate via email.)
Mailman has in the past participated under the Python Software Foundation's umbrella. They have some additional information (including other IRC channels and mailing lists) here: https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2014
Project Ideas
We're still discussing possible ideas for 2014, and they'll appear here as we sort them out. If you have another idea you'd like to propose (either as a prospective student, mentor, or interested community member), please send it to mailman-developers@python.org for discussion!