[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] Google Summer of Code 2012

[Stefano Sabatini]

On date Tuesday 2012-01-31 07:36:17 -0500, compn encoded:
> whos in this year?
> 
> http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=FFmpeg_/_Libav_Summer_Of_Code_2012
> 
> Are there any big things you want worked on? BluRay support? :)

Hi all,

I'm proposing myself for administering the FFmpeg application for GSoC
2012.

Google Summer of code 2012 main page:
http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/homepage/google/gsoc2012

Official "idea page" for FFmpeg is at:
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=FFmpeg_Summer_of_Code_2012

If you want to partecipate as mentor, this is the right time to add
your name and/or propose tasks by editing this page (ask Mike Melanson
for a wiki account in case you don't have one).

*For the success of the application, it is important to have an ideas
page as complete as possible.*

Timeline:
http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/events/google/gsoc2012

We have time until the 9th of March for applying as organization, then
Google admins will evaluate applications and publish the list of
accepted mentoring organizations in date 16th of March.

BTW I need a backup admin for the application, this involves filling a
form and agreeing with the Google terms.

A tentative policy for running the project: development will happen on
ffmpeg-devel (thus no dedicated ML), tasks are accepted/rejected based
on the ranking system adopted in the previous years (which is named
Melange, and is integrated in the GSoC website). Mentors have the
final word on how to evaluate their mentored students.

We could eventually create a dedicated ML for mentors in case we see
there is the need, but really there is no need for discussing this
right now (before the application is even accepted).

A provisional text for the application follows, which is loosely based
on the text I used for the ESA Socis 2011 application (I don't have
any copyright claims on it, so feel free to adapt/change it
whoever/whatever you are).

Please review.

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* Organization id

FFmpeg

* Organization name

FFmpeg

* Organization description

FFmpeg is a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and
stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec - the leading
audio/video codec library.

FFmpeg is possibly the most ubiquitous multimedia framework in the
FLOSS world, is used as the multimedia engine for a significant part
of multimedia applications, and provides the backend of possibly the
most part of Internet-based multimedia transcoding services.

FFmpeg strives at being the *universal* multimedia tool, so it aims at
implementing all possible multimedia formats (even the most oscure
fringe formats and devices), and at being *complete*, meaning that it
aims at providing full fledged support for all operations involved
with multimedia, relying on external projects when it makes sense.

* Organization home page url

http://www.ffmpeg.org

* Main organization license

GNU LGPL v2

* Backup admin

Still to determine

* What is the URL for your Ideas page?

http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=FFmpeg_Summer_of_Code_2012

* What is the main IRC channel for your organization?

#ffmpeg-devel on irc.freenode.net

* What is the main development mailing list for your organization?

The main development list is:
ffmpeg-devel at ffmpeg.org 

You can find contact information for this and other mailing lists at
the page:
http://ffmpeg.org/contact.html

* Why is your organization applying to participate in Google Summer of
  Code 2012? What do you hope to gain by participating?

We hope to involve more contributors in the community, and at the same
time we want to spread awareness of the project.

* Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If
  so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges
  of your participation.

FFmpeg participated to the past editions of Google Summer since 2007,
in the previous year (GSoC 2011) we participated jointly with Libav.

You can find a comprehensive list of all the past applications and
tasks here:
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=FFmpeg_Summer_Of_Code

* If your organization has not previously participated in Google Summer
  of Code, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)?

DON'T APPLY

* Does your organization have an application template you would like to
  see students use? If so, please provide it now.

No.

* What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's
  program? Please be as specific as possible.

Availability and qualification. Mentors propose themselves based on
their expertise in the domain area for the mentored tasks, and on the
skill to deal with students/people.

Mentors are usually veteran developers who delivered significant
contributions to the project and who deeply know the community and the
project itself. On the other hand note there is no need for the
self-elected mentor to be a member of the FFmpeg community, provided
that he can prove sufficient technical knowledge for the task he
wishes to mentor.

* What is your plan for dealing with disappearing students?

In case of a disappearing student, we'll try to get in communication
with him/her using all the possible channels at our disposal, in case
the student won't get reachable in a reasonable amount of time we'll
declare his/her task failed.

* What is your plan for dealing with disappearing mentors?

We try to assign a backup mentor to each task.

Even in case there is not an "official" backup mentor, we rely on the
developers community to help the student to accomplish the assigned
task.

* What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your
  project's community before, during and after the program?

We'll encourage the student to idle on IRC and we'll request them to
read and possibly participate to discussions on the main development
mailing-list. On the other hand we'll let students choose the
communication means which better suit them (email, IRC, direct voice
call or whatever, public or private communication, agreed with the
mentor).

We should also try to create a friendly environment where the student
can freely partecipate and where she/he can find support from the
community. In order to avoid misunderstanding and miscomunication
we'll rely on personal comunication between student and mentor in
order to make the student aware of the "culture" and of the implied
rules of the community.

We hope the students will stay around after the project termination on
the ground that they will feel comfortable in the project and will
have genuine interest into continuing their effort into it.

* Are you a new organization who has a Googler or other organization to
  vouch for you? If so, please list their name(s) here.

DON'T APPLY

* Are you an established or larger organization who would like to vouch
  for a new organization applying this year? If so, please list their
  name(s) here.

ANY?

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-- 
FFmpeg = Foolish & Fundamental Merciless Pitiless Encoding/decoding Governor