[kde-community] Should we allow non-KDE projects to participate in GSoC under KDE?

[Valorie Zimmerman]

On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 8:38 AM, Martin Klapetek
<martin.klapetek at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 11:14 AM, Ingo Klöcker <kloecker at kde.org> wrote:
>>
>> On Wednesday 03 February 2016 14:58:54 Martin Klapetek wrote:
>> > So I'd like to have this cleared - does the community agree to
>> > have non-KDE projects, those that do not follow the Manifesto,
>> > participate in our GSoC this year and in the following years?

Thanks for raising the question, Martin. Although I think "those who
do not follow the Manifesto" is sort of inflammatory. Non-KDE projects
*cannot* follow the Manifesto.

The question as I see it is: shall we act as an umbrella org for GSoC?
With the hope of pulling those orgs closer to KDE.

>> > Imho this goes against the Manifesto as the projects gets to
>> > "enjoy the benefits" without the complying with "commitments"
>> > of the Manifesto. It's also less transparent overall (not able to
>> > monitor progress as it's not on KDE infrastructure), can lead
>> > to cheating and possibly kicking KDE out of GSoC in the worst
>> > possible outcome.

I don't see how hanging out with us in GSoC, providing mentors and
admins, is enjoying the benefits without "paying" for them. Everybody
pulls their own weight.

>> > On the other hand, every accepted project gets the mentoring
>> > organization some extra money, which is always handy.

Not only that, but it builds collaboration, which to me is much more
important than a few more dollars.

>> I'm sorry, but I completely lack the necessary information to give my opinion
>> in this matter. From the thread I gather that there have been issues in the
>> past with at least one non-KDE project. But without a list of the pros and
>> cons and a short summary of the past experience with allowing non-KDE
>> projects how am I supposed to decide?
>
> If you are subscribed to kde-soc-mentor and have been in the
> past, look up "About GSoC mentoring" thread from 2013.
>
> In short: Tupi wanted to do GSoC with us, many people in that
> thread said "sorry, GSoC is only for KDE projects". That same
> year (and same thread) also ownCloud wanted to have a GSoC
> slot for better KDE integration. Again people agreed to "sorry,
> this is for KDE projects only" (and ownCloud didn't consider
> themselves a KDE project). GCompris was a similar situation
> but they joined in time and all was fine iirc.

IMO we should have been the umbrella for all of them, but that's water
under the bridge.

> Year later SubSurface wanted a slot, we again said "you either
> become a KDE project or we're sorry" so they didn't get a slot.
>
> Last year after GSoC has started, Vishesh found out that Calamares
> is in our accepted GSoC projects and yet is not a KDE project
> (and was put up by the GSoC admin). There was a long discussion
> where it was said it is at least unfair to all those previously rejected
> projects and that it was thought to be a rule to not accept non-KDE
> projects based on discussions and decisions from previous years,
> so how come this one got accepted etc etc etc.
>
> This was all discussed on non-public mailing lists but I believe this
> is actually a community matter as it affects the whole community
> and as such the community should have a say in it. If only for the
> reason that we all have our little side projects that are not in KDE
> and would maybe want to join GSoC and nobody knows if it is
> allowed or not.
>
> Cheers
> --
> Martin Klapetek | KDE Developer

As part of the Student Programs admin team, to me it is pretty clear:
we should act as the umbrella for friendly teams who pull their own
weight, whether or not they intend to become KDE projects officially
in the near future. By saying NO we effectively tell them we don't
want to work with them.

We work with students whether or not they plan to become KDE community
members for life. We've had mentors who were not part of the KDE
community but rather experts in the needed field. I hope we decide to
do the same for orgs who want to do GSoC with us.

Valorie