[kde-edu]: KEduca resurrection (possible GSoC project)

[Mauricio Piacentini]

> While supporting a new file type might seem like a big thing I decided
> it was worth doing since it would provide interoperability with other
> software such as Moodle etc. However, I had trouble narrowing down
> decent use cases for the software and so I think I was trying to make
> it do too much. I think KEduca really needs some well-defined goals,
> use cases and expected work-flows as well as reasons why it is
> preferred over other software such as Moodle. We need to know where it
> fits in the software landscape. Without this, it is impossible to be
> able to plan which features should be added.
>

Good explanation. I think this is one of the reasons the porting effort
needs to be approached with care and planning, and plenty of time available.


>
> > KEduca ships by default in the KDE 3.5.9 based Linux Educacional distro,
> > delivered to thousands of schools by the Brazilian government.
> > (http://piacentini.livejournal.com/7871.html). So its user base is
> actually
> > increasing, which is a problem as these people will get orphaned soon
> (next
> > year) when Linux Educacional finally makes the switch to KDE 4.x.
>
> For this reason, a raw port alone must be achieved somehow.
>

..

>
> Give the experience I had, I think that finding someone to do an
> almost direct port to KDE4 without adding any new features would be
> the best way. It's a simple enough codebase that a full direct port is
> well within the scope of GSoC with perhaps even potential for much
> cleanup and code simplification.
>
> Once the port is done, then work could start on adding fancy new features.
>

That is why I mentioned it needs to be something that starts as a GSoC, but
needs to be carried on for at least a couple of KDE releases. Otherwise we
will end up with another orphan...


>
> I am willing to help be a mentor for this but I am not sure I have the
> time to do it by myself. If someone would be willing to co-mentor with
> me then I will be able to help.
>
>
OK, let us wait a bit more for opinions. I think the time commitment for the
mentor is inversely proportional to the experience of the student with KDE
technology. In this case your guidance would probably be needed more at the
planning phase, so we could learn from what was already tried and see what
worked, and not very much at the actual coding/KDE integration.

Regards,
Mauricio Piacentini
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