On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 4:08 PM Martin Jambor <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, > > another year has passed, Google has announced there will be again Google > Summer of Code (GsoC) in 2026 and the deadline for organizations to apply > is already approaching (February 3rd). I'd like to volunteer to be the > main org-admin for GCC again but let me know if you think I shouldn't or > that someone else should or if you want to do it instead. Otherwise I'll > assume that I will and I hope that I can continue to rely on Thomas > Schwinge and David Edelsohn to back me up and help me with some decision > making along the way as my co-org-admins. > > ======================== The most important bit: ======================== > > I would like to ask all (moderately) seasoned GCC contributors to consider > mentoring a contributor this year and ideally also come up with a project > that they would like to lead. We are collecting proposal on our wiki page > https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/SummerOfCode - feel free to add yours to the top > list there. Or, if you are unsure, post your offer and project idea as a > reply here to the mailing list. > > Additionally, if you have added an idea to the list in recent years, > please review it whether it is still up-to-date or needs adjusting or > should be removed altogether. > > ========================================================================= > > At this point, we need to collect list of project ideas. Eventually, > each listed project idea should have: > > a) a project title, > b) more detailed description of the project (2-5 sentences), > c) expected outcomes (we do have a catch-almost-all formulation that > outcome is generally patches at the bottom of the list on the > wiki), > d) project size - whether it is expected to take approximately 350, > 175 or just 90 hours (see below about the last option), > e) difficulty (easy, hard or medium, but we don't really have easy > projects), > f) expected mentors, > g) skills required/preferred, and... > > h) [this is new] ...pointers to things applicant should study in order > to learn about the topic. Please think also about a way to verify > they can get basic stiff done (post test results, look up basic stuff > in a gdb session... etc) though these do not need to be listed, these > can be requested when they approach us. (See notes from Cauldron 2025 > GSoC BoF: https://gcc.gnu.org/pipermail/gcc/2025-October/246780.html).
If GSoC does not have, we should, at least, set a clear expectation as to how usage of AI in completing the project is [not] allowed and should be documented. Richard. > Project ideas that come without an offer to also mentor them are always > fun to discuss, by all means feel free to reply to this email with yours > and I will attempt to find a mentor, but please be aware that we can > only use the suggestion it if we actually find one or ideally two. > > Everybody in the GCC community is invited to go over > https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/SummerOfCode and remove any outdated or > otherwise bad project suggestions and help improve viable ones. > > Finally, please continue helping (prospective) students figure stuff out > about GCC like you have always done in the past. > > GSoC 2026 should be quite similar to the last year, the most important > parameters probably are these: > > - Contributors (formerly students) must either be full-time students > or be "beginners to open source." > > - There are now three project sizes: roughly 90 hors (small), roughly > 175 hours (medium-sized) and roughly 350 hours (large) of work in > total. The small option was introduced in 2024 but because our > projects usually have a lengthy learning period, I think we will > almost always want to stick to the medium and large variants. > > - Timing should be pretty much as flexible as last year. The > recommended "standard" duration is 12 weeks but depending on > contributor's and mentor's needs and circumstances, projects can > take anywhere between 10 and 22 weeks. There will be one mid-term > and one final evaluation. > > For further details you can see: > > - The announcement of GSoC 2026: > > https://opensource.googleblog.com/2025/12/shape-future-with-google-summer-of-code.html > > - GSoC rules: > https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/rules > > - Detailed GSoC 2026 timeline: > https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/timeline > > - Elaborate project idea guidelines: > https://google.github.io/gsocguides/mentor/defining-a-project-ideas-list > > Thank you very much for your participation and help. Let's hope we > attract some great contributors again this year. > > Martin
