We are excited to announce that the FreeBSD Project has again been selected as a mentoring organization for the Google Summer of Code 2024! We’re proud to be one of the 195 projects chosen to introduce new developers to the open source development community. The list of accepted organizations can be found here, alongside further information about the 2024 program.
Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is an annual global program organized by Google that aims to bring new contributors to the open source world. The program will pair mentoring organizations with new contributors for programming projects over the summer. While GSoC was limited to students in the past, anyone new to open source can now participate!
This year marks the 20th year of GSoC, and also marks the 20th year that the FreeBSD Project will be participating as a mentoring organization. Past GSoC projects have led to critical infrastructure work found in FreeBSD 13.x. Hierarchical Resource Limits and Instruction Level Dynamic Tracing started as GSoC projects, but the code can be found in FreeBSD to this day. Last year, the Foundation interviewed the mentees participating in GSoC 2023:
Google Summer of Code is an excellent opportunity for developers new to open source. Mentees can make lasting contributions and meaningful connections within the open-source community. Mentors are typically founding members or significant committers to their organizations, and GSoC offers a unique opportunity to work directly with them. Many communities have a significant barrier to entry, and these projects offer new open source software developers the opportunity to participate in ongoing projects immediately.
Beyond the 20-year history of successful GSoC projects, contributing to FreeBSD offers an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in one of the oldest open source communities in the world. Many of the founding members are still active in the community and are willing to work with new contributors. FreeBSD is everywhere! From the Sony Playstation, Nintendo Switch, to Juniper’s JunOS system, many of your favorite platforms may be powered by FreeBSD. Finally, many GSoC mentees have become lasting committers years after their original project ended. Community contribution is a keystone of the FreeBSD model, and you can make meaningful changes immediately, even as a new contributor.
If you’re interested in applying to contribute to FreeBSD through Google Summer of Code 2024, we encourage you to review the Projects GSoC page. Contributor applications will open on Monday, March 18, 2024, and close on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. We highly recommend getting a head-start by reviewing the project ideas page and contacting potential mentors to introduce yourself and discuss your project.
We’d like to welcome potential contributors to the FreeBSD community and we look forward to your applications.