[Soc2015-general] Patch/code sample requirement information

[Terri Oda]

Hi all!

I've had a few questions about the patch requirement on IRC, so I 
thought I'd talk a bit about it here for anyone who's wondering but 
hasn't been sitting on the IRC channel.

First, here's a link to our application template for this year:
https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/ApplicationTemplate2015

The patch requirement is under "Project Proposal Information":

"""
Link to a patch/code sample, preferably one you have submitted to your 
sub-org (required)

Note: Python requires all students to submit a patch. This does not need 
to be accepted and merged into your project, but it does need to be 
online and available for potential mentors to inspect. It should be a 
patch for the sub-org with whom you will be working if accepted for 
GSoC, unless your mentors specifically indicate to you that another code 
sample would be acceptable. Contact your mentors if you are unsure what 
would be an appropriate patch to submit.
"""


The idea behind this requirement is that we want you to demonstrate that 
you've been able to work with the source code of your sub-org.

Some potential patch ideas:
- fix an easy bug
- fix some typographical errors (e.g. in the user interface)
- add a small test case for something not currently tested
- choose a large file or small subdirectory and do coding style checks 
(For example, you could use the PEP8 checker for projects following the 
Python Style Guide), then fix any issues found


The code you submit needs to be available to all mentors who will 
evaluate your application, so typically you should put it up somewhere 
public and provide a link.  (e.g. gitlab, github or launchpad would be 
good places.)

In general, closed-source and license-restricted code is not acceptable, 
as many mentors may have job restrictions that do not allow them to look 
at this type of code.  Usually code from old assignments or previous 
jobs will not be acceptable either, unless they involved open source 
contributions to your chosen sub-org.

The people who get the final call on what code samples are acceptable 
are your mentors, so if you have any questions or doubts about the code 
you're submitting, contact them and ask!

  Terri