I am elated to be selected for GSoC with KDE! Through the program, I aim to dive deeper into open-source and utilize the mentorship to become a better contributor and member of the community. I am really excited to work on my project, EteSync sync backend for Akonadi.
About the project
Akonadi is the backend framework providing APIs for storage and retrieval of the user’s personal info such as contacts, email and calendar. These APIs are used by applications like Kontact, Kmail, KAddressBook and other apps in the KDE PIM suite. Akonadi also allows one to sync this data via a number of services like Google, Microsoft Exchange, DAV servers and many others.
My project is to add to this list a secure, end-to-end encrypted, FLOSS sync solution for contacts, calendars and tasks, called EteSync. EteSync clients are available for Android, iOS, the desktop (Cal/CardDAV bridge) and the web, and a Thunderbird plugin is in the works. The server too is open-source and can be self-hosted. As mentioned, EteSync utilizes end-to-end encryption, hence giving users the benefit of truly owning their data and respecting their privacy.
Plans for the work ahead
May 4 - June 1 is the Community Bonding period, where we are given time to interact with the community, get familiar with our project codebase and be ready to start work from June 1, when the coding phase starts. I have already been hanging out at the relevant IRC channels for quite some time, and I’ve had regular communication with my mentors (Tom “TAsn” Hacohen, Daniel Vrátil and Adriaan de Groot). I am taking this time to get used to reading all messages in some new IRC channels I’ve joined and interacting with fellow GSoC students (and also getting quickly done with college assignments :P).
I have laid out a detailed timeline for the work to be done, in my proposal.
About me
I’m Shashwat Jolly, a mathematics graduate from IIT Guwahati, India.
I’m well-versed with C++, and have made a few contributions to KDE PIM, which also introduced me to Qt. I’m pumped to get started with my project!
Apart from technical stuff, I’m very interested in all the latest and upcoming gadgets (mobiles, laptops etc). I’m into music, movies and twisty puzzles (Rubik’s cube and the like). If you’re also into any of this stuff, or even if not, I’m sjolly on IRC. Hoping to interact and learn from everyone in the KDE community!