The KDE Community

The KDE Community is an international team co-operating on development and distribution of Free, Open Source Software for desktop and portable computing. Our community has developed a wide variety of applications for communication, work, education and entertainment. We have a strong focus on finding innovative solutions to old and new problems, creating a vibrant, open atmosphere for experimentation. Since KDE is open-source, everyone can play a part in contributing to KDE.

Software produced by KDE

For users on Linux and Unix, KDE offers a full suite of user workspace applications which allow interaction with these operating systems in a modern, graphical user interface. This includes Plasma Desktop, KDE's innovative desktop interface. Other workspace applications are included to aid with system configuration, running programs, or interacting with hardware devices. While the fully integrated KDE Workspaces are only available on Linux and Unix, some of these features are available on other platforms.

How to connect with mentors via IRC

Mentors are the main people you communicate with while completing a task. They are the people whom you ask when you have any questions to ask regarding the task. You can communicate with them via IRC, a chat system. You can use webchat.freenode.net in your browser for now, but you may want to consider using a desktop IRC client later on. There are plenty of IRC networks out there, but the recommended one is Freenode as most open-source projects have channels there. To chat in IRC just type and hit [enter]. Commands begin with the "/" character, such as /connect irc.freenode.net to connect to Freenode if you've not already done so.

IRC is made of channels (think, "chat rooms") which start with a pound sign, such as "#KDE". On Freenode, you can expect to find a channel for almost any FOSS project, eg, #Fedora, #Python, #Ubuntu. To join a channel, use the /join command, eg, /join #KDE

IRC Clients

IRC clients communicate with IRC web servers to allow sending of messages from one user to another. Hence, you have to download an IRC client. Some examples of IRC clients are XChat and IRSSI for Linux or Windows, and Colloquy for Mac. KDE's IRC client is Konversation which gives you speedy access to Freenode network's channels, where you will find support for most distributions. Its defaults are such that it needs no configuration other than telling it the name of your distribution channel, to get started. Below is the link to KDE's IRC client:

KDE's IRC client

IRC channel for each task category

Tasks in Google Code-in are grouped into five categories. Below are the recommended channels for each category so that you can find more information regarding a task.

Code (#kde-git)
Documentation/Training (#kde-docs)
Outreach/Research (#kde-accessibility)
Quality Assurance (#kde-bugs)
User Interface (#kde-imaging)

Creating a KDE identity account

It is highly recommended that you create a KDE account as KDE Identity is the central database for KDE websites. Using your KDE Identity credentials, you can log into all Identity enabled KDE websites. Creating an account will also facilitate communication between you and your mentors. You can visit the link below to register for a KDE account.

KDE identity account registration page

The links below will direct you to KDE's wikis such as techbase and userbase.

Creating a Bugzilla account

Many open-source organisations, including KDE have a Bugzilla account. You may want to create a Bugzilla account to facilitate communication between you and your mentors. A separate account is needed apart from your KDE identity account. Below is the link to KDE's Bugzilla account:

KDE's Bugzilla account

Etiquette during IRC chats

Most open source organizations use IRC and/or mailing lists to communicate with one another. If you keep the following items in mind when communicating with your mentors, community members and other students this will help make a positive, professional impression with the community.

Be considerate. When you are asking for help, being rude or pushy will rarely get you an answer to your question. It will also cause people to immediately have a negative response to you, not something you ever want.
Never put your personal information in a mailing list or on IRC - no phone numbers, or home addresses, etc...
When responding to an existing post/email, please include relevant text from the original message. It should still be possible for somebody who did not read the original message to understand what you are talking about. .
Keep subject lines short and to the point. Likewise, keep your message to the point, no need to write a page about your problem/question.
Don’t attach files to your email unless your mentor has specifically told you to do so.
Never use personal attacks or profanity, if you would not say it in a crowded room for all to hear, do not write it in a message.
Plain text is always best, avoid including graphics, charts, and images.
Please keep in mind that during Google Code-in mentors are often swamped with helping students and reviewing tasks or they have their own personal lives to lead. They are not likely staring at an IRC window right when you join and may not see what you write for several minutes. However, especially for beginner tasks, other Google Code-in students are usually happy to help.

How you should do your research

You may get help from the open-source project's community and still take credit completing a task. We want you to get to know each project's community members and to understand their processes and requirements. It's totally fine to ask for help if you're stuck, but remember that you should try to solve the problem yourself before getting assistance. To put it a different way, you've taken responsibility for accomplishing something, so it's perfectly acceptable to get it done in a collaborative fashion - that's how open source works! But remember that you are not allowed to directly copy and paste from another website!

Useful links regarding Google Code-in

Here are some links regarding Google Code-in so you can have a clearer idea on what it is all about: