Hello,
My name is Kyle Bayes, and I am interested in contributing to
GNU Hurd. I'm going to be a second year student at Wright State
University, and I'm majoring in Computer Science and Pure Mathematics.
I work as a software programmer and web designer/programmer, writing
free software for a small company in my hometown. I've been using
Debian GNU/Hurd for quite a while now. I also have been learning
about Hurd for about a year, and I've even wrote some basic
translators. I wanted to apply for the GSoC for this current Summer,
but I had already applied to do a research project with one of my
professors. Here is my questionnaire which contains more information
about me and what my interest is in GNU Hurd.
1. What areas are you interested in contributing to?
My interests include porting packages and writing documentation
and working on existing or writing new Hurd servers or libraries.
Also, I'm willing to work on the standard C library.
2. How much time do you have?
I have a fair amount of time on my hands, so it's not an issue.
3. How is your expertise about system and kernel programming?
I do not have a lot of practice in kernel programming, besides
writing a couple of Hurd translators, but I did put a lot of time
reading about kernel development. At my university's library I
spent hours reading most of the available books on operating
systems. I studied the Minux source code to understand how
multi-server kernels work. I also studied Mach's source code
as well. I read a lot of research that was going on in 2nd
generation micro-kernels, such as L4. Plus, I'm familiar with
the concepts of Hurd and Mach.
4. Have you previously been working on Free Software projects?
Since April 2011, I am the current maintainer of GNU Leg. You
can check it out at <http://www.gnu.org/software/leg/>. The
reasons for becoming a maintainer, other than the ethical
beliefs, were to understand the GNU infrastructure so I could
contribute to other GNU projects. Unfortunately, GNU Leg's
code is not yet available, since I still have a large chunk
of work to do before I am willing to upload it onto Savannah.
It's a one-man project, so there is no pressure on me, and I
plan on porting it to run on the Hurd as well. :-) I never worked
on a software project that had more than one person, so I'm
looking forward to work with a group of people!
5. What is your motivation to work on the GNU Hurd?
My main motivation is to contribute to the GNU project. I am
motivated by the benefits that GNU Hurd offers, since it would
make my job easier at my workplace. Also, I just love to hack
and write free software during my spare time.
Please reply back with any questions, comments, concerns, or
complaints. Thank you for your time and any feedback.
Happy Hacking,
Kyle
