TestGoogle Summer of Code Project Proposal I’m applying for the ‘Backend Connectors for Ensemble’ Thunderbird address book extension project for Mozilla. After discussing the task with the project’s mentor, I plan on researching, then implementing possible options to connect the Thunderbird address book extension to external contact storages, specifically LDAP and/or CardDAV. The overall project goal would be to implement both types of connections; although after doing some initial research as well as from gathering the mentor’s opinion, it has been found that a LDAP connection implementation might be a sizeable task in its own right, as its advanced nature alongside the lack of previous LDAP implementations in the JavaScript ecosystem might produce a more difficult task. As referenced by the initial project conversations, this project will involve quite a lot of research and exploration, as much of the work will be done on new areas of interest within the programming landscape, which means a sizeable amount of time will be dedicated to the research and planning portions of development. Therefore, with the project goal being set as an initial implementation of LDAP and/or CardDav connection support, and the potential for such connections hanging on a set of extensive research findings, an initial goal would be to pursue the most effective path forward to produce the most developmental progress, may it be for LDAP support, CardDav support, or both, if the findings prove effective and implementation are within the scope of the Google Summer of Code timeline. In regards to work on the project I’ve already done, I’ve done some initial research on the LDAP protocol, to better understand the context to which such an implementation might involve. Furthermore, I’ve taken a look at the current codebase found on the Github repo, and from it I’ve forked and contributed a commit that allows the build shell script to be run on a OSX based system (my preferred development platform). Planned Schedule of Deliverables June 17th: Coding period begins.June 17th-(exact date TBD) June 21th: Initial Research (time split between GSoC & finishing other summer course commitment overlap).June 22nd-July 6th: Continue initial research and begin project planning, develop specific project structures and tasks.July 6th-20th: Begin implementation tasks, initial code snippets and groundwork.July 20th-August 10th: Solidify code implementations and begin to see end quality code content.August 10th-August 30th: Project tasks should be finalizing content, testing, serious project completion submissions.August 30th-September 16th: Buffer period before ‘pencils down’ timeline for any scheduling extensions. September 16th-September 27th: ‘Post-pencils down’ period. I would assume this time would be filled with submissions and other non-programming requirements.
