SarahStrong

Revision 2 as of 2010-04-03 22:15:42

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Sarah Strong

Contact information

  • Your Name: Sarah Strong

  • Email Address: sarah.e.strong@gmail.com

  • IRC nickname: aganice

  • Launchpad ID: sarahstrong

  • Skype username: sarah-strong

  • Webpage/blog: www.sarahstrong.110mb.com

  • College-University: University of Toronto

  • Major: Computer Science, Software Engineering Specialist

Please hold tight for more information once classes end April 1st.

Project

  • Project Name: The Great Clipboard Fixing Galore Project

  • Project Description:

Many popular Ubuntu apps have the problem that Copy/Paste doesn't work if the source is closed before the paste. It's a problem that's been reported and discussed at length, and there are several possible solutions

#1 Install a clipboard manager such as glipper, parcellite, or klipper by default

#2 Change the specification and xorg to correspond, so that applications are not required to explicitly request storage of their clipboard contents on quit.

  • The way to implement this might be a hook on X quit that copies the selection from the quitting application into a special buffer - so sort of what klipper/glipper/do, but integrated into X and only done on application quit.
  • Xorg developers don't like this idea

  • It might create a performance problem
  • Tt's been suggested many times without being changed, and this appears to be because there is a very good reason for leaving X's implementation as it is.

#3 Bring affected apps up to spec, so that they export their clipboard contents on exit as required by gnome-settings-daemon.

  • The major objection to this solution is that it would be a big undertaking
  • There would be no way to guarantee this problem didn't crop up in new apps
  • Fixing the same problem in many different places sounds like poor design
  • On the other hand, this fix is exactly what the ClipboardManager spec expects from apps.

  • If you would be willing and able to do other projects instead, which ones?

I would certainly be willing to work on an alternate project, but I haven't put in the time to research any others thoroughly. I'm quite interested in the Berkman Centre's Open Net Initiative tester, for one.

  • Why did you like this idea?

It's a problem that affects every Ubuntu user and one that can cause loss of user data, which puts it at a pretty high severity rating in my opinion. At a technical level, I'd enjoy the challenge of implementing a fix in a wide variety of applications, each with their differing languages and architectures.

  • Please describe a tentative project architecture or an approach to it:

  • Give us details about the milestones for this project

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  • Why will your proposal benefit Ubuntu?

It's a long-standing bug that I think we could fix for many major applications over the course of the summer.

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Open Source

  • Previous Open Source development experience: Co-creator of the open source project TracSNAP, a social network analysis tool for developers using the Trac project management system. Currently contributing to pylint, a code analysis tool for python.

/* * Why are you interested in Open Source? They've all heard the FOSS social importance & importance to students push before - what can I say that's more personal? */

Availability

  • How long will the project take? When can you begin? I expect to begin mid-May.

  • How much time do you expect to dedicate to this project? (weekly) Approximately 40 hours/week, including not just writing and testing code but also communication with my sponsor and related communities.

  • Where will you based during the summer? Toronto , ON and Montreal, QC

  • Do you have any commitments for the summer? (holidays/work/summer courses) I plan to take one distance course, an introduction to economic philosophy taught using a book I've already read. I don't expect it to take much time.

/* * Please designate a back up student (in case you need to withdraw your application): Not yet determined

Other

  • Have you ever participated in a previous GSoC? No

  • Have you applied for any other 2010 Summer of Code projects? If yes, which ones? Nope

  • Why did you apply for the Google Summer of Code? Interest (...)

  • Why did you choose Ubuntu as a mentoring organisation? Ongoing user, it seems to be a distro most often complained about by those trying an alternative to Mac/Windows (...)

  • Why do you want to participate and why should Ubuntu choose you? Add resume fluff here, plus breakdown usability improvement goals.

*/