From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 3 02:43:37 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0180DEA6 for ; Tue, 3 Mar 2015 02:43:36 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-qa0-f52.google.com (mail-qa0-f52.google.com [209.85.216.52]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B259CF49 for ; Tue, 3 Mar 2015 02:43:35 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-qa0-f52.google.com with SMTP id v10so26085954qac.11 for ; Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:43:29 -0800 (PST) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to :subject:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=RXLsYHYl6onP0evEGk52v5EzrGwcg/fidzSLUWIYH5s=; b=SASftove9wCEjj3Xq8QQv2wKk2XaWAK3te7eWgMJJ5x1a/sYjVb3e7hkHwKxVywIR1 Q0AhaDRa4+NJTyH5FxO6lent0nGZFZSeJx/LRilvqst6hUVgyXuzsODk+m1lF3oCwRAL GcLhF82OGnsyiHs6mvh1bEMwM3JE6iKcwWB5UY4bTlr8YmYsJXtuJr5V871pRLrASNZK vjhi7Bj1ARMIVGIxQEBpLr0vSDCxnLCH9jm9CIGp1dl4aD4Nf4JQdCn5oZcTnJpc0Zzq lAM1ythumM5mmvCBAxRpYkl1PtJaoPoczP1cH0d/qNdbkvASy63aj3a5cO4CglqJkD3O dZnA== X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQlfqEwAKnoM18ZXonffZwzSXDukJyeQwn5sZ820xwCSIypkYVs1IDQSY63EPVxX/sLwQjAY X-Received: by 10.55.26.83 with SMTP id a80mr8442664qka.59.1425350195201; Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:36:35 -0800 (PST) Received: from blackrose.teamblackfox.local (pool-108-4-9-48.rcmdva.fios.verizon.net. [108.4.9.48]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id n19sm9574413qhb.12.2015.03.02.18.36.34 for (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:36:34 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <54F51E31.8000606@mymail.vcu.edu> Date: Mon, 02 Mar 2015 21:36:33 -0500 From: Jonathon McDaniels User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.5.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Interested in GSOC - some advice? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2015 02:43:37 -0000 Hello freebsd-hackers mailing list! I'm a student at VCU currently enrolled as an information systems major with a CS minor - I'm currently a junior but I've not been able to work on my minor courses - to be honest. I've been teaching myself C for the past 8 months or so, I'm still at a rather rudimentary level, but I am confident I'll be ready to tackle some form of GSoC project by the start of the actual project side of things. Since there's only a matter of months left, however, what are some recommendations for getting to know FreeBSD that would make the best usage of my time in these months? Just so you have an idea of my background - I've been following FreeBSD off and on since around 2008 or so. I've been using it as a workstation OS for about 1-2 years, and a server OS for about 2-3. I've not submitted any diffs or anything yet because of a lack of understanding of the finer details of the FreeBSD kernel or userland, or its ports for that matter. Still, I've been able to comprehend and rewrite many of the BSD CLI tools just to see what does what. As far as what I have interest in advancing, I have interest in a lot of things, but I use FreeBSD because of its exceptional network performance and security, and its ports tree. So, with the registration opening in just a few scant weeks, any advice, words of encouragement, protips or whatnot? I'm pretty open-minded in regards to what I should focus on - I've mostly used my programming up to this point to simply advance farther in my knowledge of the language. Best Regards, Jonathon "Johnny" McDaniels