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| 1 | +# Contributor Guidance |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +Here you will find several important rules which you have to agree to follow in order to be eligible to apply as a contributor for the P4 Language Consortium. |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +These rules are intended to make the program rewarding and problem-free for everyone involved. They are based on our experience with GSoC and are designed to help you get the most out of it. |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +## Before you apply |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +- **Managing Commitments and Avoiding Burnout During GSoC** |
| 10 | +Please note that Google Summer of Code requires a time commitment of 20-40 hours per week, depending on the size of the tasks you choose. If you're considering taking on an additional part-time job, have extensive exams, or plan an extended vacation during the program, you need to carefully evaluate whether you can manage all these commitments without risking burnout. To help us better assess your availability, <ins>please make sure to explicitly list any other obligations in your application.</ins> |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +- **Get in touch with us and our community** |
| 13 | + In particular, visit our [Zulip workspace](https://p4lang.zulipchat.com/), [P4 forum](https://forum.p4.org), [P4 Linkdin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/p4-language-consortium/) and/or email the mentors listed on the [ideas list](ideas_list.md) for each project that sounds appealing to you. |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +- **Respect Mentors, Deliver on Time** |
| 16 | +The P4 Language Consortium values your enthusiasm and willingness to contribute. However, contacting mentors on multiple platforms, sending repeated messages, or asking for shortcuts may be viewed as unprofessional. Likewise, requesting last-minute reviews or urgent feedback when you are close to a deadline can be interpreted as a lack of reliability. Please remember that P4 mentors and admins volunteer their time to support a meaningful and successful GSoC experience. |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +- **NO LLM-generated code or texts are accepted** |
| 20 | +Please note that proposals completely generated using Large Language Models (LLMs) will not be accepted. Using LLM to assist you is acceptable, but letting LLM replace you is not. If you do use LLM, use your best judgement to use it responsibly. During the application process, if we find out it's easier to work with an LLM directly than working with you, it will be an immediate reject. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +## Before you are accepted |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +- **Prepare a Comprehensive and Detailed Plan** |
| 26 | +Within your project proposal, please include a section with a clear timeline detailing your 12-week project plan. Be sure to note any existing commitments, such as exams, vacations, or other obligations—that could affect your availability. |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +## During GSoC |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +- **Choose Your Communication Method** |
| 32 | +Before starting the coding phase, a private Zulip channel dedicated to the GSoC project will be created as the main communication channel between mentors and the student. In addition, mentors and the student should agree on the communication approach they’ll use during the GSoC period—for example, using only the Zulip channel, having weekly sync-up calls, or any other method that works best for them. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +- **Deliverables** |
| 35 | +Before the end of the GSoC period, for the project to be considered successful, the student must complete all assigned tasks, submit a final project report, and present their work and results at the community kickoff and wrap-up meetings. The report may be used directly as a blog post. For particularly complex projects, and if the student is willing, an additional blog article can be prepared and published on the P4 Language Consortium blog. |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +Students may use any preferred approach to prepare their report, article, and presentations. One suggested method is the laboratory-diary approach: keeping a private log of task progress helps track the work and simplifies the preparation of the final deliverables. |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +The report template can be found here: [report template](report_template.md). For any insigths here a few example reports that we think is of high quality and roughly follows the template: |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +- [2025 GSoC - Bmv2 Pkt Out - Xiyu Hao](/2025/projects/bmv2_pkt_out/README.md) |
| 42 | +- [2024 GSoC - Container Migration - Stanislav Kosorin](/2024/projects/container_migration/README.md) |
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