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= Welcome to Inkscape! =
= Welcome to Inkscape! =


For quite a few years Inkscape has been successfully participating in [http://code.google.com/soc/ Google Summer of Code].
For quite a few years Inkscape has been successfully participating in [http://code.google.com/soc/ Google Summer of Code].


GSoC is a program where Google funds the development of specific features in open source software by university students. You don't need to be a Computer Science student to apply. Features to be developed are picked by Inkscape administrators from the pool of proposals submitted by students.
Google has opened up the program to students AND beginners to Open Source who are 18 years are older. Projects can be medium size (~175 hours) or large size (~350 hours). Finish times are flexible, 12 to 22 weeks (with agreement of mentor).
 
GSoC is a program where Google funds the development of specific features in open source software by university students and other new to open source. You don't need to be a Computer Science student to apply. Features to be developed are picked by Inkscape administrators from the pool of proposals submitted by applicants.


We've mentored about half a dozen students a year since GSoC started.  Many students enjoyed their work and continue to be involved; perhaps your mentor will be a past GSoC student!  We have a high rate of acceptance of student code into the core codebase. Indeed, GSoC projects have been a key source of some of Inkscape's best features in the past several releases.
We've mentored about half a dozen students a year since GSoC started.  Many students enjoyed their work and continue to be involved; perhaps your mentor will be a past GSoC student!  We have a high rate of acceptance of student code into the core codebase. Indeed, GSoC projects have been a key source of some of Inkscape's best features in the past several releases.


If you are interested in joining us this summer, it is time to get your proposal ready. You can choose a proposal from our list of suggestions or come up with one of your own. In either either case, you must give us a detailed outline of what you plan to do. It is highly recommended that you discuss your idea as early as possible with Inkscape developers. They not only can give you guidance as you flesh out your proposal but ultimately you must convince them that you can do the work planned in the time allotted.
If you are interested in joining us this summer, it is time to get your proposal ready. You can choose a proposal from our list of suggestions or come up with one of your own. In either either case, you '''must''' give us a detailed outline of what you plan to do. It is '''highly''' recommended that you discuss your idea as early as possible with Inkscape developers. They not only can give you guidance as you flesh out your proposal but ultimately you must convince them that you can do the work planned in the time allotted. '''If you have not discussed your proposal with Inkscape developers before you apply, your application will be rejected!'''


= Student Applications =
= Candidate Applications =


* Google program information:
* Google program information:
** [https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/homepage/google/gsoc2014 Home page].
** [https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ Home page].
** Summer of Code Application form. Applications open at 19:00 UTC on March 10th.
** Summer of Code Application form. Applications open at 18:00 UTC on March 18th, 2024. -> https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/timeline


* Inkscape-specific information:
* Inkscape-specific information:
** [[SOC Application Template]].
** [[SOC Application Template]].
** [[Roadmap | Inkscape Roadmap]] - to see our overall objectives.
** [[Roadmap | Inkscape Roadmap]] - to see our overall objectives.
** [[Projects | Inkscape Development Project Ideas]] - broader list of development ideas.
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]] - some guidelines for proposals.
** [[SOC Writing Project Proposals]] - some guidelines for proposals.
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]] - how we rate applications.
** [[SOC Selection Criteria]] - how we rate applications.


'''Student Applications for GSoC 2014 must be submitted to the GSoC site by 19:00 UTC on March 21st 2014.'''
'''Candidate Applications for GSoC 2024 must be submitted to the GSoC site by 18:00 UTC on April 2nd 2024.'''


= The "two patches" rule =
= The "two patches" rule =


We require two patches from each potential GSoC student, before accepting the student for GSoC participation (it is the same requirement as for obtaining rights to commit changes to the Bazaar code repository).
We require two patches from each potential GSoC student, before accepting the student for GSoC participation (it is the same requirement as for obtaining rights to commit changes to the code repository).
 
The reason for this requirement is that you can show us that you have succeeded in building Inkscape on your PC, and that you have understood a little piece of Inkscape's code and are able to improve it.  
The reason for this requirement is that you can show us that you have succeeded in building Inkscape on your PC, and that you have understood a little piece of Inkscape's code and are able to improve it.  
Inkscape is a large project, and you really should not try to understand all the code. Many (all?) developers know only parts of the program code!
Inkscape is a large project, and you really should not try to understand all the code. Many (all?) developers know only parts of the program code!
You can join our [http://inkscape.org/discussion.php jabber/IRC] channel and ask developers for help.
You can join our [https://inkscape.org/community/discussion/ IRC] channel or [https://chat.inkscape.org/channel/team_devel Rocket Chat] and ask developers for help.


== Suggested "easy" bug fixes or improvements ==
== Suggested "easy" bug fixes or improvements ==


To get you started on Inkscape development, you can find (probably) easy-to-fix bugs or small improvements that require very little knowledge of the whole program by searching our [https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape bug-tracker] for bugs tagged with 'easy-fix'.
To get you started on Inkscape development, you can find (probably) easy-to-fix bugs or small improvements that require very little knowledge of the whole program by searching our [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/issues/ bug-tracker] for bugs tagged with 'easy-fix'.


= Performance Evaluation =
= Performance Evaluation =
Line 52: Line 57:
The following is a list of formal project suggestions, but do not feel limited to only these - some of our best contributions have been unique ideas that students had in mind from other sources!
The following is a list of formal project suggestions, but do not feel limited to only these - some of our best contributions have been unique ideas that students had in mind from other sources!


See also [[Development Project Ideas]] and https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/
See also [[Development Project Ideas]], [[Refactoring projects]], [[Projects]], and https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/


==P5. UI-Free Inkscape ==


==P1. Better CSS Style Sheet Support==
* Estimation of difficulty: Difficult - Long (350h)
* Potential mentors: Marc Jeanmougin
* Programming skills: C++, CMake
* Prerequisites: Minimal knowledge of build systems. Experience with GtkMM helpful.


Enhance Inkscape's support for CSS style sheets.
<u>Detailed Description</u>
Inkscape currently builds with X11 and gtk and a lot of graphical dependencies. But since it is allowed to run in commandline, and there are controlled environments (servers) that use it to convert svg to png and to perform actions, there should be no need to force it to build with those. The main goal of this project is to add a WITH_GUI compilation flag that when OFF, does *not* link Inkscape with any graphical dependency. While much work has been done towards this goal, much remains to be done. DONE <s>As a next step, Inkscape's "verbs" which are mostly GUI dependent (even if there is no reason to be) need to be converted to Gio::Actions.</s> More work needs to be done to separate out hidden GUI dependencies that remain after the Verb to Action transition.


* Estimation of difficulty: Moderately hard
<u>Use cases</u>
* Server installs, scripts
 
==P6. Refactoring==
* Estimation of difficulty: Moderate - Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
* Potential mentors: Tavmjong Bah
* Potential mentors: Tavmjong Bah
* Programming skills needed: C++
* Programming skills: C++
* Prerequisites: Experience with CSS style sheets.
* Prerequisites: proficient C++.


<u>Detailed Description</u>
<u>Detailed Description</u>
Inkscape began life as the C program Sodipodi. Sodipodi was mostly the work of one person who had a clear vision of how the code should work. A major motivation of the Inkscape fork was to allow others to easily contribute to development. This resulted in rapid development but at a cost: the code has become much messier and now lacks a clear vision. This project is to work on refactoring the code. Refactoring can take many forms. It could be creating a better directory structure with README's that describe the purpose and function of the code in each directory. This would include rewriting code to reduce dependencies across directories (which would help, for example, in achieving a headless version of Inkscape). It could be the continued transition from C to C++ which often results in major reductions in the number of code lines. Or it could be identifying and eliminating redundant code.


Currently Inkscape support of CSS style sheets is limited to the reading and parsing of one internal style sheet. The styles are immediately stored in the style attribute for each object thus changes to the style sheet (awkwardly possible now through the XML editor) are not recognized. This project will:
A particularly ambitious project would be to replace the Garbage Collector by smart pointers.


* Add to each object property a means to track the source of the property value.
Refactoring is an important skill of which many books have been written. Here's a chance to gain valuable experience!
* Create a dialog for editing internal style sheets. The dialog needs to:
 
** Support selectors based on object type, object id, and object class.
See https://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Refactoring_projects for some ideas of projects.
** Create selection sets based on the above selectors.
 
** Create and edit class names.
==P8. Add Text and Image Support to Live Path Effect System ==
* Estimation of difficulty: Hard - Short (175h)
* Potential mentors: Jabier Arraiza (Spanish, English(not native))
* Programming skills: C++
* Prerequisites: Experience managing bitmaps
<u>Detailed Description</u>
Live Path Effects are non destructive effects applied to paths and shapes standalone or inside a group.<br />
This is done keepeng a reference to the original data to reaply when needed.<br />
But ignore text and image elements.<br />
Things to do:
* Study add image, text, both and maybe others SVG elements to the LPE system.
* Create/adapt minimun one LPE for each new type of element acepted as reference. Suggestion Perspective-Envelope.
<u>Use cases</u>
* Apply live effects to images and text based in C++ code in a non destructive way even in groups with mixed elements types.
 
==P9. Path Library Improvements ==
* Estimation of difficulty: Hard - Long (350h)
* Potential mentors: Tavmjong Bah, KK
* Programming skills: C++
* Prerequisites: Strong math skills, specifically in geometry.
<u>Detailed Description</u>
Inkscape relies on two geometry libraries for path manipulations: lib2geom and livarot. lib2geom is a generic modern library written specifically with Inkscape in mind. lib2geom is missing some functionality that Inkscape requires and that is found in livarot. This project is to move that functionality into lib2geom (or into separate files) using lib2geom path descriptions. A 2020 GSoC student did a significant amount of work understanding and documenting the issues involved. This project would be to build on his work.


A dialog similar to (and perhaps merged with) the trunk Selection Set dialog might be a good model to follow.
Specifically, the functionality needed is
* Path offset/inset functions.
* Path simplify.
* Stroke to path function.
* Line scanning (used for flowing text into a shape).


Stretch goals include:
==P11. Improvements to Paint Server Dialog ==


* Support external style sheets.
* Estimation of difficulty: Easy to Medium - Short (175h)
* Support multiple internal style sheets.
* Potential mentors: Tavmjong
* Support CSS 3 selectors.
* Programming skills: C++
* Support parsing of 'font-face'.
* Prerequisites: Some knowledge of GTK and CSS.
<u>Detailed Description</u>
The ''Paint Server Dialog'' allows a user to visually select a pattern or hatch to use in painting the ''fill'' or ''stroke'' of an object. This project would be to expand the dialog to cover gradients, meshes, and solid colors as well as make other improvements to the dialog. Interaction with the Inkscape's ''UX'' team will be required.


<u>Use Cases</u>
== P13. Node-based filter editor ==


* Support externally created SVGs.
*Estimation of difficulty: Hard - Long (350h)
* Producing better SVGs for the Web.
* Potential mentors: Mc
* Changing style on multiple objects at once (palettes).
* Programming skills: C++
* Prerequisites: Minimal knowledge of build systems


<u>Related Material</u>
<u>Detailed Description:</u> The filter editor is kind of hard to understand and master based on its current UI. Using a node-based tool for it, such as what can be done with https://notabug.org/grindhold/libgtkflow would help people create and master the filter primitives easier.


* [https://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/ CSS 2 Specification]
[https://gitlab.com/inkscape/ux/-/issues/40 '''Full poposal''']
* [https://www.w3.org/TR/css-2015/ CSS 2015 Snapshot]
==P14. Cached styles for inkex==


*Estimation of difficulty: Medium - Short (175h)
*Potential mentors: Jonathan
* Programming skills: Python, CSS
* Prerequisites: minimal knowledge of test-driven development


==P2. Development Project Management System==
<u>Detailed Description:</u> When inkex, the Python library behind Inkscape's extension system, computes styles, this is relatively slow, especially for documents with either many style sheets or documents with many elements / highly nested documents. This is because for each element, the XPATH of each CSS rule is computed, and then it is checked whether the current element is in the XPATH result. Then, the same computation is repeated for the parent. Since Python is not very fast itself, such inefficiencies quickly make style evaluation unusable for big documents.


Enhance Inkscape's web tools for managing development projects.
With this project, we would explore ways to speed up those computations, mainly using caching and more intelligent ways of evaluating CSS rules. Some approaches might be taken from [https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/08/inside-a-super-fast-css-engine-quantum-css-aka-stylo/ a recent firefox refactoring].


* Estimation of difficulty: Moderately hard
Ideally, the caching will be tuned to support read-only (export), read-heavy (modify path), write-heavy (generate from path) and write-only (import) extensions, which have different caching needs.
* Potential mentors: Bryce Harrington
* Programming skills needed:  Python
* Prerequisites:  Working knowledge of Django web application development


<u>Detailed Description</u>
The work should be done in a test-driven development approach.


Design and implement tools to allow submitting and editing ideas for development projects.  Create various project listing views that display projects that need further editing, lists of projects meeting various criteria (e.g. janitorial, new features, programming language, etc.), assigned projects, completed projects, and so forth.
== P15. Import and Export extensions ==


This work would be part of a larger, ongoing effort to unify Inkscape's various collections of task ideas into a single system, to make them easier for potential contributors to review and select from.  Some of this project has already been implemented, so you would be focusing on enhancing its user interfaces to make it more powerful and more broadly usable.
*Estimation of difficulty: Flexible, usually easy to medium, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
*Potential mentors: Jonathan
* Programming skills: Python, Ability to read technical documents, depending on the format: some reverse engineering
* Prerequisites: minimal knowledge of test-driven development


<u>Use Cases</u>
<u>Detailed Description:</u> Inkscape is alway looking to improve compatibility! Some ideas of relevant file formats - each of them more than enough for one GSoC:*Refactor our '''DXF input and output''' extensions, and expand support towards binary DXF
* "Janitorial" tasks suitable for new developers looking for easy ways to get involved in Inkscape development
*Write an as-complete-as-possible '''EPS export''', circumventing the internal information loss in ghostscript (EPS is still relevant for scientific papers, but more and more tools are dropping support, so this is a chance to grab market share - the results of Adobe Distiller are much better than ghostscript's...)
* Google Summer of Code Project Ideas (this page!!)
*Rewrite the '''XAML importer''' in Python (currenly XSLT) to match the capabilities of the new XAML exporter (i.e. support for different target frameworks, better text support...) - would have to select carefully what to support (drawing primitives) and what not (control elements) - the boundary is not as clear-cut as it seems.
* Funded development work, with funds supplied by various fundraisers
* Update the '''Synfig export''' to support the latest Synfig developments
* User-supplied requests for feature enhancements
* '''Import or export of TikZ'''. There are a few abandoned extensions out there (from which we can borrow), but it's very widely used in science - both import and export could serve an important function in the scientific workflow.
*'''Import of the proprietary fileformats''' of Affinity Design, Vectornator, Vectorstyler (especially the last two seem in their infancy and users at some point will sit on a bunch of files that they can't open anymore because their SAAS model wasn't profitable) .
*'''Import of CGM''' - old, but ISO standardized. Was supported once and dropped when the uniconvertor extension was removed for 1.0.
* '''Python based EMF / WMF importer -''' the current (core Inkscape) C extension is unmaintained and Python would probably be the right way to get more collaboration on it. A lot of public archives sit on mountains of EMF files. Note that the Document Foundation recently did a lot of work properly importing those files, so we can learn from them / maybe even join forces...
*your favorite file format? - also have a look here: https://office.inkscape.org/nextcloud/index.php/s/Tq6cdDDGay6taCw
==P16. Gcodetools refactoring and documentation==


<u>Related Material</u>
*Estimation of difficulty: Easy- Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
* Current collections of tasks that we want to eventually migrate into this system:
*Potential mentors: Jonathan
** http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Janitorial_tasks
* Programming skills: Python
** https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/
* Prerequisites: Maker background / familiarity with the Maker community
* [https://inkscape.org/en/support-us/funded-development/ High level specification for the system]
* [[FundedProjectSystemDevelopment]] related tasks


<u>Detailed Description:</u> [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/extras/extensions-gcodetools/ Gcodetools] is a set of Inkscape extensions that deal with reading and creating Gcode files, mostly for use in laser cutters or plotters. For this project, ideally someone with a Makerspace background will
#query maker spaces on their needs regarding gcodetools,
#implement those needs together with unit tests,
# improve the test coverage of Gcodetools,
#write proper documentation for it. (doesn't really exist at the moment).
==P17. Packing / Nesting as an Inkscape extension==


==P3. Improved Eraser tool==
*Estimation of difficulty: Medium, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
*Potential mentors: Jonathan
* Programming skills: Python
* Prerequisites: Computational geometry


* Estimation of difficulty: Moderately hard
<u>Detailed Description:</u> In this project, a set of packing / nesting algorithms will be implemented:
* Potential mentors: Jabier Arraiza (Spanish, some English)
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_stock_problem Linear nesting] is not too useful in SVG, but might be a good place to get acquainted with the problem. 2D cutting stock problem would be very interesting to have and would work great with the new multipage functionality.
* Programming skills needed: C++
*For efficient packing of free form objects, we might just re-implement [https://github.com/Jack000/SVGnest SVGNest] in Python. There are probably some more recent research papers which would be interesting to implement as a comparison.


<u>Detailed Description</u>
== P18. Improving UX of Node tool and Bezier tool ==
*Estimation of difficulty: Medium - Hard, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
*Potential mentors: Tav, ??
* Programming skills: C++,
*Prerequisites: Computational geometry


The '''Eraser tool''' has some limitations in cut-out from objects mode:
<u>Detailed Description:</u> This project would improve workflow of editing of geometry of paths. Combining strengths of Pen tool and Node tool with modifiers and new behaviors. This improvement should benefit pro users but also beginners. Good example of this implementation is in blenders new pen tool.


* There is a minimum width of 1 unit in the line to cut, thus the resulting parts don't fit exactly (1 unit gap minimum).
'''[https://gitlab.com/inkscape/ux/-/issues/5 Full Proposal here]'''[[File:Imageasdasd.png|thumb|184x184px]]
* This mode does not work with groups.
* The cut is not constrained: no straight or parallel modes.


The goal is make an optional to produce a zero width cut that solves the above problems.<br />
== P19. Improving UI of Live path effects ==
There are new Boolean operations, implemented but not used in trunk. We need to switch the division method from Livarot to these new operations.<br />
*Estimation of difficulty: Medium- Hard, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
Another feature interesting is a button to get the guides over the selected item and use it as cut-out.<br />
*Potential mentors: Mike, jabier ,??
We can make optional check to convert strokes to path previously to cut to avoid continuing with stroke thought cut-out item fills.<br />
* Programming skills: GTK 4, C++
¿Maybe can become into a Scissor tool?
*Prerequisites: Front end UI , familiarity with Live path effects
[[File:Imageasdasda qrq.png|thumb|146x146px]]


<u>Use Cases</u>
<u>Detailed Description:</u> This project Should implement Proposed UI clean up of Controls . LPE controls shoulbe be more user freindly and predictive,
* Better item slicing.


==P4. SVG 2 Text Support==
[https://gitlab.com/inkscape/ux/-/issues/?sort=popularity&state=opened&label_name%5B%5D=Dialog%3A%3ALPE&first_page_size=100 '''Full Proposed designs''']


* Estimation of difficulty: Hard
[[File:Imageasd.png|right|frameless|466x466px]]
* Potential mentors: Tavmjong Bah
== P20. Recolor Artwork ==
* Programming skills needed: C++
* Estimation of difficulty: Variable - Short (90h or 175h)
* Prerequisites: Familiarity with text layout. Knowledge of CSS.
* Potential mentors: Adam Belis ?
* Programming skills: usually C++
* Prerequisites:  


<u>Detailed Description</u>
<u>Detailed Description</u>
An easy and convenient way how to change any color from the selection. Useful for experimenting and tweaking colors.


Inkscape currently has a non-compliant flowed text feature (based on SVG 1.2 which was never adopted) that needs to be made compatible with both SVG2 and SVG 1.1. This project is to re-implement the flowed text feature within Inkscape to be SVG2 compliant and to have a proper SVG 1.1 fallback. In addition to the flowed text itself as it exists within Inkscape, SVG2 adds new formatting features including shape-margin and shape-padding, shape-inside and shape-outside, exclusions, additional white-space control settings, pre-wrap, pre-line, etc.


<u>Use Cases</u>
[https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/6095 '''Full proposal Here''']
* Proper text flow into rectangles and other shapes.
 
 
<u>Use cases</u>
* fast Editing color in whole project without of need for swatches
*easier work for color harmonies in a project
*Easier iteration and visioning of designs
 
==Pxx. Your project ==
* Estimation of difficulty: Variable - Short or Long (175h or 350h)
* Potential mentors: Marc Jeanmougin
* Programming skills: usually C++
* Prerequisites: good ideas
 
<u>Detailed Description</u>
The most successful GSoC we had in the past were students coming with their own past, use cases and ideas for Inkscape. Many basic tools like 3d cubes or connectors you can see in Inkscape now have been brought by brilliant people (like you) with ideas. If we think that your project fits with Inkscape (ie: has its place with a vector graphic editor), we can help you refining your ideas and help bring shiny new stuff to life!


<u>Related Material</u>
<u>Use cases</u>
* [https://svgwg.org/svg2-draft/text.html Current draft of SVG 2 text specification.]
* Amaze us!


= Successful SOC Projects from Previous Years =
= Successful SOC Projects from Previous Years =
Line 190: Line 267:
** A test suite
** A test suite
* 2009
* 2009
** [[GSoC 2009 Node Tool Rewrite|Node tool rewrite]]
** [[GSoC2009 Node Tool Rewrite|Node tool rewrite]]
** D-Bus scripting API
** D-Bus scripting API
** Connector tool improvements
** Connector tool improvements
Line 214: Line 291:
** Better Support for SVG Paints
** Better Support for SVG Paints
** Robust Boolean and Stroking Operations for 2Geom
** Robust Boolean and Stroking Operations for 2Geom
* 2016
** [[GSoC 2016 Better data structure for selections|Better data structure for selections]]
** [[Style Editor|CSS Style Sheet Editor]]
* 2017
** SVG 2 Text Support
** Better CSS Style Sheet Support
* 2019
** Mesh gradient and hatches polyfills. Paint server dialog.
* 2020
** [https://gitlab.com/vanntile/inkscape-gsoc-2020 New dialog system.]
** [https://gitlab.com/rathod-sahaab/gsoc-2020-inkscape Command palette dialog.]
** Path operations.
* 2021
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/3420 On canvas marker editing.]
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/3328 Verbs to Gio::Actions.]
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/3294 On canvas alignment snapping.]
* 2022
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/4692 Tab Structure.]
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/4694 Font Collections.]
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/4756 Modernizing Memory Management.]
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/4504 OCR Support.]
* 2023
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5335 GTK4 toolbar port preparation]
** [https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/merge_requests/5624 Customizable Appearance of Canvas Controls]


[[Category:Developer Documentation]]
[[Category:Developer Documentation]]
</div>

Latest revision as of 10:10, 17 March 2024

Welcome to Inkscape!

For quite a few years Inkscape has been successfully participating in Google Summer of Code.

Google has opened up the program to students AND beginners to Open Source who are 18 years are older. Projects can be medium size (~175 hours) or large size (~350 hours). Finish times are flexible, 12 to 22 weeks (with agreement of mentor).

GSoC is a program where Google funds the development of specific features in open source software by university students and other new to open source. You don't need to be a Computer Science student to apply. Features to be developed are picked by Inkscape administrators from the pool of proposals submitted by applicants.

We've mentored about half a dozen students a year since GSoC started. Many students enjoyed their work and continue to be involved; perhaps your mentor will be a past GSoC student! We have a high rate of acceptance of student code into the core codebase. Indeed, GSoC projects have been a key source of some of Inkscape's best features in the past several releases.

If you are interested in joining us this summer, it is time to get your proposal ready. You can choose a proposal from our list of suggestions or come up with one of your own. In either either case, you must give us a detailed outline of what you plan to do. It is highly recommended that you discuss your idea as early as possible with Inkscape developers. They not only can give you guidance as you flesh out your proposal but ultimately you must convince them that you can do the work planned in the time allotted. If you have not discussed your proposal with Inkscape developers before you apply, your application will be rejected!

Candidate Applications

Candidate Applications for GSoC 2024 must be submitted to the GSoC site by 18:00 UTC on April 2nd 2024.

The "two patches" rule

We require two patches from each potential GSoC student, before accepting the student for GSoC participation (it is the same requirement as for obtaining rights to commit changes to the code repository).

The reason for this requirement is that you can show us that you have succeeded in building Inkscape on your PC, and that you have understood a little piece of Inkscape's code and are able to improve it. Inkscape is a large project, and you really should not try to understand all the code. Many (all?) developers know only parts of the program code! You can join our IRC channel or Rocket Chat and ask developers for help.

Suggested "easy" bug fixes or improvements

To get you started on Inkscape development, you can find (probably) easy-to-fix bugs or small improvements that require very little knowledge of the whole program by searching our bug-tracker for bugs tagged with 'easy-fix'.

Performance Evaluation

GSoC has two formal evaluation points, at the mid-term and at the end. These evaluations determine if you receive the stipend from Google. In order to receive a pass for the evaluations you will need to show adequate progress toward your project's goals.

To help you meet your goals and so that your mentor can better evaluate your progress you need to:

  • Have frequent, public discussions of your progress. (Don't rely on just your mentor for advice.)
  • Have a public Inkscape branch for your code to which you commit regularly.
  • Give weekly status reports.

For the final pass, you will normally be required to merge your code into Inkscape trunk.

Remember: we want you to succeed!

Suggested Project Ideas

The following is a list of formal project suggestions, but do not feel limited to only these - some of our best contributions have been unique ideas that students had in mind from other sources!

See also Development Project Ideas, Refactoring projects, Projects, and https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/

P5. UI-Free Inkscape

  • Estimation of difficulty: Difficult - Long (350h)
  • Potential mentors: Marc Jeanmougin
  • Programming skills: C++, CMake
  • Prerequisites: Minimal knowledge of build systems. Experience with GtkMM helpful.

Detailed Description Inkscape currently builds with X11 and gtk and a lot of graphical dependencies. But since it is allowed to run in commandline, and there are controlled environments (servers) that use it to convert svg to png and to perform actions, there should be no need to force it to build with those. The main goal of this project is to add a WITH_GUI compilation flag that when OFF, does *not* link Inkscape with any graphical dependency. While much work has been done towards this goal, much remains to be done. DONE As a next step, Inkscape's "verbs" which are mostly GUI dependent (even if there is no reason to be) need to be converted to Gio::Actions. More work needs to be done to separate out hidden GUI dependencies that remain after the Verb to Action transition.

Use cases

  • Server installs, scripts

P6. Refactoring

  • Estimation of difficulty: Moderate - Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
  • Potential mentors: Tavmjong Bah
  • Programming skills: C++
  • Prerequisites: proficient C++.

Detailed Description Inkscape began life as the C program Sodipodi. Sodipodi was mostly the work of one person who had a clear vision of how the code should work. A major motivation of the Inkscape fork was to allow others to easily contribute to development. This resulted in rapid development but at a cost: the code has become much messier and now lacks a clear vision. This project is to work on refactoring the code. Refactoring can take many forms. It could be creating a better directory structure with README's that describe the purpose and function of the code in each directory. This would include rewriting code to reduce dependencies across directories (which would help, for example, in achieving a headless version of Inkscape). It could be the continued transition from C to C++ which often results in major reductions in the number of code lines. Or it could be identifying and eliminating redundant code.

A particularly ambitious project would be to replace the Garbage Collector by smart pointers.

Refactoring is an important skill of which many books have been written. Here's a chance to gain valuable experience!

See https://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Refactoring_projects for some ideas of projects.

P8. Add Text and Image Support to Live Path Effect System

  • Estimation of difficulty: Hard - Short (175h)
  • Potential mentors: Jabier Arraiza (Spanish, English(not native))
  • Programming skills: C++
  • Prerequisites: Experience managing bitmaps

Detailed Description Live Path Effects are non destructive effects applied to paths and shapes standalone or inside a group.
This is done keepeng a reference to the original data to reaply when needed.
But ignore text and image elements.
Things to do:

  • Study add image, text, both and maybe others SVG elements to the LPE system.
  • Create/adapt minimun one LPE for each new type of element acepted as reference. Suggestion Perspective-Envelope.

Use cases

  • Apply live effects to images and text based in C++ code in a non destructive way even in groups with mixed elements types.

P9. Path Library Improvements

  • Estimation of difficulty: Hard - Long (350h)
  • Potential mentors: Tavmjong Bah, KK
  • Programming skills: C++
  • Prerequisites: Strong math skills, specifically in geometry.

Detailed Description Inkscape relies on two geometry libraries for path manipulations: lib2geom and livarot. lib2geom is a generic modern library written specifically with Inkscape in mind. lib2geom is missing some functionality that Inkscape requires and that is found in livarot. This project is to move that functionality into lib2geom (or into separate files) using lib2geom path descriptions. A 2020 GSoC student did a significant amount of work understanding and documenting the issues involved. This project would be to build on his work.

Specifically, the functionality needed is

  • Path offset/inset functions.
  • Path simplify.
  • Stroke to path function.
  • Line scanning (used for flowing text into a shape).

P11. Improvements to Paint Server Dialog

  • Estimation of difficulty: Easy to Medium - Short (175h)
  • Potential mentors: Tavmjong
  • Programming skills: C++
  • Prerequisites: Some knowledge of GTK and CSS.

Detailed Description The Paint Server Dialog allows a user to visually select a pattern or hatch to use in painting the fill or stroke of an object. This project would be to expand the dialog to cover gradients, meshes, and solid colors as well as make other improvements to the dialog. Interaction with the Inkscape's UX team will be required.

P13. Node-based filter editor

  • Estimation of difficulty: Hard - Long (350h)
  • Potential mentors: Mc
  • Programming skills: C++
  • Prerequisites: Minimal knowledge of build systems

Detailed Description: The filter editor is kind of hard to understand and master based on its current UI. Using a node-based tool for it, such as what can be done with https://notabug.org/grindhold/libgtkflow would help people create and master the filter primitives easier.

Full poposal

P14. Cached styles for inkex

  • Estimation of difficulty: Medium - Short (175h)
  • Potential mentors: Jonathan
  • Programming skills: Python, CSS
  • Prerequisites: minimal knowledge of test-driven development

Detailed Description: When inkex, the Python library behind Inkscape's extension system, computes styles, this is relatively slow, especially for documents with either many style sheets or documents with many elements / highly nested documents. This is because for each element, the XPATH of each CSS rule is computed, and then it is checked whether the current element is in the XPATH result. Then, the same computation is repeated for the parent. Since Python is not very fast itself, such inefficiencies quickly make style evaluation unusable for big documents.

With this project, we would explore ways to speed up those computations, mainly using caching and more intelligent ways of evaluating CSS rules. Some approaches might be taken from a recent firefox refactoring.

Ideally, the caching will be tuned to support read-only (export), read-heavy (modify path), write-heavy (generate from path) and write-only (import) extensions, which have different caching needs.

The work should be done in a test-driven development approach.

P15. Import and Export extensions

  • Estimation of difficulty: Flexible, usually easy to medium, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
  • Potential mentors: Jonathan
  • Programming skills: Python, Ability to read technical documents, depending on the format: some reverse engineering
  • Prerequisites: minimal knowledge of test-driven development

Detailed Description: Inkscape is alway looking to improve compatibility! Some ideas of relevant file formats - each of them more than enough for one GSoC:*Refactor our DXF input and output extensions, and expand support towards binary DXF

  • Write an as-complete-as-possible EPS export, circumventing the internal information loss in ghostscript (EPS is still relevant for scientific papers, but more and more tools are dropping support, so this is a chance to grab market share - the results of Adobe Distiller are much better than ghostscript's...)
  • Rewrite the XAML importer in Python (currenly XSLT) to match the capabilities of the new XAML exporter (i.e. support for different target frameworks, better text support...) - would have to select carefully what to support (drawing primitives) and what not (control elements) - the boundary is not as clear-cut as it seems.
  • Update the Synfig export to support the latest Synfig developments
  • Import or export of TikZ. There are a few abandoned extensions out there (from which we can borrow), but it's very widely used in science - both import and export could serve an important function in the scientific workflow.
  • Import of the proprietary fileformats of Affinity Design, Vectornator, Vectorstyler (especially the last two seem in their infancy and users at some point will sit on a bunch of files that they can't open anymore because their SAAS model wasn't profitable) .
  • Import of CGM - old, but ISO standardized. Was supported once and dropped when the uniconvertor extension was removed for 1.0.
  • Python based EMF / WMF importer - the current (core Inkscape) C extension is unmaintained and Python would probably be the right way to get more collaboration on it. A lot of public archives sit on mountains of EMF files. Note that the Document Foundation recently did a lot of work properly importing those files, so we can learn from them / maybe even join forces...
  • your favorite file format? - also have a look here: https://office.inkscape.org/nextcloud/index.php/s/Tq6cdDDGay6taCw

P16. Gcodetools refactoring and documentation

  • Estimation of difficulty: Easy- Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
  • Potential mentors: Jonathan
  • Programming skills: Python
  • Prerequisites: Maker background / familiarity with the Maker community

Detailed Description: Gcodetools is a set of Inkscape extensions that deal with reading and creating Gcode files, mostly for use in laser cutters or plotters. For this project, ideally someone with a Makerspace background will

  1. query maker spaces on their needs regarding gcodetools,
  2. implement those needs together with unit tests,
  3. improve the test coverage of Gcodetools,
  4. write proper documentation for it. (doesn't really exist at the moment).

P17. Packing / Nesting as an Inkscape extension

  • Estimation of difficulty: Medium, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
  • Potential mentors: Jonathan
  • Programming skills: Python
  • Prerequisites: Computational geometry

Detailed Description: In this project, a set of packing / nesting algorithms will be implemented:

  • Linear nesting is not too useful in SVG, but might be a good place to get acquainted with the problem. 2D cutting stock problem would be very interesting to have and would work great with the new multipage functionality.
  • For efficient packing of free form objects, we might just re-implement SVGNest in Python. There are probably some more recent research papers which would be interesting to implement as a comparison.

P18. Improving UX of Node tool and Bezier tool

  • Estimation of difficulty: Medium - Hard, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
  • Potential mentors: Tav, ??
  • Programming skills: C++,
  • Prerequisites: Computational geometry

Detailed Description: This project would improve workflow of editing of geometry of paths. Combining strengths of Pen tool and Node tool with modifiers and new behaviors. This improvement should benefit pro users but also beginners. Good example of this implementation is in blenders new pen tool.

Full Proposal here
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P19. Improving UI of Live path effects

  • Estimation of difficulty: Medium- Hard, Short or Long depending on scope (175h or 350h)
  • Potential mentors: Mike, jabier ,??
  • Programming skills: GTK 4, C++
  • Prerequisites: Front end UI , familiarity with Live path effects
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Detailed Description: This project Should implement Proposed UI clean up of Controls . LPE controls shoulbe be more user freindly and predictive,

Full Proposed designs

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P20. Recolor Artwork

  • Estimation of difficulty: Variable - Short (90h or 175h)
  • Potential mentors: Adam Belis ?
  • Programming skills: usually C++
  • Prerequisites:

Detailed Description An easy and convenient way how to change any color from the selection. Useful for experimenting and tweaking colors.


Full proposal Here


Use cases

  • fast Editing color in whole project without of need for swatches
  • easier work for color harmonies in a project
  • Easier iteration and visioning of designs

Pxx. Your project

  • Estimation of difficulty: Variable - Short or Long (175h or 350h)
  • Potential mentors: Marc Jeanmougin
  • Programming skills: usually C++
  • Prerequisites: good ideas

Detailed Description The most successful GSoC we had in the past were students coming with their own past, use cases and ideas for Inkscape. Many basic tools like 3d cubes or connectors you can see in Inkscape now have been brought by brilliant people (like you) with ideas. If we think that your project fits with Inkscape (ie: has its place with a vector graphic editor), we can help you refining your ideas and help bring shiny new stuff to life!

Use cases

  • Amaze us!

Successful SOC Projects from Previous Years