Openwall Project contributor application template

Initially, this template was meant to be used by Google Summer of Code (GSoC) students applying to work on our project ideas, but please feel free to apply to us directly outside of GSoC, such as for our Summer of Security program or otherwise.

If you're interested in getting involved, please e-mail us at contribapp at openwall.com. You do not have to fill this template out right away, although you may; we'd also appreciate it if you start by indicating your interest and asking questions.

Non-trivial answers to these questions are optional. Obviously, you're not expected to actually have experience in all areas we're inquiring about in this template, yet we need to know what areas you do have experience in. Please do not be frightened by the length of this template. Please be bold to apply even if you have to answer “no experience”, etc. to many or even most of the questions - that's expected.

• Basic/Contact Information
  1. Your name:
  2. E-mail address:
  3. Instant messenger names and protocols (if any):
  4. Mobile telephone number (optional):
     • Are you able to receive text messages (SMS) on that number?
  5. If you have a URL for your resume/CV, please list it here:
  6. If you wish to list any personal/blog URLs, do so here:

• Motivation
  1. What is your motivation to participate in GSoC this year? (More than one answer/reason is OK - please list all, with the most important reason first.)
  2. Why are you applying to Openwall specifically? (Please answer this even if you're also applying to other mentoring organizations, which you'll need to mention separately.)
  3. Would you like to stay involved in the project after GSoC? If so, what would your likely motivation be?
  4. What can Openwall do to motivate you better during and after GSoC (if applicable)?

• Project Selection
  1. Top project choice (one of the “student role” names from our ideas page, or your own creative and relevant idea):
  2. Why are you well suited to perform this project?
  3. If you can, please provide a draft timeline with milestones (e.g., weekly) for your proposed work on the project (if you're applying under a summer program, then please align the proposed timeline with that program's):
  4. Are you willing and able to do other projects instead?
     • Which ones are of interest to you (“student role” names)?
     • Why are you well suited for them?

• Skills/Experience
  1. Please describe in a few lines your C/C++ knowledge or experience (if any):
  2. Please describe any shell, Perl, Python, and/or other scripting language knowledge/experience:
  3. Please describe any assembly language knowledge/experience (what architectures, platforms, tools?)
  4. Please describe any knowledge/experience relevant to computation intensive tasks (algorithm and code optimization, parallel and distributed processing, vectorization, compiler intrinsics and directives, toolkits, etc.)
  5. Any experience with GPU programming (which GPUs, which toolkits, what applications)?
  6. Any experience with FPGAs (hardware, programming, intended purpose)?
  7. Please describe any Unix development experience:
  8. Please describe any Windows development experience:
  9. Please describe any Mac development experience:
  10. Any other platforms you have experience developing for (which ones, what experience)?
  11. Any experience with GUI toolkits (which ones, on what platforms)?
  12. Any experience with LaTeX, reStructuredText, doxygen, etc. (please mention whatever relevant tools you might have experience with)?
  13. Please describe any experience with source code revision control systems - CVS, Subversion, git, you name it (please do)?
  14. Please describe any computer security and cryptography knowledge/experience you have:
  15. Please describe any previous experience with Openwall software (Owl, JtR, other):
  16. Please describe any previous development experience involving Openwall software (e.g., changes you've made):
  17. Please describe any previous Open Source development experience (including your own projects and/or your contributions to third-party Open Source projects):
  18. If possible, include a link to source code you've written, such as a school or personal project:
  19. Have you participated in any previous Summer of Code projects? If so, please describe your projects and experience. Be sure to mention the years involved and the name of your former mentors.
  20. Have you applied for (or intend to) any other Summer of Code projects this year? If so, which ones?

• Computer Setup
  1. Are you going to work off your very own computer(s) or will they be shared with someone?
  2. What operating system(s) do you run on the computer(s) that you'll use during your participation in the project?
  3. Are your systems “secure”, and why (or why not)? (This is relevant to us if we grant you access to our servers. A possible “negative” answer does not directly affect your (non-)acceptance for the project. We just need to know. Also, your answer, whether “positive” or “negative” or “in-between”, might show your understanding of and approach to computer security, which is relevant to many of our projects. There is no one correct answer, but it is useful for us to see if our approaches are “compatible” or not.)
  4. If your project of choice requires or benefits from specific hardware (e.g., GPUs), please mention whether you have it (and what kind) or not (then we'll see if we can provide you with it, or with remote access to it).

• Availability
  1. What city/country will you be spending this summer in?
  2. How much time do you expect to have for this project?
  3. Please list jobs, summer classes, and/or vacations that you'll need to work around:

• Education
  1. What school do you attend?
  2. What is your specialty/major at the school?
  3. How many years have you attended there?

To give credit where it's due, some of the questions above are based on Nmap's - thanks!