LibreOffice and Google Summer of Code 2023: The results
This year, LibreOffice was once again a mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code (GSoC), a global program focused on bringing more developers into free and open source software development. Five projects were finished successfully. Contributors and mentors enjoyed the time, and here we present some of the achievements, which should make their way into LibreOffice 24.2 in early February 2024!
You can experiment with the new features by using daily builds and report any problems in our bug tracker.
Improving OpenPGP encryption experience in LibreOffice by Ahmed Gamal Eltokhy
Mentors: Thorsten Behrens (allotropia), Heiko Tietze (TDF), Hossein Nourikhah (TDF)
LibreOffice can encrypt documents using OpenPGP public key cryptography by making use of external applications such as gpg4win, GPGTools and gnupg. Thanks to Ahmed’s work, it is now easier to manage and search keys and faster to navigate large keyrings.
Learn more about the encryption experience improvements in the final report.
Selecting tests to run on gerrit patches based on machine learning by Baole Fang
Mentors: Thorsten Behrens (allotropia), Stéphane Guillou (TDF), Christian Lohmaier (TDF)
This project was inspired by Mozilla’s work on Firefox’s continuous integration. There is now a system in place that makes predictions on the test failure possibility of submitted code changes and decides the most efficient way to build the changes. As this kind of machinery is very new to everyone, we expect many tweaks to follow.
Learn more about the machine learning project in the final report.
Search Field in Options by Bayram Çiçek
Mentors: Andreas Heinisch, Heiko Tietze (TDF)
Searching through options is pretty standard in applications these days, so it is about time LibreOffice learned how to do it!
Learn more about the search feature in the final report.
Convert Writer’s Java UNO API Tests to C++ by Dipam Turkar
Mentors: Tomaž Vajngerl (Collabora), Xisco Faulí (TDF)
The idea here was to reduce the dependency on Java during the LibreOffice build process. Half of the tests for Writer were converted.
Learn more about the test conversion project in the final report.
Add APNG import/export support by Paris Oplopoios
Mentors: Tomaž Vajngerl (Collabora)
APNG is short for Animated Portable Network Graphics. It is not an official extension to PNG, but nevertheless has broad support in web browsers these days. Thanks to Paris’s work, LibreOffice now fully supports this format.
Learn more about the APNG feature in the final report.
Wrapping up
Many thanks to all contributors who spent their summer time improving LibreOffice. You are awesome! And special thanks also to the mentors who always put so much love and energy into these tasks. That’s what makes LibreOffice rock.
Now we are looking forward to next year’s GSoC. If you are interested, why not prepare early? Learn more at out wiki page where some ideas are listed.
Participating in GSoC is a great way to build your skills, and show future employers what you’re capable of!