Tender to implement HSQLDB binary format import in LibreOffice (#201705-03)

The Document Foundation (TDF), the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free office suite LibreOffice, seeks for companies or individuals to

implement support for importing HSQLDB binary data

to start work as soon as possible. TDF is looking for an individual or company to, as a turnkey project, implement the following:

In order to remove the legacy Java/HSQLDB database completely, and move fully to Firebird in LibreOffice 5.4, it is necessary to be able to import old document data with high fidelity from the HSQLDB binary file format, which we have used (for performance reasons) inside so many of our existing ODB files. This task involves reading the existing (reasonably simple) Java serialization code, and writing an (import only) filter to import this data safely into base.

Required skills

  • Extensive knowledge of C++
  • Experience working on the LibreOffice source code
  • Knowledge of HSQLDB

We exclusively use free, libre and open source (FLOSS) software for development wherever possible, and the resulting work must be licensed under the the Mozilla Public License v2.0.

Other Skills

  • English (Conversationally fluent in order to coordinate and plan with members of TDF)

TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.

The task offered is a project-based one-off, with no immediate plans to a mid- or long-term contractual relationship. It is offered on a freelance, project basis. Individuals and companies applying can be located anywhere in the world.

TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications, your financial expectations (name the final price for the turnkey project), and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to Florian Effenberger at floeff@documentfoundation.org no later than June 2, 2017. You can encrypt your message via PGP/GnuPG.

Applicants who have not received feedback by July 3, 2017 should consider that their application, after careful review, was not accepted.

 

Tender to deprecate LibreOffice’s SVG filter in favour of SVGIO (#201705-02)

The Document Foundation (TDF), the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free office suite LibreOffice, seeks for companies or individuals to

deprecate the SVG filter used by LibreOffice in favor of SVGIO

to start work as soon as possible. TDF is looking for an individual or company to, as a turnkey project, implement the following:

  • Remove the old SVG import filter code (used for importing documents)
  • Switch all SVG handling to the SVGIO filter (used when inserting images into a file)
  • As a consequence, simplify the codebase and save around 2-3,000 lines of code

Required skills

  • Extensive knowledge of C++
  • Experience working on the LibreOffice source code
  • Knowledge of the SVG image format

We exclusively use free, libre and open source (FLOSS) software for development wherever possible, and the resulting work must be licensed under the Mozilla Public License v2.0.

Some further references on the discussion can be found at http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Two-svg-import-filters-tt4165248.html and http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Libreoffice-qa-minutes-of-ESC-call-tc4171063.html.

Other Skills

  • English (Conversationally fluent in order to coordinate and plan with members of TDF)

TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.

The task offered is a project-based one-off, with no immediate plans to a mid- or long-term contractual relationship. It is offered on a freelance, project basis. Individuals and companies applying can be located anywhere in the world.

TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications, your financial expectations (name the final price for the turnkey project), and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to Florian Effenberger at floeff@documentfoundation.org no later than June 2, 2017. You can encrypt your message via PGP/GnuPG.

Applicants who have not received feedback by July 3, 2017, should consider that their application, after careful review, was not accepted.

Video interview: Michael Meeks, LibreOffice developer

Michael Meeks is a veteran LibreOffice (and OpenOffice.org) developer. We talk to him about how the project has progressed over the years, and the technology behind LibreOffice Online, the cloud version of the suite.

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Tender to improve image handling in LibreOffice (#201705-01)

The Document Foundation (TDF), the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free office suite LibreOffice, seeks for companies or individuals to

improve and fix issues with image handling in LibreOffice

to start work as soon as possible. TDF is looking for an individual or company to, as a turnkey project, implement the following:

  • Use a robust and hard lifecycle mechanism (eg smart reference count) for every reference to an image
  • Propagate this lifecycle mechanism through filters and UNO APIs
  • Copy all (compressed) image streams out of document storages into an on-disk cache – to avoid data loss on file movement
  • Improve image detail reading and storage, to avoid reading a whole JPEG or PNG just to work out its pixel size and discard/swap-out the result
  • Reduce excessive swap-in and out thrash
  • ideally – but non-essentially cleanup the “graphics cache size” and manage caching of images in a more intelligent way

Required skills

  • Extensive knowledge of C++
  • Experience working on the LibreOffice source code

We exclusively use free, libre and open source (FLOSS) software for development wherever possible, and the resulting work must be licensed under the the Mozilla Public License v2.0.

Other Skills

  • English (Conversationally fluent in order to coordinate and plan with members of TDF)

TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.

The task offered is a project-based one-off, with no immediate plans to a mid- or long-term contractual relationship. It is offered on a freelance, project basis. Individuals and companies applying can be located anywhere in the world.

TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications, your financial expectations (name the final price for the turnkey project), and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to Florian Effenberger at floeff@documentfoundation.org no later than June 2, 2017. You can encrypt your message via PGP/GnuPG.

Applicants who have not received feedback by July 3, 2017 should consider that their application, after careful review, was not accepted.

The May 2017 Month of LibreOffice begins!

Yes, a new Month of LibreOffice begins today, crediting contributions all across the project. This time we’re giving away real printed stickers for your laptop, desktop PC or other kit! If you help the LibreOffice community in various ways, we’ll add your name to a wiki page and then, at the end of the month, you’ll be able to claim your sticker. It’ll look like this:

How to get a sticker

There are many ways you can help the LibreOffice project and claim a sticker:

  • Help to confirm bugs: go to our Bugzilla page and look for new bugs. If you can recreate one, add a comment like “CONFIRMED on Windows 10 and LibreOffice 5.3.2”. (Make sure you’re using the latest version of LibreOffice.)
  • Contribute code: The codebase is big, but there are lots of places to get involved with small jobs. See our Developers page on the website and this page on the wiki to get started. Once you’ve submitted a patch, if it gets merged we’ll send you a sticker!
  • Translate the interface: LibreOffice is available in a wide range of languages, but its interface translations need to be kept up-to-date. Or maybe you want to translate the suite to a whole new language? Get involved here.
  • Write documentation: Another way to earn a badge is to help the LibreOffice documentation team. Whether you want to update the online help or add chapters to the handbooks, here’s where to start.
  • Answer questions from users: Over on Ask LibreOffice there are many users looking for help with the suite. We’re keeping an eye on that site so if you give someone useful advice, you can claim a shiny sticker.
  • Spread the word: Tell everyone about LibreOffice on Twitter! Just say why you love it or what you’re using it for, add the #libreoffice hashtag, and at the end of the month you can claim a sticker. (We have a maximum of 100 stickers for this category, in case the whole internet starts tweeting!)

So, good luck – we’ll be posting regular updates on this blog and our Twitter account. Get involved, help to make LibreOffice even better, and enjoy your awesome sticker as thanks!