Tender to implement master document fixes (#202106-02)

The Document Foundation (TDF) is the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free/libre open source (FLOSS) office suite LibreOffice.

We are looking for an individual or company to implement master document fixes.

The documentation team regularly publishes guides and books. The underlying workflow requires to fix bugs and issues with the master document feature of Writer.

The scope of this tender is to fix at least the following issues:

  1. ToC is never shown in Master Document if it is in ODT in a section with a hide condition
    https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=103612
  2. Exported PDF of master document with hidden sections containing headings shows headings anyway
    https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=142129
  3. Creating master document from *.odt breaks cross-references
    https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=128106
  4. TRACK CHANGES: linked files changes are not shown in the master document
    https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=121166

The work has to be developed on LibreOffice master, so that it will be released in the next major version.

The bugs must be fixed and verified.

All technology standards of relevance, as well as their targeted versions for this tender should be declared or defined in the offer’s description of implementation.

A key item of the deliverables for this tender and therefore also a decision criteria – besides qualification, references, price, and completeness of fullfilment – is extensive is documentation about the approach chosen to implement or fix the above items. We expect bidders to provide documentation on both the code and the non-code parts of this tender, e.g. methodology, structure and technical aspects. The Document Foundation will publish this under a free and open source license and make it available to the general public. Publications will be in the Help system and in the Guides books.

If the bug fix incurs in a change in the user interface or user procedure, it should also contain the necessary instructions to activate the procedure.

Required skills

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

Other skills

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

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

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

Bidders will get a preference for including a partner or independent developer who has not been involved in a successful tender before. For such developers, who have not yet been part of a successful tender bid, we aim on a best-effort basis, but without any guarantees whatsoever, to provide some mentoring in understanding the code base and the process in contributing to the code. We expect that time and efforts on the bidder’s side for this should not be part of the paid work for this tender. Please mention such need of LibreOffice development mentoring in your offer.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to certified developers and/or 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.

When budgeting, we anticipated that this project (all items combined) to take in the region of 5 days of work. Should bidders’ assessment result in a significantly different number, please reach out to us before sending your bid, so we can clarify upfront.

TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications for the aforementioned tasks, your offer in form of a fixed-time, fixed-budget approach, and the duration period for the implementation in calendar weeks after the final awarding of the tender, via e-mail to a committee at tender20210602@documentfoundation.org no later than July 5, 2021.

Applicants who have not received feedback by August 2, 2021 should consider that their application, after careful review, was not accepted.

All bidders are invited to ask their questions on this tender until June 23, 2021. Questions and answers will be made public in a collected and anonymized form.

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