Point Blank has produced a double digit number of acceptances to #GSoC (Google Summer of Code) 2026. 13 contributors and 3 mentors. It’s more than double of what we did last year. We’re worried about the JEE style discourse that this will create.
So I’m not here to talk about numbers.
Instead I want to talk a little bit about our process, and the difference between enthusiastically participating in GSoC versus crossing the line into unethical territory.
- Educating the participants is extremely important. Every year at Point Blank starts with a Primer on FOSS development. What is open source, how it came to be, the four freedoms of free software, the story of the Linux kernel and GNU, licensing and how it shapes the landscape. The idea of giving back via contributions and volunteering.
- Volunteering is important. You’ll find Point Blank members at various FOSS conferences around the city - IndiaFOSS, RustIndia, IICT and more. You’ll find them at the GSoC booth at FOSSASIA. They do everything from managing the recording equipment to taking out the trash. They interact with maintainers and learn about their challenges, and sensitise themselves to the challenges that maintainers face everyday.
- Every year, we have a sizeable number of mentors who contribute back to their communities long after having completed GSoC themselves.
- No tolerance for bad behaviour. We have suspended and removed people from the club over a single small incident of unethical conduct. Something as simple as assigning yourself an issue that was already taken. We have zero tolerance for sloppy work and bad behaviour. All juniors start by working on internal projects first to learn basic git workflows and etiquette.
- It takes time to build excellence. We have been doing this for 7 years now. We started with 1 GSoC contributor in 2020, then 2 in 2021, 4 in 2022 to 7 last year. We’ve had the fortune of meeting several org mentors and admins, and refine our strategy over the years. We’ve had 20 GSoCers in last 5 years and increased that number to 36 this year.
That’s how we got the results we did. Just by sticking to the rules, giving it our best shot and contributing. Unfortunately this is not the case with many other institutions that use underhanded tactics to get selections, and we hope that we can serve as an example that sometimes to be the best all you need to do is do the right thing!