Google Summer of Code 2020 has now ended and the results are amazing! We can't believe it has already been four months since the projects were accepted into GSoC, but here we are. There are now native EteSync integrations for both GNOME (e.g. Evolution) and KDE (e.g. Kontact).

What is EteSync?

EteSync is a secure, end-to-end encrypted, and privacy respecting sync for your contacts, calendars and tasks. Easy to use and open source - it seamlessly integrates with your existing apps so you won't even notice you are using it! Think CalDAV but encrypted in a way that no one but you can access it. Not hackers getting access to your servers or you server admins!

For an introduction to end-to-end encryption please take a look at our related blog post. For more information about EteSync, please head to our website.

Using the new integrations

Thanks to these new integrations, you can now use EteSync accounts directly with any apps that use the GNOME or KDE personal information management systems (Evolution, Kontact and many more), without the need for the DAV bridge.

In addition to it being much easier to setup, it's also a lot faster, more efficient, and in general just works better.

The integrations will be released and packaged in distributions following the next GNOME and KDE releases, though until then you can either build them yourself from source, or use one of our pre-built packages if you distribution has them.

To get started, please check out the respective user guides:

• The GNOME user guide.
• The KDE user guide

Thank you

Huge thanks to both Shashwat Jolly (sjolly on IRC) and Nour E-Din El-Nhass (nourmat on IRC), the two GSoC participants who did all of the work and made it happen. To the mentors from GNOME (Milan Crha), and KDE (Daniel Vrátil, Volker Krause and Adriaan de Groot). To the GNOME and KDE GSoC admins who made GSoC sucha breeze. To the GSoC team for running this great program. And last, but definitely not least: to all of the testers from the community who helped make sure everything works as smoothly as it should, and is ready to be merged and used.

As usual, we would like to remind you that we rely on your feedback and contributions to make EteSync better. Do you have any suggestions or  are experiencing any issues? Please send patches, report issues or just contact us.

Come chat with us on IRC/Matrix, or follow us on Mastodon, Twitter, Facebook, reddit or RSS for the latest updates and privacy-related content!

Since we've had a lot of new visitors from the GNOME and KDE community getting to this blog post we've added a short introduction section.

What is EteSync?

EteSync is a secure, end-to-end encrypted, and privacy respecting sync for your contacts, calendars and tasks. Easy to use and open source - it seamlessly integrates with your existing apps so you won't even notice you are using it! Think CalDAV but encrypted in a way that no one but you can access it. Not hackers getting access to your servers or you server admins!

For an introduction to end-to-end encryption please take a look at our related blog post. For more information about EteSync, please head to our website.

The rest of the post

As readers of this blog you are probably aware that there are two EteSync related projects in this year's Google Summer of Code. The first project is an EteSync backend for Akonadi, the KDE personal information management server. The second project is an EteSync module for Evolution data server, the GNOME personal information management server.

We have previously written here about the great work both sjolly and nourmat have been doing, though this post is different. It is finally time for beta testing! Both of the modules have been thoroughly tested locally, and have been reviewed by the maintainers of GNOME, KDE and EteSync and are ready for some real-life testing by real users.

Are you a GNOME or KDE user and willing to give the modules a try? Please come join us at the community chat (IRC/Matrix/Web), or email us at gsoc-testing@etesync.com for instructions on how to get started with the testing.

Your help will be much appreciated and will help us catch bugs and fix them sooner rather than later!

Thank you for your help!

As usual, we would like to remind you that we rely on your feedback and contributions to make EteSync better. Do you have any suggestions or  are experiencing any issues? Please send patches, report issues or just contact us.

Come chat with us on IRC/Matrix, or follow us on Mastodon, Twitter, Facebook, reddit or RSS for the latest updates and privacy-related content!

As discussed in a previous post, there are two EteSync related projects in this year's Google Summer of Code. The first project is an EteSync backend for Akonadi, the KDE personal information management server. The second project is an EteSync module for Evolution data server, the GNOME personal information management server.

The summer of code coding period has officially started only a week ago, but both the students have already made some really nice progress that we just had to share. Using the modules they wrote, you can now add EteSync accounts natively (no need for the DAV bridge) to both GNOME and KDE and have them fetch and display your EteSync address books and contacts!

Here is how it looks when adding an EteSync address book to KAddressBook (KDE):

And here is how the address books and contacts look:

Here is how the address books and contacts look in Evolution (GNOME):

This is just the first step towards seamlessly using EteSync in GNOME and KDE, and things are far from ready, but it's already a pleasure to see!

For more information on how their progress and how to try out the code, please check out Shashwat Jolly's blog post about his progress with the EteSync module for KDE (Akonadi), and Nour E-Din El-Nhass's blog post about his progress with the EteSync module for GNOME (Evolution).

We will continue to cover their progress as they go along and hit noteworthy milestones, but if you'd like to follow their progress as they go along, you should probably follow them on social media, and follow their respective blogs. In addition, they are both on the EteSync IRC/Matrix channel, so come and join us there to chat with the developers directly!

We are very happy to announce that two EteSync related projects have been accepted to this year's Google Summer of Code, one with GNOME and one with KDE!

In case you are unfamiliar, GSoC is a paid summer internships focused on introducing students to open source software development. The program just started and will end in August. During this period, each student will work on a programming project with a mentoring organization.

The first project is an EteSync backend for Akonadi, the KDE personal information management server, and will be worked on by Shashwat Jolly (sjolly on IRC). The second project is an EteSync module for Evolution data server, the GNOME personal information management server, and will be worked on by Nour E-Din El-Nhass (nourmat on IRC).

This means, that by the end of the summer, EteSync will be natively supported in both the GNOME and the KDE and applications using their personal information servers such as Evolution, KMail and many others. What does it actually mean? It means users of these applications will no longer need to use the EteSync DAV adapter for syncing their contacts, calendars and tasks, and can just add their EteSync accounts directly!

On related news: as you may remember, we have previously announced a similar effort being worked on for Thunderbird. Unfortunately, the effort is delayed due to COVID-19, though we hope John will be able to get back to working on it as soon as possible, and hopefully have it ready in the next few months.

As usual, we would like to remind you that we rely on your feedback and contributions to make EteSync better. Do you have any suggestions or are experiencing any issues? Please send patches, report issues or just contact us.

Follow us on Mastodon, Twitter, Facebook, reddit or RSS for the latest updates and privacy-related content!

We are very excited to announce that this year there are two EteSync related projects in Google Summer of Code and one EteSync related project in Outreachy! That is assuming we can find suitable candidates...

Interested? Please let us know! Not sure what it's about? Please read on... Additionally, please don't worry if you don't understand everything below, and definitely don't let it deter you! The whole point of the programs is to help you learn and grow, and your mentors will support you throughout the process.

What are the projects about?

The projects are collaborations between EteSync and both GNOME and KDE. In particular, the project is about adding built-in EteSync support, just like the one being worked on for Thunderbird, so GNOME and KDE users will no longer need to use the EteSync DAV adapter for syncing their contacts, calendars and tasks.

Even if you are unfamiliar with the names GNOME and KDE, if you ever used Linux or BSD before, you have most likely used at least one of them. Together they cover most of the Linux desktop market, and are the default for most Linux distributions.

For more information about the projects take a look at the EteSync entries in both the GNOME GSoC wiki and the KDE GSoC wiki.

What is it?

GSoC and Outreachy are two different (and unrelated) paid summer internships for getting people involved with open-source projects and getting experience with open-source software development. Both internships start in mid-May and end in mid-August, though they have some differences, most notably their eligibility criteria.

Google Summer of Code applicants must be at least 18 years old, and enrolled to an accredited institution (such as a college or a university). The application deadline is end of March, but it's better to start early, since if suitable students are found before, applications may close before too. Students also receive a stipend which varies based on your location but is something between $3000 and $6600 for the program's duration.

Outreachy applicants, on the other hand, must be from communities that are under-represented in tech and not necessarily students (more info on the Outreachy website). Unfortunately though, the application deadline for Outreachy (though not GSoC!) ends today (the 25th of February at 4pm UTC). This means that if you haven't already applied, you may have missed the chance for this round. If you are interested in open-source software you should still check them out for a future one! If you have managed to apply and are interested in working on the EteSync GNOME integration, please look for EteSync in the Outreachy application page. As for the stipend, with Outreachy, successful applicants get a stipend of $5500 for the program's duration.

Why should you join?

This is a great opportunity for getting into open-source development and working on high-impact projects with a large amount of users! You will make end-to-end encryption and privacy more accessible for a large amount of users. You will also learn how to effectively communicate and develop in such an environment and will be mentored by experienced mentors from GNOME, KDE and EteSync. This is in addition to a generous stipend from Google and Outreachy.

How to apply to GSoC?

As said above, the two GSoC projects are collaborations with other open-source projects, one is with GNOME and the other is with KDE. Therefore, the first step for you is to choose which project you would like to work with, and then follow the project specific instructions.

• GNOME's instructions for students
• KDE's instructions for students

Please also make sure you read the GSoC student guide to familiarise yourself with the program.

Interested? Not sure? Read the instructions but still need some help? Please contact us, either by email or on IRC!