Call for Tools Volunteers and Contractors

CodeSprint is about IETF’s own tools and web services, interoperability events test specific pieces of technology, and so on. Everyone is welcome to attend! Read more from [1] and sign up [2].

And remember that what you do at these events is up to you, you decide. You decide what is the coolest or most useful feature; you decide what IETF data tracker feature you need for your work.

Secondly, we would like to draw your attention to work on tools that serve the IETF, and we would like to signal for a need to draw in further people and vendors in this effort.

Part of the work is on a volunteer basis, both in our Code Sprints and through various long-term efforts. Part of the work is run on a commercial basis, e.g., operations of the various IT systems that our Secretariat provides or the implementation of various new tools that we have decided to implement. The commercial efforts typically require some volunteer effort as well, for instance, Robert Sparks is the project manager for all datatracker related efforts and Joe Hildebrand is the project manager for the IETF web site redesign project.

Thanks to all of the volunteers for their efforts. We are VERY grateful for their work, and it is necessary work. But at the same, we are realizing that resources are spread fairly thin. We’re happy about the turnout in the IETF Code Sprints, but would love to get more people. And we would love to have individuals who care about particular tooling issues enough to adopt them as their longer term project and take them to completion. Getting involved with the volunteer tools work starts best at the Code Sprint, however. The next one will be on Saturday, March 25, just before the IETF begins in Chicago. Join us, and book your flight tickets so that you can spend the Saturday with us!

But the same issue applies even to the commercial parts [3], and we would like to have more companies or capable individuals bid for some of the projects. The Technology Management Committee and the IAOC have recently awarded the projects for building the tools necessary for the new RFC format, for instance, to two individuals that are very active in the IETF community, one of which was already doing quite a lot for the IETF. For the long-term sustainability of the IETF IT and tool efforts, we would desperately like to extend the set of people and companies looking at and bidding on these efforts. We know that many individuals in the IETF sphere have capabilities in this area, and we’d like to draw your attention to this opportunity as well. We welcome first time qualified bidders, and we pay competitively. If you can do the work, a contract to work on open source tools for the IETF can be rewarding.

Jari Arkko, IETF Chair