The newly minted Syncthing Foundation is now ready to announce the first grant: a rewrite of the Syncthing GUI and a corresponding improvement of the underlying REST API. The full details are on the grant page:
This is the first such grant for the foundation, and also the first such that I’ve organized personally. Hence I’m sure there are lots of questions unanswered and possibly mistakes to correct along the way. This thread serves to clarify those questions and hold the related discussion.
This thread is not meant to discuss the technical details of the resulting work – those will be managed like any other development on the progress, in PRs and discussion threads as required at the time. I’ll just make sure to answer one possible worry: No, we won’t be removing the existing GUI or REST API as part of this. There are compatibility concerns and I’m sure we’ll need to keep both around for a long time even when the newer alternatives are available.
The application is via email as noted on the grant page. Do not apply for the grant in this forum thread.
Thanks! It took me considerable time to get used to the current GUI, and I appreciate it staying the same (for a good while).
I look forward to the new GUI, and I’m grateful that a grant for this work is possible. Kudos on the formation of the new Syncthing foundation.
I actually like Syncthing’s existing GUI (wow, a reactive Javascript GUI that looks almost the same in aross all platforms). Many of the existing file syncing tools for Linux are about as beautiful as a rototiller, in comparison to Syncthing.
Hi there! Not necessarily. That said, the amount of funding available isn’t infinite. I would also prefer not to be responsible for coordinating a team who don’t already know each other. If someone were to step forward and say they’re a designer/coder tag team who often work together, that’s great.
To clarify that, we’re looking for someone (or a coordinated team) to tackle the GUI stuff. There is also some backend API work (Go) that we’re asking for, but we have the competence to do that ourselves if required. It doesn’t necessarily need to be part of the GUI work if someone feels it’s too far out of their comfort zone.
I’m interested. I would be helpful in the UI part if you guys decide to go forward to React. I probably didn’t have a full-time to devote to the project, but I’ll try my best. Keep us updated how this GUI refresh goes.
To be clear, I don’t really think I’m up for the grant that’s why I post here.
