Category Archives: Open Source Blog

News about Google’s open source projects and programs

Summer is here! Welcome to our 2019 GSoC Students!


After reviewing 7,555 student proposals, our 206 mentoring organizations have chosen the 1,276 students they will be working with during the 15th Google Summer of Code (GSoC). Congratulations to our 2019 GSoC students and a big thank you to everyone who applied. This year’s students come from 64 countries!

The next step for participating students is the Community Bonding period which runs from May 6 through May 27. During this time, students will get up to speed on the culture and code base of their new community. They’ll also get acquainted with their mentor(s) and learn more about the languages or tools that they will need to complete their projects. Coding begins May 27 and will continue throughout the summer until August 26.

If you were not selected for this year’s Summer of Code - don’t be discouraged! Many students apply more than once to GSoC before being accepted. You can improve your odds for next time by contributing to the open source project of your choice directly now; organizations are always eager for new contributors! Look around for a project that interests you and get started.

Happy coding, everyone!

By Stephanie Taylor, GSoC Program Lead

Season of Docs announces participating organizations

Season of Docs has announced the 50 participating open source organizations! You can view the list of participating organizations on the website.

Technical writer applications open on May 29, 2019 at 18:00 UTC. 

During the technical writer exploration phase, which runs from now until May 28, 2019, technical writers can explore the list of participating organizations and their project ideas. They should reach out to the organizations to gain a better understanding of the organizations and discuss project ideas before applying to Season of Docs.

For more information about the technical writer exploration phase, visit the technical writer guide on the website.

What is Season of Docs?

Documentation is essential to the adoption of open source projects as well as to the success of their communities. Season of Docs brings together technical writers and open source projects to foster collaboration and improve documentation in the open source space. You can find out more about the program on the introduction page of the website.

During the program, technical writers spend a few months working closely with an open source community. They bring their technical writing expertise to the project's documentation and, at the same time, learn about the open source project and new technologies.

The open source projects work with the technical writers to improve the project's documentation and processes. Together, they may choose to build a new documentation set, redesign the existing docs, or improve and document the project's contribution procedures and onboarding experience.

How do I take part in Season of Docs as a technical writer?

First, take a look at the technical writer guide on the website. The guide includes information on eligibility and the application process.

The technical writer exploration phase runs from April 30 - May 28, 2019. During this period, you can explore the list of participating organizations and their project ideas. When you find one or more projects that interest you, you should approach the relevant open source organization directly to discuss project ideas.

Then, read create a technical writing application and prepare your application materials. On May 29, 2019 at 18:00 UTC, Season of Docs will begin accepting technical writer applications and publish a link to the application form on the website. The deadline for technical writer applications is June 28, 2019 at 18:00 UTC.

Is there a stipend for participating technical writers?

Yes. There is an optional stipend that technical writers can request as part of their application. The stipend amount is calculated based on the technical writer's home location. See the technical writer stipends page for more information.

If you have any questions about the program, please email us at [email protected].

General timeline

  • April 30 - May 28: Technical writers explore the list of participating organizations and project ideas.
  • May 29 - June 28: Technical writers submit their proposals to Season of Docs. 
  • July 30: Google announces the accepted technical writer projects
  • August 1 - September 1: Community bonding: Technical writers get to know mentors and the open source community, and refine their projects in collaboration with their mentors.
  • September 2 - November 29: Technical writers work with open source mentors on the accepted projects, and submit their work at the end of the period.
  • December 10: Google publishes the list of successfully-completed projects.
See the full timeline for details, including the provision for projects that run longer than three months.

Care to join us?

Explore the Season of Docs website at g.co/seasonofdocs to learn more about participating in the program. Use our logo and other promotional resources to spread the word. Examine the timeline, check out the FAQ, and apply now!

By Andrew Chen, Google Open Source and Sarah Maddox, Google Technical Writer

Google Open Source Peer Bonus winners are here!

At Google we’ve always used open source to innovate, build amazing products, and bring better technology to the world. We also enjoy being part of the community and are always looking for ways to give back.

In 2011 we launched the Google Open Source Peer Bonus program with the goal of supporting the ecosystem and sustainability of open source by rewarding external developers for their contributions to open source projects. Over the years the program has grown and expanded. Now we reward not just software developers but all types of contributors, including technical writers, user experience and graphic designers, community managers and marketers, mentors and educators, ops and security experts.

We are very pleased to announce the latest Google Open Source Peer Bonus Winners and their projects. We have a record number of 90 recipients this cycle representing 20 countries all over the world: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Ukraine and USA.

Below is the list of projects and awardees who gave us permission to thank them publicly:
Name Project Name Project
Cyril TovenaAgonesVincent DemeesterKnative Build Pipeline
Rebecca CloseAMPHTMLNader Ziadaknative/build
Leon TanAMPHTMLJim AngelKubernetes
Wassim CheghamAngularZach ArnoldKubernetes
Paul GschwendtnerAngular MaterialSerguei BezverkhiKubernetes
Maxim KoretskyiAngular-in-depth blogDamini Satya KammakomatiKubernetes
Kaxil NaikApache AirflowJennifer RondeauKubernetes
Kohei SutouApache ArrowMichael FrombergerKythe
Matthias BaetensApache BeamMark BrownLinux kernel
Lukazs GajowyApache BeamLuis ChamberlainLinux Kernel
Suneel MarthiApache BeamTetsuo HandaLinux kernel
Maximilian MichelsApache BeamTakashi IwaiLinux kernel
Alex Van BoxelApache BeamHeiko StuebnerLinux Kernel
Thomas WeiseApache BeamCong WangLinux kernel
Julian HydeApache CalciteRichard HughesLinux Vendor Firmware Service
Lan SunApache GroovyAaron PuchertLLVM/ Clang
Campion FellinApps Script CLI – ClaspOrne BrocaarLoRa Server
Nicolò RibaudoBabelGraeme RocherMicronaut
Rong Jie LooBazelAnders F Björklundminikube
Dave MielkeBRLTTYIskren ChernevMoment JS
Raphael Kubo da CostaChromiumTim DeschryverNgRx
Mike BanoncorebootBrandon RobertsNgRx
Elyes HaouascorebootEelco DolstraNixOS
Angel PonscorebootGuy BedfordNode.js
Ansgar BurchardtDebianYaw AnokwaOpen Data Kit
Chris LambDebian's Reproducible BuildsAndreas BartelsOpen Location Code
Zach LeathermaneleventyWes McKinneypandas
Vladimir GlavnyyFlatBuffersPradyun Gedampip
Alexandre ArdhuinFlutterMarvin Hagemeisterpreact
Kyle WongFlutterAndre Wigginspreact
Duncan LyallForseti SecurityChris Rocheprotoc-gen-validate (PGV)
Ross ScroggsGAM (Google Apps Manager)Ernest DurbinPython Package Index (PyPI)
Gert van DijkGerritRamon Santamariaraylib
Luca MilanesioGerrit Code ReviewAleksa SarairunC
David OstrovskyGerrit Code ReviewCornelius Weigskaffold
David PursehouseGerrit Code ReviewAnton Lindqvistsyzkaller
Matthias SohnGerrit Code ReviewZdenko PodobnýTesseract
Derrick StoleeGitKeqiu HuTonY
Roman LebedevGoogle BenchmarkBasarat Ali SyedTypeScript Deep Dive (book)
Florent Revestgooglecartographer/cartographer_rosPeter WongV8
Kirill KatsnelsongRPCKevin MurrayVerilog to Routing
Eddie KohlerhotcrpDarrell CommanderVirtualGL
Daniel-Constantin MierlaKamailioLin ClarkWasi + Wasmtime
Philipp CrocollKeepass2Android Password SafeSébastien HelleuWeechat
Shashwathi ReddyKnative buildWesley ShieldsYara
Congratulations to our recipients! We look forward to your continued support and contributions to open source!

By Maria Tabak, Google Open Source

Bringing the best of open source to Google Cloud customers


Google’s belief in an open cloud stems from our deep commitment to open source. We believe open source is an essential part of the public cloud: It’s the foundation of IT infrastructure worldwide and has been a part of Google’s foundation since day one. This is reflected in our contributions to projects like Kubernetes, TensorFlow, Go, and many more.

Today, we’re taking our commitment to open source to the next level by announcing strategic partnerships with leading open source-centric companies in the areas of data management and analytics, including:
  • Confluent
  • DataStax
  • Elastic
  • InfluxData
  • MongoDB
  • Neo4j
  • Redis Labs
We’ve always seen our friends in the open-source community as equal collaborators, and not simply a resource to be mined. With that in mind, we’ll be offering managed services operated by these partners that are tightly integrated into Google Cloud Platform (GCP), providing a seamless user experience across management, billing and support. This makes it easier for our enterprise customers to build on open source technologies, and it delivers on our commitment to continually support and grow these open source communities.

Making open source even more accessible with a cloud-native experience

The open-source database market is big, and growing fast. According to SearchDataManagement.com, “more than 70% of new applications developed by corporate users will run on an open source database management system, and half of the existing relational database installations built on commercial DBMS technologies will be converted to open source platforms or [are] in the process of being converted."

This mirrors what we hear from our customers—that you want to be able to use open-source technology easily and in a cloud-native way. The partnerships we are announcing today make this possible by offering an elevated experience similar to Google’s native services. It also means that you aren’t locked in or out when you are using these technologies—we think that’s important for our customers and our partners.

Here are some of the benefits these partnerships will offer:
  • Fully managed services running in the cloud, with best efforts made to optimize performance and latency between the service and application.
  • A single user interface to manage apps, which includes the ability to provision and manage the service from the Google Cloud Console.
  • Unified billing, so you get one invoice from Google Cloud that includes the partner’s service.
  • Google Cloud support for the majority of these partners, so you can manage and log support tickets in a single window and not have to deal with different providers.
To further our mission of making GCP the best destination for open source-based services, we will work with our partners to build integrations with native GCP services like Stackdriver for monitoring and IAM, validate these services for security, and optimize performance for users.

Partnering with leaders in open source

The partners we are announcing today include several of the top-ranked databases in their respective categories. We’re working alongside these creators and supporting the growth of these companies’ technologies to inspire strong customer experiences and adoption. These new partners include:

Confluent: Founded by the team that built Apache Kafka, Confluent builds an event streaming platform that lets companies easily access data as real-time streams. Learn more.

DataStax: DataStax powers enterprises with its always-on, distributed cloud database built on Apache Cassandra and designed for hybrid cloud. Learn more.

Elastic: As the creators of the Elastic Stack, Elastic builds self-managed and SaaS offerings that make data usable in real time and at scale for search use cases, like logging, security, and analytics. Learn more.

InfluxData: InfluxData’s time series platform can instrument, observe, learn and automate any system, application and business process across a variety of use cases. InfluxDB (developed by InfluxData) is an open-source time series database optimized for fast, high-availability storage and retrieval of time series data in fields such as operations monitoring, application metrics, IoT sensor data, and real-time analytics. Learn more.

MongoDB: MongoDB is a modern, general-purpose database platform that brings software and data to developers and the applications they build, with a flexible model and control over data location. Learn more.

Neo4j: Neo4j is a native graph database platform specifically optimized to map, store, and traverse networks of highly connected data to reveal invisible contexts and hidden relationships. By analyzing data points and the connections between them, Neo4j powers real-time applications. Learn more.

Redis Labs: Redis Labs is the home of Redis, the world’s most popular in-memory database, and commercial provider of Redis Enterprise. It offers performance, reliability, and flexibility for personalization, machine learning, IoT, search, e-commerce, social, and metering solutions worldwide. Learn more.

We’re pleased to bring these partner technologies to you. Partnering with the companies that invest in developing open-source technologies means you get benefits like expertise in operating these services at scale, additional enterprise features, and shorter cycles in bringing the latest innovation to the cloud. 

We look forward to seeing what you build with these open source technologies. Learn more here about open source on GCP.

By Chris DiBona, Director, Open Source and Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate VP, Global Ecosystem and Business Development

Cross-posted from the Google Cloud Blog

Season of Docs now accepting organization applications

The newly launched Season of Docs program is excited to announce that organization applications are now open!

Deadline for organization applications:
April 23, 2019 at 20:00 UTC. 

Documentation is essential to the adoption of open source projects as well as to the success of their communities. Consequently, Season of Docs was created to bring together technical writers and open source projects to foster collaboration and improve documentation in the open source space. You can find out more about the program on the introduction page of the website.

How does my organization apply to take part in Season of Docs?

Open source organizations can now submit applications to participate in Season of Docs. First, read the organization administrator guide and guidelines for creating an organization application on the Season of Docs website.

Organizations can submit their applications here: https://forms.gle/axk8AvV561K2cT6S6.

Your organization application should include one or more projects that you would like a technical writer to work on. Take a look at the examples of project ideas, then describe one or more specific projects based on your open source project’s actual documentation needs. Your goal is to attract technical writers to your organization, making them feel comfortable about approaching the organization and excited about what they can achieve in collaboration with your mentors.

Reach out to your community members to see who would like to be a mentor for Season of Docs. They may also have great suggestions for project ideas. Mentors don’t need technical writing skills. Instead, they are members of the open source organization who know the value of good documentation and who are experienced in your organization’s processes and tools. See the guidelines on working with a technical writer.

Once you have selected mentors for your organization, have them register with Season of Docs using this form: https://forms.gle/a1x26WQGzURLerv66.

Organization applications close on April 23 at 20:00 UTC.

If you have any questions about the program, please email us at [email protected].

General timeline

  • April 2-23: Open source organizations apply to take part in Season of Docs
  • April 30: Google publishes the list of accepted mentoring organizations, along with their ideas for documentation projects
  • April 30 - June 28: Technical writers choose the project they’d like to work on and submit their proposals to Season of Docs 
  • July 30: Google announces the accepted technical writer projects
  • August 1 - September 1: Community bonding: Technical writers get to know mentors and the open source community, and refine their projects in collaboration with their mentors
  • September 2 - November 29: Technical writers work with open source mentors on the accepted projects, and submit their work at the end of the period
  • December 10: Google publishes the list of successfully-completed projects.
See the full timeline for details, including the provision for projects that run longer than three months.

Join us

Explore the Season of Docs website at g.co/seasonofdocs to learn more about participating in the program. Use our logo and other promotional resources to spread the word. Examine the timeline, check out the FAQ, and apply now!

By Andrew Chen, Google Open Source and Sarah Maddox, Google Technical Writer

Open sourcing Science Journal iOS



Google’s Science Journal app enables you to use the sensors in your mobile devices to perform science experiments. We believe anyone can be a scientist anywhere. Science doesn’t just happen in the classroom or lab—tools like Science Journal let you see how the world works with just your phone. From learning about sound and motion to discovering how atmospheric pressure works, Science Journal helps you understand and measure the world around you.

We’re extremely excited to announce that we’re open sourcing this powerful science tool. We know the heart of science is not just critical thinking, but also knowledge sharing, building on discoveries, and learning about the world. Have a student with a knack for building things? Do you want to learn how mobile applications are put together? Download our source code, make changes and discoveries, and then deploy the newly-modified app to your own iOS device.

Why open source?

Inquiring minds are always asking, “How does this work?” With our open source app, there are many science and engineering topics to explore! For example, we use the Fast Fourier transform in our iOS code, but you may ask “how did you do that?” Because you can see our source code, you can discover-- not just that we used the Fast Fourier transform-- but how the algorithm works. We also make it possible to graph many sensor values in realtime and now you can see exactly how we’ve made that possible.

If you aren’t an iOS or Android engineer, don’t fret! You can even learn how apps are put together so you can build your own. Learning from, and making modifications to, open source code has helped countless Google engineers explore complicated topics and learn new skills.



Have you ever wished you could do something with Science Journal that it doesn’t currently do? Do you have an idea for building a new sensor and displaying its data in Science Journal? Maybe you’ve wanted to experiment with changing colors or fonts in the app, or even changing the Science Journal app icon to be a labrador with a lab coat? Now you can, by forking our repo, making changes, and committing them in your fork!

If you think your changes are amazing and should be included in Google’s Science Journal App, read our contribution guide. But if you want to keep your changes to yourself and your friends, well, that’s cool too! We’d love to see what you’ve built, so you can tweet at us @GScienceJournal, or just use the #myScienceJournal hashtag on Twitter.

By Joshua Liebowitz, iOS Tech Lead

Celebrating the Apache Software Foundation’s 20th anniversary

This week we join free and open source software communities around the world in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). It’s a huge milestone, and as we reflect on it we know there’s a lot to be grateful for.

Google makes extensive use of Apache projects, contribute our own, and most of our open source projects are released under an Apache 2 license. Our community of Googlers decided to mark 20 years of The Apache Way by sharing their thoughts about ASF…

… and we can hardly think of a more fitting way than to do that in the style of a mailing list thread:

FWD: [Discuss] 20 years of The Apache Way

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Gris Cuevas <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 at 9:20 a.m.
Subject: Fwd: [DISCUSS] 20 years of The Apache Way
To: The World <[email protected]>

When we think about the early days of the Internet one of the first names that comes to mind is the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and its contributions to Open Source! In fact, as I was recently told by a friend in the community, whenever she hears “Apache”, in a technology context, she automatically thinks about the Internet. I was in awe of her testament!

Here are the things I’d love to raise my glass to:

The Apache Way, for Being an Impressive Model for Collaborative Development
Technology as we know it wouldn’t be possible without the outstanding contributions of volunteers from all over the world, who under the umbrella of “The Apache Way,” have developed and maintained some of the most sophisticated software over the years.

When I joined Apache Beam, just a few months after its graduation as a top-level project, I realized how much work could be accomplished by the collaborative culture and the consensus driven decision making fostered by the ASF. Sure, sometimes things might drag a little behind the release schedule. But looking at the big picture, the developments that occurred in the last 20 years have significantly changed and enhanced our lives as they became the backbone and remain at the forefront of technology innovation.

The Community > Code
The Apache model recognizes contributors that help a project thrive, not only with code but also with contributions in project advocacy, documentation and community management. When I became the second non-code committer to Apache Beam, I realized how lucky I was to be part of a project that recognizes contributions of all type. I felt empowered and even more committed to the project. I’m passionate about building communities in open source, which aim to better the world, and I am committed to fostering a positive, diverse culture in which all ideas and perspectives are welcome and all members of  the community have an equal opportunity to influence the technology.

The Apache Way model positions the community at the center of a project, caring for the individuals, their rights and responsibilities. People participate based on their merit and not based on any external affiliation, title, or education.

Ever since, my mission has been to act as an ambassador for Apache projects at Google and to increase our contributions to Apache projects.

I hope you all join us, sharing stories and taking a moment to be grateful for what 20 years of strong open source practices have brought to the world.

Gris Cuevas
Google Cloud - Open Source Strategist


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Aizhamal Nurmamat kyzy <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 at 8:26 a.m.
Subject: Fwd: [DISCUSS] 20 years of The Apache Way
To: The World <[email protected]>

What a great occasion to celebrate! 20 years is no easy feat, and as the Apache Way has taught us, something like this can only be accomplished through enabling communities to grow healthily.

I want to raise my glass to the many ways in which the Apache Way has been implemented across all of the Apache projects. As I’ve been becoming familiar with different communities, I’ve observed how each one is different. Some of them are young and full of energy. Others are older and wiser. They have all adopted the Apache Way, and implemented it in ways that suit them. This has let them build vibrant and diverse communities, attract new users and contributors, and help them mature into full citizens of their projects.

As a new contributor, seeing these different communities thrive fills me with hope that 20 years is just the beginning, and we will see many more years of exciting projects and communities coming from the ASF.

So, cheers to 20 years of great communities! And here’s to 20 more!

Aizhamal Nurmamat kyzy
Google Cloud - Open Source Program Manager


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Joana Carrasqueira <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 at 8:20 a.m.
Subject: [DISCUSS] 20 years of The Apache Way
To: The World <[email protected]>

Hello community,

I would like to invite you all to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Apache Software Foundation on March 26th!

To acknowledge this historic moment, I would like to start a [Discuss] thread so everyone can share Apache related milestones and memories they would like to celebrate with our vibrant community!

Apache Software is so ubiquitous that I believe it is safe to say that the ASF can be hailed as one of the most successful influencers in Open Source and I feel very grateful for being part of this vibrant community.

I would like to start by raising my glass to the organization of the Beam Summits 2019! It is an absolute pleasure being part of the team that is behind the scenes, pulling these events together to ensure we provide new and advanced contributors with the best tools and resources to continuously support the Apache Beam Project. In addition, I am very grateful for supporting the development of a diverse community, creating the mechanisms by which everybody can share knowledge and expertise.

Please join me in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Apache Software Foundation and the contributions of thousands of contributors, who work every day to make the Apache community a success!

Joana Carrasqueira
Google Cloud - Open Source Events Manager

Accepting student applications for Google Summer of Code 2019

We are now accepting applications from university students who want to participate in Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2019. Want to hone your software development skills while doing good for the open source community?

This year we are celebrating 15 years of introducing university students from around the world to open source software communities and our passionate community of mentors. For 3three months students code from the comfort of their homes and receive stipends based on thefor successful completion of their project milestones.

Past participants say the real-world experience that GSoC provides sharpened their technical skills, boosted their confidence, expanded their professional network and enhanced their resume.

Interested students can submit proposals on the program site between now and Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 18:00 UTC.

While many students began preparing in late February when we announced the 200+ participating open source organizations, it’s not too late for you to start! The first step is to browse the list of organizations and look for project ideas that appeal to you. Next, reach out to the organization to introduce yourself and determine if your skills and interests are a good fit. Since spots are limited, we recommend writing a strong proposal and submitting a draft early so you can get feedback from the organization and increase the odds of being selected.

You can learn more about how to prepare by watching the video below and checking out the Student Guide and Advice for Students.


You can find more information on our website, including a full timeline of important dates. We also highly recommend reviewing the FAQ and Program Rules.

Remember to submit your proposals early as you only have until Tuesday, April 9 at 18:00 UTC. Good luck to all who apply!

By Stephanie Taylor, Google Open Source

Reflecting on Google Code-in 2018

Google Code-in (GCI), our contest introducing 13-17 year olds to open source software development, wrapped up last December with impressive numbers: 3,124 students from 77 countries completed an impressive 15,323 tasks!

These students spent 7 weeks working online with 27 open source organizations, writing code, writing and editing documentation, designing UI elements and logos, conducting research, developing videos teaching others about open source software, as well as finding (and fixing!) hundreds of bugs.

Overview

  • 2,164 students completed three or more tasks (earning a Google Code-in 2018 t-shirt)
  • 17% of students were girls
  • 23% of the participants from the USA were girls
  • 79% of students were first time participants in GCI
  • We saw very large increases in the number of students from Austria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Taiwan

Student Age

Participating Schools

Students from 1,673 schools competed in this year’s contest. Many students learn about GCI from their friends or teachers and continue to spread the word to their classmates. This year the 5 schools with the most students completing tasks in the contest were:
School Name Number of Student Participants Country
Dunman High School 110 Singapore
Indus E.M High School 73 India
Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School 69 India
Amity International School Sec-46 Gurgaon 36 India
Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Vidyashram Pratap Nagar 27 India

Countries

We are pleased to have 9 countries with first time Winners and Finalists. Winners from Georgia, Macedonia, Philippines, South Africa and Spain, and Finalists from Israel, Luxembourg, Nepal and Pakistan.

The chart below displays the 10 countries with the most students completing at least 1 task.

What's Next

In June we will welcome all 54 grand prize winners to the San Francisco Bay Area for a fun-filled trip. The trip includes the opportunity for students to meet with one of the mentors they worked with during the contest. Students will also take part in an awards ceremony, meet with Google engineers to hear about new and exciting projects, tours of the Google campuses and a fun day exploring San Francisco.

We are thrilled that Google Code-in was so popular this year. We hope to continue to grow and expand this contest in the future to introduce even more teenagers to the world of open source software development.

Thank you again to the heroes of this program: the 789 mentors from 57 countries that guided students through the program and welcomed them into their open source communities.

By Saranya Sampat, Google Open Source

iOS Accessibility Scanner Framework

At Google, we are committed to accessibility and are constantly looking for ways to improve our development process to discover, debug and fix accessibility issues. Today we are excited to announce a new open source project: Accessibility Scanner for iOS (or GSCXScanner as we lovingly call it). This is a developer tool that can assist in locating and fixing accessibility issues while an app is being developed.

App development can be a time consuming process, especially when it involves human testers. Sometimes, as in the case with accessibility testing, they are necessary. A developer can write automated tests to perform some accessibility checks, but GSCXScanner takes this one step further. When a new feature is being developed, often there are several iterations of code changes, building, launching and trying out the new feature. It is faster and easier to fix accessibility issues with the feature if they can be detected during this phase when the developer is working with the new feature.

GSCXScanner lives in your app process and can perform accessibility checks on the UI currently on the screen simply with the touch of a button. The scanner’s UI which is overlaid on the app can be moved around so you can use your app normally and trigger a scan only when you need it. Also, it uses GTXiLib, a library of iOS accessibility checks to scan your app, and you can author your own GTX checks and have them run along with scanner’s default checks.

Using the scanner does not eliminate the need for manual testing or automated tests, these are must haves for delivering quality products. But GCSXScanner can speed up the development process by showing issues in app during development.

Help us improve GSCXScanner by suggesting a feature or better yet, writing one.

By Sid Janga, Central Accessibility Team