# \[Draft\] FOSS Hack 3.0 Rules and general guidelines **URL:** \ **Category:** FOSS Hack 3.0\ **Created:** [29 November 2022 05:11 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/draft-foss-hack-3-0-rules-and-general-guidelines/1513 "2022-11-29T05:11:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/KaranGandhi)\ **Post date:** [29 November 2022 05:11 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/draft-foss-hack-3-0-rules-and-general-guidelines/1513/1 "2022-11-29T05:11:11Z")
### General **Tickets available at [FOSS Hack 2026 - FOSS United](http://fossunited.org/fosshack)** ### Format of FOSSHack 3.0 - The Hackathon is both online and offline - Main venue of the hackathon is RV University, Bangalore, where in person talks will be held, participants and judges will be present. - Participants who choose to join virtually are welcome, and the hackathons is curated in a way to engage online participation as well. - A project submission will be floated for the interested participants to submit their candidature, as well as the projects they would be working on. You can create something from scratch, or work on an existing porject, contributing with meaningful work. - FOSSHack wil onboard mentors for the hackathon. They will help you steer the project forward, give insights, and help where you’re stuck. Mentorship entails general overviews, ideas and their suggestions towards the application, scale and usability of your project. Technical and code-related help is not under the purview. ### Offline Track - Participants will arrive at the venue, go through the inaugration, and start working. - Meals will be arranged for the participants. - Please note that accommodation will not be made available by the organisers. - In person mentorship sessions, recreation, communication, and networking. ### Online Track - Complete virtual experience. - Online mentorship sessions with scheduled time slots, and an open voice/video channel participants can drop into for networking. ### Eligibility - The Hackathon is open to any Indian national who has a valid bank account ### What you can work on: - A new FOSS app, tool, or library. - An alternative to any existing popular app or service. - Extending and improve an existing project or library. - Design projects: Redesign of an existing FOSS application. - Open hardware. ### Updates on Projects Project submissions will be floated, where particpants can list what they will work on, before the hackathon starts. If you are working on an existing project and making contributions to it, or working on your own project, before the hackathon starts, list them here. Keep sending updates so the hackathon team knows what you’re upto. ### Teams Participants can take part individually or in teams. However, if you wish to form teams with a fellow FOSS Enthusiast, join our public [Telegram Channel](https://t.me/fossunited), where you can network with people and join in to form a team. FOSS United or FOSSHack do not take responsibility to match individuals and help form teams, it is solely your own endeavour, and any disagreements, expectations, and contributions must be privately managed. ### Evaluation - **License:** Must have a valid [Free and Open Source license](https://opensource.org/licenses). - **Communication:** A well written README and video demo are important. These will determine the first round of elimination. Before your code is reviewed, the quality of your README will be. Please be concise in explaining what your project does, how to install it, test it, and use it. Similarly, write concise and meaningful commit messages that show the progression of the project. - **Completeness:** Applications must be complete and working. - **Design and aesthetics:** If you are making a user interface, try and ensure that they are clean, modern, and usable. - **Timeframe:** The project must be reasonably built within the given timeframe. The judgement of the jury will be final in this. - **Credits:** If you are using existing code, make sure you credit it. Plagiarism, which is all too common unfortunately, is strictly not appreciated. - **Demo Video:** Participants must submit a video demo before the clock ends (uploaded on YouTube or any other platform that is accessible to the Jury). Restricted to 3 mins. No gyan, only demo. - An app or project that extensively uses proprietary service or API. - Yet another Keras model on available datasets. - A simple CRUD application. ### Prizes - The total prize money will be divided among the best projects. - The number of projects to be awarded and amount to be given will be decided by the jury based on the depth and quality of the projects. - Money will be transferred to the winners individually via bank transfers within India. The recipients will need to furnish a copy of their PAN for TDS and tax documentation. ## FAQs for the Hackathon ### General - What is FOSS Hack? FOSS Hack 2023 is a hybrid hackathon organized by the FOSS United Foundation to promote the creation and use of FOSS in India. We invite developers—professionals and students—from all over India to compete for a cash prize of ₹10L by building Free and Open Source software and have fun doing it. - Why Participate? - Can I contrubute to my own project? - How do I participate? - Licenses 101 - Is it mandatory to submit my project beforehand? - What commits will be considered for judgement? - Am I expected to share updates on my project as a participant leading up to the hackathon? - What if two people are contributing to the same existing project? - How does mentorship work? - What am I supposed to bring? - Can we form teams? - Can teams be distributed? ### What if I can’t travel to Bangalore to take part in the Hackathon? Good News for you! We have made this hackathon hybrid. Which means one can also take part in this hackathon remotely. You can sit and hack from your home, or from a remote farm completely off grid running on solar and StarLink. You will be subject to the same judges, mentorship opportunities, rules and timings. Take extra caution to prepare meticulous documentation and updates, so we are able to follow through. ### What is FOSS Hack Local? It is the local extension of FOSS Hack 3.0 being run with Partner FOSS Communities, in an effort to provide hackers to have a place to go and hack, and be a part of FOSS Hack transending geographic boundaries. It is run in parallel to FOSS Hack 3.0, same dates, same rules, but different places for hackers who don’t want to travel to Bangalore. - Am I at a disadvantage if I participate remotely, through FOSS Hack Local extenstions instead of the main venue in Bangalore? - Will I be under the same FOSS Hack 3.0 jdugement or each Local Chapter has spearate prize pools, judges, etc. TL;DR FOSS Hack is hybrid, you can also tune in virtually, under the same rules, judgement panel, and access to mentorship. FOSS Hack Local is just an extension to the main hackathon with our local partner communities. You can also land at one of the Local Venues and hack away. We will still use virtual means to connect you to the main event. ### Disclaimer FOSS Hack or FOSS United are not liable for any conflict in terms of projects, ideas, teams, or implementation. FOSS United will solely evaluate on the basis of you commits, documentation, and the updates you post us while hacking away before the hackathon. Those very updates act as determinants towards the final result. If two entries come with same commits, or similarities, and a conflict arises, we will take into account the updates history of the teams, and determine which is legit. The final decision of judges and the FOSS United team will be final and binding. Please ensure you take all necessary precautions and avoid conflict altogether. #### Notes These rules are constantly updated based on questions. We will email you the final set of rules before the hackathon starts! For discussions and queries join our [Telegram Channel](https://t.me/fosshack). Original Credit to [this post](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/foss-hack-rules/95) by [Rushabh Mehta](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/rushabh/summary) More comments under [this post](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/foss-hack-rules/95) have good insights and suggestions. They will be added to this post in the next 48 hours. ---
**Author:** ![KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/KaranGandhi)\ **Post date:** [29 November 2022 05:19 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/draft-foss-hack-3-0-rules-and-general-guidelines/1513/2 "2022-11-29T05:19:59Z")
Please give your inputs and suggestions. I will keep on adding them in the original Draft, and documenting edits. This is an initial document, and needs to grow as we expand the scope of FOSS Hack, and accommodate new ideas, and clearer guidelines. Some topic to think on: - Mentorship sessions for Online Participants. - Networking Sessions for Online Participants. - How do we ensure no use of unfair tactics: Disclaimer: I am not sure if any measure was in place to deal with this, so I’d appreciate if someone can initiate me to the right post on this, and if there isn’t, then we must work towards this. ---
**Author:** ![KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/KaranGandhi)\ **Post date:** [3 December 2022 16:10 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/draft-foss-hack-3-0-rules-and-general-guidelines/1513/3 "2022-12-03T16:10:56Z")
FOSS Hack Local FOSS Hack Local provides a platform to all the participants to reach out to mentors via their public telegram group. Mentors and mentees can connect, and take the conversation forward via text or VC channels, which is entirely upto them. This is a hands-off connect facilitated by FOSS hack via their public group. Discussed during the FOSS Hack 3.0 | Weekly Catch-Up Call on 3rd Dec. ---
**Author:** ![KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KaranGandhi](https://forum.fossunited.org/u/KaranGandhi)\ **Post date:** [18 January 2023 16:18 UTC](https://forum.fossunited.org/t/draft-foss-hack-3-0-rules-and-general-guidelines/1513/4 "2023-01-18T16:18:12Z")
**Note:** In order to impart clarity regarding the accommodation arrangements, please add a new bullet point in the FAQs Section. - What are the accommodation arrangements ?