Re: [IMPORTANT][DEADLINE] number of slots

[Jose E. Marchesi]

    what is the criteria to ask for an optional or mandatory slot (if the
    mandatory are the minimal numbers and the optionals are the difference
    max-min. LibertyEiffel for example really wants to have 2 slots, but we
    have given 1 as minimum and 2 as maximum, to be fair to the other
    projects under the GNU umbrella in case not all optional slots are
    granted, by allowing a prioritization.

The system we use every year in order to allocate slots is the
following:

1. Each participating GNU project expresses how many "essential" slots
   and "desired" slots they want.  This year Google changed a bit the
   program and these are now called "minimum" and "maximum" slots, but
   it is still the same concept, just different names.  It is up to each
   GNU program to decide how many slots to ask for, based on the number
   of good proposals and available mentors.

2. We (the GNU org admins) add everything and ask google for a total
   number of desirable and essential slots for GNU.  Like, for example,
   this year it will be 19 essential slots and 24 desired slots.  Let's
   call them TotalEssential and TotalDesired.

3. Google gives us a number N of slots, that could be any number 0..24.

4. We then distribute the obtained slots using the following criteria:

   4.a If N == TotalDesired, then perfect, everyone gets what they asked
       for.  This happened in the last 6 editions of the program and is
       the most likely scenario.

   4.b If TotalEssential <= N < TotalDesired then everyone get their
       essential slots.  The rest of the slots will be distributed as
       evenly as possible among the projects.

   4.c If N < TotalEssential, then we will distribute the slots as
       evenly as possible among the projects, making sure (if possible)
       that every participating project get at least one slot.

Note that in the potentially conflicting scenarios (4.b and 4.c) the org
admins have the last word on how to assign slots to projects.