pkgsrc is NetBSD's native package building system It includes numerous graphical environments, including Xfce, MATE, and LXQt, but many have limited support for native NetBSD system APIs, e.g. support for reading battery levels, and audio volume.

We really would like better desktop environment integeration, and this requires some work on the upstream projects in C and in some cases C++.

An applicant should have basic familiarity with build systems, make, and C. They should be good at carefully reading documentation, as much of this stuff is documented in manual pages like audio(4) and envsys(4). They should have a laptop with NetBSD installed (older laptops are likely more representative of typical NetBSD uses and can be picked up cheap from local auctions sites).

They should be able to investigate the current level of support in various third-party projects and identify priority targets where native code for NetBSD can be written.

Nia is very experienced in writing native code for NetBSD audio and sensors and would be happy to answer questions.

As the project continues, we might even be able to start porting more applications and applets.