On Apr 11, 12:54 pm, "Al Sutton" <[email protected]> wrote: > (1) You can for the Android open source project, but not for the version of > Android that's shipped on the G1, Magic, or ADP1. I will happily admit I am > wrong if someone can give me the git revision numbers from the open source > project which will build all the open source components of the "official" > updates for these platforms. > > (2) Again, yes for the open source repo, but again builds from the open > source repo are not what's in use by a majority of Android users.
I agree that this is important. It reminds me of a great article by Jamie Zawinski of Netscape fame, talking about his disappointments with the original open-sourcing of Netscape: --- People only really contribute when they get something out of it. When someone is first beginning to contribute, they especially need to see some kind of payback, some kind of positive reinforcement, right away. For example, if someone were running a web browser, then stopped, added a simple new command to the source, recompiled, and had that same web browser plus their addition, they would be motivated to do this again, and possibly to tackle even larger projects. We never got there. We never distributed the source code to a working web browser, more importantly, to the web browser that people were actually using. We didn't release the source code to the most-previous- release of Netscape Navigator: instead, we released what we had at the time, which had a number of incomplete features, and lots and lots of bugs. And of course we weren't able to release any Java or crypto code at all. What we released was a large pile of interesting code, but it didn't much resemble something you could actually use. --- from http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/nomo.html Personally, I haven't played with the Android source much, because (as I understand it) I won't be able to build an image that would be suitable for daily use on my phone. "Suitable" for me means stable, compatible with the T-Mobile releases (for the sake of app testing), and complete with the Google apps. Two things that I would like Google to do: Be more precise about tagging API version releases: From what I've read, the release-1.0 tag is sorta mostly similar to the code that was shipped on production G1s, but not exactly. I can't find a release-1.1 tag. What should I build if I want to make an image that I can confidently develop apps on that could be released today? I dunno. Release apks of the Google apps that can be installed for personal use. I remember a Googler mentioning that this would be a possibility a while ago, but I would encourage the priority of this to be bumped up a few notches. There is another problem with Android as an open-source project, but I appreciate that Google's hands are more tied in this respect: I was surprised when I got my G1 that the bootloader was locked down to only accept signed updates. Although there are workarounds on the G1 thanks to that handy console bug, I think that the locking down of Android devices is very unfortunate for the platform. To use Jamie Zawinski's example, these days if Joe Random Programmer is using Firefox one day and thinks of a feature he'd like to add, he can pull down the source, edit, build, and have it up and running as his main browser the same day. If Joe Random Programmer is using his Android phone and thinks of a feature that he'd like to add, he had better have had the forethought to buy an ADP1, or he's out of luck. If Joe lives in a place like the US or the UK where it is customary to get subsidized phones with service plans, he's unlikely to have considered laying down $400 for an ADP1 on the off-chance that he might want to hack on it one day. Besides, maybe he prefers that other sexy new Android phone from $manufacturer. I would ask Google to encourage the manufacturers and networks to leave their bootloaders open, but I know that goes against the usual corporate control-freakery that the networks have. Is there a business case argument that we can construct that would convince networks that letting programmers free on their phones would be a good thing? -- Jon --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
