Hi, European Android liberation experts! :) I am planning to become an IT teacher. Here, in Poland, most of high school curriculum can be satisfied with libre tools (Libreoffice, MariaDB, PHP, etc.). However, the curriculum of "technik informatyk" profile in technical schools includes mobile applications development. I need help in finding out if any of the development environments allowed on exams can be replicated without relying on nonfree tooling.
The following platforms are permitted according to [1]. - Android Studio - MS Visual Studio (.NET MAUI since 2024, Xamarin since 2026) - Visual Studio for Mac - Xcode [1] https://cke.gov.pl/images/_EGZAMIN_ZAWODOWY/Formula_2019/Wyposazenie/2023_2024/INF.04_wyp_2024-2026_DK.pdf AFAIU, the last 3 ones are hopelessly nonfree. The official binaries of Android tools (SDK, Emulator, and — I think — Studio) are offered behind Google's nasty EULA. However, I am aware of projects such as Android Rebuilds [2] that would build the Android SDK from git sources, which are freely-licensed (except some blobs and similar that one can get rid of). Tooling rebuilt this way can be used without accepting Google's nasty EULA. [2] https://gothub.ducks.party/wchen342/android-rebuilds/ I also see that there are some Android repos with prebuilt software, like these [3][4]. They can be `git clone'd without having to click through Google's EULA (maybe some of them throw the EULA at user when run, IDK, have not checked). [3] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/prebuilts/androidx/studio/ [4] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/prebuilts/android-emulator/ Additionally, I see that the repos with IntelliJ Android plugin (which is also the main part of Android Studio) on GitHub [5] and on jetbrains.org [6] have a LICENSE.txt with Apache 2.0 text. At the same time, the plugin repo at googlesource.com [7] does not seen to have a license. Interestingly, even though [6] and [7] diverge a bit, they share most of their git history — until at least January 2025. [5] https://github.com/JetBrains/android/ [6] git://git.jetbrains.org/idea/android.git [7] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/tools/adt/idea/+/refs/heads/mirror-goog-studio-main/studio/ With all this in mind, could any of the experts (or even non-experts) here help me find answers to my questions? 1. How challenging can it be to rebuild the Android Emulator fork of QEMU and (the IntelliJ plugin of) the Android Studio from sources? 2. Do I correctly understand that one is not allowed to build a free software Android IntelliJ plugin from [7] but is allowed to do it from [6]? 3. What is the legal state of the software from prebuilts/ repos [3] and [4]? 4. Is software from [3] and [4] likely to be usable? I.e., run without issues on a GNU+Linux system and have the same functionalities as the official binaries from [8]? 5. Any other suggestions or thoughts on the goal of setting up a libre mobile app development environment for (Polish technical) schools? [8] https://developer.android.com/studio Best! Wojtek -- W. Kosior website: https://koszko.org/koszko.html fediverse: https://friendica.me/profile/koszko/profile PGP fingerprint: E972 7060 E3C5 637C 8A4F 4B42 4BC5 221C 5A79 FD1A
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